trainfever
Active Member
So I was going away for 2 weeks and was worried about what to do about my aquarium. Its a 45 gallon with a 20 gallon sump refugum(I have a 75 RR and a 30 gallon sump waiting to be set up), its been up for over 2+ years and doing well. I finally got Xenia growing in it for the last 6 months after having no success for the first year or so. The Yellow Tang is about 5", the mated Occelaris clowns are about3 1/2", Royal Gramma about 4" and 2 Engineer gobies about 10 inches or so. And that nasty little yellow tail damsel is about 2". Dozens of snails, hermit crabs, a cleaner shrimp and 5 peppermint shrimpa and about 3 emerald crabs. Also a nice size feather duster. Coral include about 8 good size Xenias, mushrooms galore, plenty of zoos of different kinds, A couple Kenya trees, frogspawn and a few green star polyps. All living happily in my tank. Time for vacation. My biggest concerns were feeding and water top offs. I did a big water change and checked all parameters before leaving, everything checked out perfect. I figured the fish could live off the live rock for the 2 weeks, i also threw in a handful of caluerpa from my refugium to keep my tang happy. Now to figure out about the water top offs. I picked up a JBJ ATO about 3 weeks before leaving and tested it for the 3 weeks, it worked perfectly. My only other concern would be the tank over heated but I decided to leave the AC on at 81 just to be safe. My wifes friend would be stopping in to check on things and I asked her to put a pinch of flake food in if she wanted. So now are my concerns are covered, The fish could live off the rock for the 2 weeks or posssibly a pinch of food, the water will be topped off, the AC will keep things from over heating and the lights are on a timer. Everything seems ok. The only thing that could screw things up is if I were to lose power for any length of time.
So off I go on vacation Tuesday morning. Wife hears from friend on Saturday but everything is fine, what a relief. Dont hear anything all week, man I needed this vacation. Friday I get a phone call from the wifes friend. She tells me that the water level in the sump is way above the level. (marked the sump and told her that the water should stay at that level.) So now I am worried that the top off unit malfunctioned and is not turniing off when it should. She then tells me that the lights arent on(they should have been on at that time) and that the water level in the tank is down. WHAT? Thats not right. I ask her if the light on the GFCI is on? HER:Whats a GFCI? ME: The white box plugged into the wall. HER: Nope. ME: Shoot, push the button to reset it? HER: Which button? ME:Whatever one turns everything on, push them both, youll know when you hit the right one. HER: OK I got it, hey the water level in the sump is dropping and the water level in the tank is back up again. That was fast. ME:
Are the lights on? HER: yes ME: Is there water coming out of the filter on the back? HER: Whats the filter: ME: The green box on the back. HER: I think so wait yes there is. ME: are you sure? HER yes. ME. Ok are the fish alive?
She only sees one Occellaris and describes what sound like my cleaner shrimp. She then sees the damsel but nothing else. I still have 3 days left of vacation before I know the full extent of the problem. I get home Sunday night and while unpacking the car, my daughter tells me that the fish tank is making a funny sound. I go in to find that the filter that had water coming out has been running dry for 3 days and is now shot. My losses include my yellow tang, the royal gramma, one clownfish, all my Xenia, all my GSPs, the feather duster, numerous Zoos, all the shrimp and so far 1 emeral crab. The tank had been sitting without power for possibly a week. Both engineer gobies, along with one clown and that darned damsel survived. The only thing that could have possibly gone wrong was to lose power and I lost power?
So, how was your vacation?
So off I go on vacation Tuesday morning. Wife hears from friend on Saturday but everything is fine, what a relief. Dont hear anything all week, man I needed this vacation. Friday I get a phone call from the wifes friend. She tells me that the water level in the sump is way above the level. (marked the sump and told her that the water should stay at that level.) So now I am worried that the top off unit malfunctioned and is not turniing off when it should. She then tells me that the lights arent on(they should have been on at that time) and that the water level in the tank is down. WHAT? Thats not right. I ask her if the light on the GFCI is on? HER:Whats a GFCI? ME: The white box plugged into the wall. HER: Nope. ME: Shoot, push the button to reset it? HER: Which button? ME:Whatever one turns everything on, push them both, youll know when you hit the right one. HER: OK I got it, hey the water level in the sump is dropping and the water level in the tank is back up again. That was fast. ME:
She only sees one Occellaris and describes what sound like my cleaner shrimp. She then sees the damsel but nothing else. I still have 3 days left of vacation before I know the full extent of the problem. I get home Sunday night and while unpacking the car, my daughter tells me that the fish tank is making a funny sound. I go in to find that the filter that had water coming out has been running dry for 3 days and is now shot. My losses include my yellow tang, the royal gramma, one clownfish, all my Xenia, all my GSPs, the feather duster, numerous Zoos, all the shrimp and so far 1 emeral crab. The tank had been sitting without power for possibly a week. Both engineer gobies, along with one clown and that darned damsel survived. The only thing that could have possibly gone wrong was to lose power and I lost power?
more and more i'm thinking i'm going to just buck up and have one of the LFS in the area come and check on my tank while away.
