What do you do when..

Kristin1234

Kristin1234

Active Member
You leave town for vacation or whatever reason? We are going to be leaving for a week over the summer and I have no idea what to do about my tank!

What if something happens?

I can count on the in laws to feed the fish, and probably too it off but what if they do something wrong?

Just looking for what you guys and gals do.
 
Bryce E

Bryce E

Active Member
I just left for a week and someone fed my tank. It wasn't a problem. However not to make the "worry wart" in you panic but my friend has a 600 gallon tank that completely crashed when he was on vacation for a week. The chiller stopped working and he runs halides and it cooked everything in the tank. Over 5k worth of livestock... very sad day. But... Nobody checked his tank and he had an automated feeder. So if someones at least looking every day and you tell them what to look for. Leaks, water temp, dead fish. I can't imagine anything could go south on you in a week as far as your water parameters are concerned. (your tank is fairly large) If you're not running halides or you don't have anything poisonous in your tank that could die and and kill everything else off. But this is the reason that I want an Apex controller. It will send you alerts if anything is wrong and you can control pumps, lights and other things right from your phone wherever you're at. I want to own my tank. I don't want my tank to own me... lol. seems like they do though.
 
Kristin1234

Kristin1234

Active Member
Bryce E said:
I just left for a week and someone fed my tank. It wasn't a problem. However not to make the "worry wart" in you panic but my friend has a 600 gallon tank that completely crashed when he was on vacation for a week. The chiller stopped working and he runs halides and it cooked everything in the tank. Over 5k worth of livestock... very sad day. But... Nobody checked his tank and he had an automated feeder. So if someones at least looking every day and you tell them what to look for. Leaks, water temp, dead fish. I can't imagine anything could go south on you in a week as far as your water parameters are concerned. (your tank is fairly large) If you're not running halides or you don't have anything poisonous in your tank that could die and and kill everything else off. But this is the reason that I want an Apex controller. It will send you alerts if anything is wrong and you can control pumps, lights and other things right from your phone wherever you're at. I want to own my tank. I don't want my tank to own me... lol. seems like they do though.
Click to expand...

Holy carp. Tell me about this apex!
 
Bryce E

Bryce E

Active Member
Think of it as a computer for your tank. You can connect tons of stuff to it... pumps, heaters, lights, reactors, feeders etc... connect it the internet as well and monitor/control your tank remotely. you can watch your ph and do all sorts of stuff and from you laptop, tablet or phone see what's going on with your system as well as control things wherever you are as well. they can be pretty pricey depending upon what you get. But I def want one. I think you can pick up good ones between $300 and $500.

I seen a guy with a large tank that also connected remote controlled waterproof web cams to the tank so that he could check everything out beyond just the readings..lol pretty ridic. money to burn I guess.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I have an apex on my system. I like it a lot. I control my lights, my heater/temp and I have a feed cycle on my return pump. If the temp gets too hot, it not only cuts off the heater but also the lights. I have to hook it up to the Internet and update the firmware, but straight out of the box it's a useful system. I might buy the accessories for my little unit eventually.

I have an auto top off system that is connected to my RO unit, so I don't even worry about having to top off my tank. Just gotta make sure it's clean and managed.

If I'm going out of town, I portion out the feedings individually for whoever is taking care of the tank.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Beware that the full Apex units ($500) don't come with the pH probe. You should shop around and see your best deal. It's like having a computer monitor your tank. Heck, you can even monitor and control it from your phone while your on vacation. You also have to have a computer to fully access all of the features of the unit.

A full apex is also expandable I think. You can monitor multiple tanks in different setups.
 
kopczynski

kopczynski

Member
I was just away for just under a week. I hade an automatic feeder feeding pellets to my display, and cut up nori to my qt tank. I liked the ehiem auto feeder, i am now using it daily. I added a small amount of top off water before a i left to help with keeping salinity in check. I have a ReefKeeper lite system running my pumps and heater, im looking to add an auto top off this summer. Also am interested in more probes for the ReefKeeper, but im more interested in spending the money on live stock at the moment.
 
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