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

[BKLYN651]

Crash and

 

[elcapitan1993]

I have a full apex controller keeping salinity,ph,orp,temperature in check, 2 Neptune DOS 1 for 2 part and 1 for auto water change, using the trident to test the basic three, Ghl profilux 4 mega set for probe redundancy and auto top off backup just in case my main ato fails and Ghl kh director for alkalinity redundancy and safe guarding, so I think I’m all set on now having to worry to much about my tank if I’m unable to care for it for short to mid term periods

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Just when I thought I was going to have a relaxing care-free weekend @revhtree has to ask this question!!

 

[LPS Bum]

Yes. Just in case my ice cream habit finally gets me, my wife knows to call my friend, who owns a nearby LFS. He'll break everything down and take the fish, corals and inverts with him.

Then all of my wife's problems magically go away.

 

[Abe K]

Complete instruction on how to feed are on the Fridge,my service company would pick up the rest.

 

[Scott97062]

LFS has a guy that will do maintenance. He is available if needed.

 

[luisgo]

My reef tank has been running since 1990! That's 31 years non-stop. Do I have a plan? Well many times the plan has to be modified. I am not one of those who travels a lot, nor do I change houses or get sick, which are probably the things that most affect keeping the aquarium running. It is complicated that I live in Puerto Rico where there have been several hurricanes and I have had to have a good plan so that the electricity doesn't fail. It is good if the family helps and to have good aquarist friends. How far will my aquarium go? Who knows. I started when I was 34 years old and I'm already 65!

 

[luisgo]

Please delete.

 

[chaoticreefer]

Yes, to save a lot of money, since there won't be a bottomless money pit anymore.

Joking aside, I have a reef friend that I am positive that will be there to break it down or give advice if called upon. Even though I have never asked him directly, I am pretty sure he will be there. I feel that we are that close, as I would do for him too if called upon. Not because he has way better coral than me...honest!

 

[H@rry]

Another local reefer and I have an agreement that if either one of us chokes on a chicken bone that I spouse call the other one. They will take whatever they want and then try to sell or give away whatever is left. Any excess money will go to the surviving spouse.

 

[StewL6]

Yes my contingency plan is my son he has more reef tanks then I do and knows my tanks pretty well. If it turns out long term pretty sure my LFS who help us out selling coral, fish and hardware if needed.

 

[reefsaver]

In a worst case scenario, I would relocate the tank and the livestock with family. And train them how to use the equipment and maintain everything. Although I have a giant 100 Gallon barrel that I found in hard waste collection, It was full of olives so I believe it's food grade. I've cleaned it heaps and have been meaning to save $550 for my first RODI Filter, once the barrel is full of RO water, I'll need to do a large salt purchase and look into some DIY auto water change setups to figure out how I can have the tank run hands free, buy a dosing system. Need moneyyy.

 

[Greybeard]

15 years or so back, my wife's father fell ill. She spent 6 months caring for him, I rarely saw her during this period. We had 4 young daughters, which were basically left to me to care for.

I had a fairly automated tank for the day, ATO direct to RO/DI filter, timers on the lights, etc. Beyond that, I fed 'em a couple times a week, 'bout all I had time for.

After 6 months of neglect, my beautiful reef was covered by watermelon mushrooms, which apparently really liked the dirty water. What wasn't covered by mushrooms was covered by C. Racemosa, which I had growing in my refugeum. Still had a few fishes, but that was it.

Tore it down, sold it off to my old reef club for pennies on the dollar, and was out of the hobby for a decade.

Sometimes, life intervenes in what we've got planned.

 

[DrewBR]

I might just face this in a couple months. I might have to move out and I'm unsure of if and how I could keep reefing. The timing couldn't be worse either. I'm in the middle of a big upgrade, Almost everything ready, just missing the display tank, which I was planning to assemble by the end of the month.

 

[Reef Outfit]

Can’t you hire someone from a lfs to do maintenance while you’re away?

Maybe there should be a classified in this forum, sorted by location, for people in this community who are willing and available to do maintenance for others for free or not. I would rather trust someone from this forum than an employee.

I would gladly help someone nearby in an emergency, if I have time.

 

[LA Reef Addict]

sell everything and pocket about 20k lol

 

[reefiniteasy]

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

I didn’t up until recently having Covid. My wife loves the tank but could never take care of it. It’s just not her thing. If anything major happens to me and the tank needs to be taken down my wife knows to go through my phone and find @Vinman She’ll have him come break down the tank and take it all. The funny thing is, I haven’t told him that, so now you know.

2. Have you ever faced a situation where you couldn't take care of your tank?

Having Covid recently. I couldn’t care for the tank for roughly 4 days. The tank survived, lost a few corals the other day that might have gone down hill starting during those 4 days. The whole ordeal is what made me think of the question. Thanks for using it @revhtree !

 

[Rich Klein]

I have a reliable service company that I use when on vacation that I would use I case I get sick and can’t attend to my tank.

 

[kingjames_dc5]

No I don’t at the moment. I’m pretty much a stay at home dad at the moment. My wife is the money maker. In the event of illness, being hospitalized or worse I’d be in trouble. My Wife would sell everything and go shoe shopping.

Yes i have but only for short vacations. I have managed to set up my tanks to be pretty much worry free During these times ato, cameras, smart plugs with wifi/app control etc. I portioned out food in Individual cups so the person feeding couldn’t mess that up. Works well for me.

 

[Proteus Meep]

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

No plan as such but I always run my tanks on the KISS principle, keeping my system as simple as possible makes things a lot easier in that situation , bar equipment failure all that would be required is RO top up and feeding the 2 little fish

2. Have you ever faced a situation where you couldn't take care of your tank?

Yes