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

[BillyW]

1. Do you have a contingency plan in case you are unable to care for your reef tank?
Not yet, haven’t left it for more than a week since I got back into the hobby. Last tank my wife would take care of when I was deployed, doubt she will want to next time. Cross that bridge when it comes.

2. Have you ever faced a situation where you couldn't take care of your tank?
Yes, it sucks, but for the most part Apex can keep you posted on a lot of data. They need a Nitrate and Phosphate monitor, and then it would be super easy!

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

I have an apex with 100 gallons of fresh and salt to control if I am coherent, if something were to happen beyond that, my parents took care of my reef for 2 years while I was out of the country, last case scenario a good friend of mine and I had a coral shop 5 years ago and he would come help if called upon

 

[G Santana]

Many years ago I had two good friends who I would have entrusted the entire tank to, but alas I have no reefing friends any longer.
So If it's in a few years I hope my daughter would continue with the charge if not I have no contingencies

 

[vetteguy53081]

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

Yes- have a couple dependable/experienced persons especially when vacationing to take care of needs.

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

No - Kidding me . . . . . .


NO REEF =

 

[SY2932]

I had to go on the road for work on June the 27th. Since then, I have driven 24,873 miles as of today. On top of that, I only get to go home one day a week . My wife was handling our 55G mostly FOWLR until she got COVID bad in September and had to go into the hospital . Fortunately she recovered and is back home . But our tank is in the basement and stairs put the hurt on her.

Already had an ATO doing it's thing so I just used bigger bucket. Had an autofeeder that we had never used but it got pressed into service. Drilled a hole in the side of the Reef Octopus skimmer collection cup and ran a hose to a jug so that it could drain. Also have two cameras on the tank so that I can keep an eye on everything.

We currently have no automation on the tank. If it was a full blown reef, I probably would have taken in down since I don't know when I will be back home...

 

[Fredinva]

YES, I have a plan.
I've been an aquarian off/on since 1954. Yes I'm old. I'll be 75 in December. I was talking to my LFS owner after I set up my recent 125 FOWLR/DC. Btw, that's Fish only with live rock and dead coral. My wife couldn't keep up with all the maintenance so we made a deal that if I should pass, the lfs would take everything and give my wife 50% of the proceeds. Sounds good to me!!

 

[DeniseAndy]

I have no plan. Really should think about one. I mean, 210g main display with 60+ sump, 40g and 20g display with 20g sump and a 6g tank. I need a plan.

My tanks run pretty well on their own. Except for refilling the food every month or so and of course giving daily frozen and algae sheets. I go on 2 week vacations annually and usually everything (okay, most things) is just fine when I come back. We do have a house sitter for the dog and the tanks though. Mainly feeding tanks and calling if anything is weird or wet.

If I become unable to reef, I better be on a beach home in Caribbean or Hawaii. Otherwise, I guess my husband will call a friend reefer and have him deal with it. I have a couple. Plus a fish store he knows about. Pretty sure he would have it gone quickly. Not his thing at all.

 

[flyfisher2]

Interesting answers. I don't want to sound too morbid but I lived through this with Cory-girl back in 2013. She chose to come home instead of hospice care and while we discussed where to place the hospital bed she crawled up the stairs and made it to her own bed next to the reef tank. She passed there two weeks later.
I continued the aquarium and to this day I continue the hobby with no intentions of leaving. When my day comes I hope one of my girls will pick up the baton. My new wife likes the way it looks but finds the care end of it overwhelming. I in turn find the water testing and such relaxing. Go figure.

 

[Karen00]

1. No and I live in fear of something happening to me where I can't take care of my tank. In thinking about this now my first plan would be to find local reefers (via this site) that can take my livestock and failing that my LFS (but I would prefer local reefers take them).
2. No, thankfully other than the occasional migraine that has kept me from feeding for a day.

 

[Auquanut]

1. Do you have a contingency plan in case you are unable to care for your reef tank?
I voted yes. I am fortunate to have family close by, and we all support each other. My son knows how to maintain my tanks (FW and reef) in the short term. Dosing, testing, ATO, AWC, etc... My wife can handle the daily tasks. If something happens to me, as long as I can communicate, my tanks will survive.

If something catastrophic or terminal happens, my wife knows who to call (we've actually talked about this). There are 2 LFS's that I trust that I'm sure would clear out my tanks, equipment and livestock. If she can get a little money from them, that's great, and I'm equally sure she would. But honestly, if we find ourselves in that sort of situation, there will be more important things to think about.

2. Have you ever faced a situation where you couldn't take care of your tank?
The longest I've had to rely on others to care for my tanks is 2 weeks. Haven't had a problem yet.

 

[Karen00]

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.

+1 to this.

 

[Sunny in Miami]

While I don't really have a disaster plan for my aquarium, I would like to share an event that did happen to me last year.
I went in to emergency with severe abdominal pain and I thought I would at least be out by 8 hours or so. Not the case. Didn't happen. I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days. Not bad but I feed my fish 2x day mostly because of a spotted mandarin that I purchased because the LFS told me would take care of my flat worms. Not the case either, and so that she doesn't die that is how she is fed. My aquarium is 29 gallon reef with an Aquatop canister filter. I have no sump and no ATO. So I manually top off twice daily and since I don't have a cover on the tank with the a/c here in florida evaporation rate is really fast.
When I got back from the hospital the mandarin was fed minimally but was o.k. and the aquarium lost at least 1 gallon and a 1/2 of fresh water or more.
While my brother did his best to feed the mandarin but forgot that I also top off the water 2 x daily. This is why I am thinking of getting an ATO for emergencies but I am undecided yet because I have heard some bad stories about them.
I did get an auto feeder for the other fish but that doesn't help the mandarin. So I have to find another solution for her.

 

[lefkonj]

I think the question is: short term or long term care. My tank could cruise with very little care for 2 weeks no problem. If you are talking months, then my plan would be to sell it all.

 

[snorklr]

if i couldnt take care of it , it would be game over...my wife might be able to keep it afloat for a while if there was a lot more automation but idk if she'd even want to try....now rev , you should be asking these questions to all the high school kids out there trying to start reef tanks who are invariably going to go to college and start a job...are they going to commute to a community college and spend the rest of their life in their parents house for the sake of their tank or let it wither away under their moms care while they go away ....

 

[CoralB]

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

Was that with remote water changes as well?

 

[Reefvision]

I have no contingency plan at this time unfortunately. I have to make the effort to join a local reef club and hope that they would have members who would be willing to help in this type of situation. My Wife would be really happy to know that everything will be ok with this. She loves to “Look” at the tanks, but has no idea how to care for it etc..

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

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

Sell of the fish, but keep the equipment if possible.

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

Not yet, luckily.

 

[Tamberav]

Kind of… I am pregnant so I am removing my SPS and a bunch of LPS and replacing with easy soft corals cuz I know I will neglect the tank and rather have a nice softy tank then a neglected mixed tank.

 

[Tamberav]

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

Sounds like me and your wife should hang out! In the off chance that you drop dead.

 

[Paul B]

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.