Do you have a Contingency Plan in case you can't reef?

Do you have a contingency plan in case you are unable to care for your reef tank?

  • YES (tell us in the thread)

    Votes: 48 37.2%
  • NO

    Votes: 75 58.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 6 4.7%

  • Total voters
    129
My spouse swears the day after I drop dead she's listing everything on Craigslist for $1

Actually ran my entire tank for 16 days remotely from 750 miles away while on vacation. Used Apex and Wyze cameras. 100% successful
Good to know that is possible.
 
it’s definitely something to think about. I never did because of good health all my life. But two years ago I was diagnosed with throat cancer and had to have radiation and chemo treatments. I could no longer keep up with the maintenance. I lost a lot and had my son take the tank down.
if you have family members, teach them how. But it’s hard to teach them if they could care less about it.
 
Yes I have a plan, I even wrote it down while I was in the hospital once. Now I can not find it. I call the plan my fish tank will.

Basically my system is a low maintenance. I would only need someone to feed and change the filter socks during the first week. My spouse and neighbor can handle that for the first week.

The second week I would have to call in a fish buddy, that would require the above plus cleaning the skimmer and set up the auto water change and fill the ATO

The third week would be much of the same plus checking the levels of the dosing containers.

If something breaks it would either be a fish buddy resolve or if a fish buddy did not know, then it would be a call for the LFS.

Have I used my contingency plan, yes.
 
I have a friend who steps in for feeding when I am out of town. He has also observed the tank with an inexperienced eye.

But recently I made a series of videos about maintenance on each aspect of the tank. Skimmer, refugium, return pump, in tank circulation, automatic top off system, automatic water change system. That about covers it. Oh, and he would still feed the fish.

I begin each video with a description of what it looks like if the section is not functioning correctly. Followed up by an explanation of why this is happening and then how to correct it.

He has all of those videos on his mobile device.

It certainly was a challenge. But I sleep much better at night.
 
I have never sold anything out of my tank but I will give it away. I don't know anyone near here with a tank so I may give it all the the Public Aquarium near here.

We may take a fairly long vacation this winter and If we do, my tank may crash. A tank sitter will just feed them but knows nothing about problems or if it runs out of water.

If that happens, there won't be anything to give away except a smelly bunch of water. :(

The last time I went away for a week my tank sitter let the water level fall about 7" and didn't notice.
I lost all my big acropora and many other corals, but the fish seemed to enjoy the added salinity. :rolleyes:
Maybe auto top up to be safer ?
 
Maybe auto top up to be safer ?
I have an auto top off. :D
In those days it wasn't perfect and it must have gotten an air bubble in it or something as it failed.

My new auto top off I built now hasn't failed in 4 years so I doubt that will be a problem this time. At least I hope not. :cool:
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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