Need advice...first vacation since we've had our tank setup!

[crazyzeus1]

OK...we're taking the Munchkin to Disney World & we have our 100gal tank set up with corals, inverts, & 4 Green Chromis.
We'll be gone for 4 days...
What do you do when you go out of town? Do you put on an autofeeder & hope for the best? Hire a pet sitter?
I have a neighbor who checks on the dogs, but she's got 3 kids (one being a newborn) & I feel bad asking her to defrost some Mysis every day!
I thought about hiring a pet sitter, but they don't know any more about the hobby than my friend
Do you feed heavy the day before you go? Can you even do that?
Thought I'd leave the LFS service guy's number (who services our tank regularly) in case of an emergency...but then how would my pet sitter know if it was an emergency or not???
Ugh...what do you do????

 

[larrynews]

i had a friend watch my 90 while on vacation, although he has a smaller tank so he knows what he is doing, i left, like you said, the name and number of a guy who works at the lfs in case of a disaster....i pre bagged the food so all he had to do was once a day dump the food in and i drew a line on my sump to where he should fill the water everyday...worked great...hth

 

[crazyzeus1]

Thanks! Our sump has a little "water level" sticker on it, so that's a no-brainer. I forgot about that part too...that they'll need to add water. I guess I could fill it higher than normal & just tell her to watch the level.
And lists are always good...I'm the List Queen, so of course I would write detailed instructions
anyone else?? :help:

 

[bigarn]

Do you have the lights on timers? While fish can go without light for 4 days, the corals wouldn't fare to well. As mentioned, premeasured food would be great but the fish could go the 4 days without it, especially if it's an established tank with lots of critters they can snack on.

 

[kdfrosty]

I recently went on vacation for four days....
I use an auto top off, and filled it to the brim...I didn't have a problem with sinking water levels.
I only feed my fish every other day normally. I fed them the day I left, and then had a friend come and check on my tank one time for 10 minutes. I taped a ziplock baggy that contained 1 feeding of flake food to the front of my tank. I wrote "feed me all of this" on the baggy. He just dumped the flake in to the tank.
My lights are on a timer, so that's an easy one too.
Everything was peachy keen.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Yes, our lights are on a timer. Going to get an autofeeder. I showed my friend the whole setup today & told her it was basically checking on them...
So I think I solved my own dillema :cheer:

 

[golfish]

Your fish can go a long time with out being feed...I have a Blue tang, Six line wrasse, Cherub Angel and Royal gramma in my 120. These fish are very healthy, fat and get feed maybe once a week.
Top off is much more important then feedings.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Yea...we talked about that too today. It's not rocket science, I told her, just watch the water & fill it to the "line" on the sump if it gets below the line...duh...
Fish feeding...are we feeding TOO much? We have 4 Green Chromis & I feed them daily. I also throw in a little extra flake food for our shrimp...they LUV it! Is that too often to feed??? We have a 100 gal tank...

 

[celacanthr]

i believe it is really what works for your tank.(pertaining to the too much question) many people even feed 2 times a day.

 

[nofish]

Leave Brine Shirmp Tell Her 1 Ounce Every Two Day. They Will Be Fine.

 

[bang guy]

The tank will do fine without food for a week or so.

 

[larrynews]

one last thing the way i did my water was to put them in 1 gallon jugs i made it easier to pour...and what i did i unplug the sump to see the highest i could have the water with out a flood incase the power went out, then filled the sump to the top and turned it back on and where the water level was that is where i moved my line up to....good luck thing will be fine...enjoy the mouse....

 

[crazyzeus1]

I think I was making a mountain out of a mole hill...thanks for all the advice. I'm not worried in the least bit now!!!
High Ho High Ho..it's off to Disney we go!!! :jumping:

 

[seahorse11]

I am going to be on vacation for 16 days. I was gonna buy an auto feeder but i totally forgot about adding water to the sump. Do you think it will be ok for 2 weeks? No corals in tank but a few inverts ( snails, cleaner shrimp, starfish) and will have the lights on a timer.

 

[cherizle]

watch out for the automatic feeders, i bought one once and came back to a tank FULL of algae, a dead fish, dead coral & some ugly nitrites & nitrates. Turns out it went crazy and WAY overfed. I'm sure most of them are fine, but maybe test it out a day or two before you go, i was devestated to come home to such a mess and wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else. Just a thought, good luck.

 

[blu11]

I bought the JBJ auto top off unit for when I went on vacation. It is awesome. I just keep a five gallon bucket filled with r/o water undernesth my stand & it pumps the water into my tank when the water falls below where I placed the sensor. It has also been so much nicer not to have to do my topoffs manually even when I am home. Definitely a must if you are going to be gone for more than a few days & you don't want to bother someone with the task of monitoring the water levels.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by cherizle

watch out for the automatic feeders, i bought one once and came back to a tank FULL of algae, a dead fish, dead coral & some ugly nitrites & nitrates. Turns out it went crazy and WAY overfed. I'm sure most of them are fine, but maybe test it out a day or two before you go, i was devestated to come home to such a mess and wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else. Just a thought, good luck.
Thanks for the warning...what a BUMMER!!!