Saltwater Tank & Travel

[chicago_29]

Hi,
I would really like to start a saltwater aquarium (in the 90 gallon range)...However I currently travel for my job 4 days a week.
Is it possible to keep a healthy saltwater aquarium with a light timer and automatic feeder...or is it something that is just impossible to do if you aren't home every night?
Any experiences or advice from existing aquarium owners is appreciated.
-Chicago_29

 

[exile415]

i say it can be possible. every time you come home you might have to do a water change.

 

[mwaraxa]

It would only be harder in the beginning when your going through the whole setup process. Once the tank is established and you know how she moves it would get easier. You would just have to get the auto feeder like you mentioned and probably something to replace the water that would evaporate from day to day. I guess i would be more concerned with things that could happen while your gone. Like power failure, your heater going nutz, tank springing a leake, ect.

 

[chicago_29]

Thanks for the information...I'd appreciate any other thoughts from experienced hobbyists. I think I should be able to pull this off. I can take advantage of the upcoming long weekend to start the cycling and then once that is over hopefully all would be well.
One other area of concern was just feeding the fish flakes/pellets most of the week...but I could feed them the other things (frozen, veggies) the days I am home.

 

[ophiura]

It depends very much on the type of fish you choose to keep. I also strongly recommend things like auto top off systems, and people who can check in during bad whether to make sure everything is still running. I also recommend lots of LR, and relatively few fish.

 

[chicago_29]

Pardon the potential stupid question, but what are the benefits of an auto top-off system? I understand water evaporates, especially with lighting and such...but I'm not sure I understand the harm in having some water evaporate the few days I am gone. Couldn't I just plan to top off the aquarium on the weekends, or is that not enough? Just trying to get all the information I can!
Thanks everyone...

 

[ophiura]

While fish can usually tolerate changes in salinity, inverts are more sensitive to them. If you have inverts, you do not want large fluctuations in salinity. In addition, depending on the type of system you have, a few gallons may mean the difference between your tank running or burning your pumps out from lack of water. I basically top off every day. If I waited several days, I would burn out the pump that returns water from my sump by running it dry.
If you keep an "all in one system" with a hang on filter or something, then that is not so much an issue, but significant fluctuations in tank water chems is extremely undesirable.

 

[chicago_29]

I am getting the CPR Aquatic CY194 bio-filter, and the tank has a built in overflow. The filter has a 4 gallon sump area.
I guess its more than probable that 4 gallons would evaporate in 4 days. Does that mean that I'm going to need to get the auto top-off?

 

[mwaraxa]

I run into the same problem ophiura does. After a day and a half enough water evaporates so my return pump is only have submerged in the water and then i start getting crap loads of micro bubbles and really teh whole filter process shuts down due to lack of water. It sucks. . .