Holiday Questionnaire - How does everyone cope?

[Tony Quinn]

I know most of you guys are based in the States, and your vacation allowances are somewhat different to ours in Europe, but how do you cope with going away and maintaining a delicate reef tank? I enjoy about 6 weeks vacation a year and it costs me in Dollar terms $45 an hour for a guy to check daily my tanks, feed the fish, carryout water changes (more applicable to my discus tank and its daily 20% water changes!). Every break I take I worry about the risk of a power cut, which would drain the syphon on my sump etc etc etc. You cant really ask a neighbor or relative to be responsible for a complex reef set-up and to learn in an hour to look for x,y and z everyday. How do you guys do it?

 

[Chucker]

If the tank is pretty healthy and has been well-maintained in the past, you can go away for roughly a week without any problems. All you need is an automatic topoff and a lighting timer.

For longer periods, the easiest way is to set up a support group of sorts. Our loosely organized local club uses its forum to post potential vacation times, and we cover each other when someone's away. This can be as simple be as an emergency number for a friend or relative to call if something goes wrong while they're watching the tank up to giving someone a key to feed and do maintenance over longer periods. It's pretty much an "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" kind of deal, but it works out fairly well.

 

[Tony Quinn]

That sounds great Chucker, unfortunately the number of reefkeepers where I live is minimal (45 Sq mile island) and there are no clubs or societies. I do have timed lighting etc but the top-up system is not in place as my 3 tanks are basically holding tanks whilst I plan my replacement to the 300g tank tragically lost in February if you remember. I still treat the livestock the same and all the corals have recovered fully but the placement is temporary and I haven't a top up system, only daily drip feed containers with Kalk, Iodine and Coral Accel. Also, power cuts or problems with equipment even over the period of a week could wipe out a tank. The discus are extremely demanding time wise! Any simple ideas for a DIY top up system could be helpful though!