I am going on vacation. Need advice please

scottnlisa

scottnlisa

Member
Okay I am going to Hollywood
in early June for 7 days. I don't trust anybody I know to take care of my tank. I am planning on doing a water change right before I go. I am also going to clean my canister filter. I am going to have to unplug my protein skimmer. Do the vacation blocks of food really work? Will leaving my skimmer unplugged for a week harm my tank or fish? Do I need to do anything else?
 
speg

speg

Active Member
What size is the tank? Your fish would probably be just fine if you fed them before you left and again when you returned.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I thought the vacation blocks were for FW tanks.....I never saw any that mentioned SW.....
I would worry more about top off....do you have anyone that can come in at least once???
 
scottnlisa

scottnlisa

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3259847
I thought the vacation blocks were for FW tanks.....I never saw any that mentioned SW.....
I would worry more about top off....do you have anyone that can come in at least once???
Top off?
 
speg

speg

Active Member
oof.. 125 gallon.. fish only? I'd agree that top offs would be the part to worry most about.. but if it's fish only and no lighting you really could probably top off a little extra before you leave and just let the tank sit for 7 days without worry.
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3259860
You feed them 3x a day????? WOW
and speg...how could you top off extra? isn't your tank full right now???
Well, granted I have never had a 125 gallon to top off.. but I never have my water level so full that adding more would cause a spill ? Instead of topping off what you would for one day, double that to at least buy yourself a couple days... is what I'm sayin.. did that make sense?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3259862
Well, granted I have never had a 125 gallon to top off.. but I never have my water level so full that adding more would cause a spill ? Instead of topping off what you would for one day, double that to at least buy yourself a couple days... is what I'm sayin.. did that make sense?
YUP....and NOPE....LOL....I have ato on my 225G....so no worries
on my 29G and my 54G...sure I could add a little more BUT not enough to last for a week...
 
hunt

hunt

Active Member
Again, prabably one of those things i shouldnt have brought up but,
i dont really think a week without a top off is that big of a deal, i only do a top off once a week (every monday)for my 1g tank and the sality hardly changes(maybe 1-2ppm)and i keep it at 1.024,i use asterina stars from my DT to test the water. Same for my 29g.
Are you saying im supposed to do a top off every day,i was unaware, but regardless, the salinity does not change by alot.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
NO, you may not have to do one every day....some people do....and some don't....Before I had ato on my 225G i was adding 2g's a day
I top off my 29G and 54G every other day......the water levels matter to me because of skimming, and yes salinity too....some of my equip is at the top
 
flopyflava

flopyflava

New Member
I am actually in the same boat as you and heading on vacation in a week. Fortunately I have someone watching the house for us because we also have three dogs. I am worried about my corals more than my fish but my lfs said it should be fine if they are fed before we leave and as soon as we get back.
I only have to top off every 3-4 days with my 90 gal tank. We are doing a water change before we leave also, it happened to fall in the schedule. Keep the fingers crossed and may the force be with u! ;)
 
scottnlisa

scottnlisa

Member
Originally Posted by Flopyflava
http:///forum/post/3259906
I am actually in the same boat as you and heading on vacation in a week. Fortunately I have someone watching the house for us because we also have three dogs. I am worried about my corals more than my fish but my lfs said it should be fine if they are fed before we leave and as soon as we get back.
I only have to top off every 3-4 days with my 90 gal tank. We are doing a water change before we leave also, it happened to fall in the schedule. Keep the fingers crossed and may the force be with u! ;)
Good luck to you also.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Remember to take lots of pictures of your tanks before you go for the memories!

I've lost 3 tanks when I went on vacation. Thought I had all my bases covered. I use to make picture book instructions and put notes everywhere like "Place Emberley's bowl here" and "Place Chancey's bowl here". No matter how many times I do it, something changes or gets missed. I even had video cameras where I could control the movement over the internet and check on the tanks.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I would advise against turning the skimmer off.....Leave the skimmer run.....As for topping off the tank???? How much are you evaporating a day? I would try to figure out what your evaporation rate is per day, and you could get yourself a container and sit it higher than your sump and run line from your container to the sump and set the line from the container just below the water level.....As the water level in the tank would drop the water would be released from the container till the water level was corrected....A perfect container that comes to mind is the Kent dosing containers.......HTH
 
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