Were going on a two week long vacating in about two weeks from now. I have purchased a fish mate F14 auto feeder and a Marine Magic ato. Both work great except when I use freshwater for the top off it lowers the salinity of the tank so I'm not sure what to do about that. Also there isn't anyone that can check up on the tank for us and there isn't enough time for some we know to learn everything that the tank needs. If anyone has any other suggestions for ways I should prepare the tank I would greatly appreciate it.
The tank is a bc 14 with a young pair of ocellaris and a snail and some hermit crabs.
Hi - enjoy the vacation. That is job one. Job two, and you are not going to like this, but please, please, please do whatever you can to have someone stop by and take a look at the tank while you are gone. If there isn't time to find a pet sitter who can stop by once a day to look find one that maybe can stop by should you text. Or if all that fails find a camera you can quickly set up to remove view on your own then call someone.
Years ago we went on a vacation, family reunion, so all of us are out at the same time. Enter Ca politics and ENRON, and power manipulation, brown outs, and vacation you can see a issue building here, right? Yeah, I'm out, family is out, extended family is out, power fails, AC breaker trips, house goes from 78 degrees to 100 plus in less than an hour, and trouble starts. I planned top off container for A and heat with faster evaporation went to Z which means it went bingo empty sooner. Sump dry, pumps seized, display went lower, no movement and excessive heat lost it all.
All that I needed was a neighbor to check or a pet sitter and I'd still have the tank today probably. I don't because I didn't plan properly. So I'm just sort of tossing it out there that while I understand you may not have time try and put something in place if possible. If that doesn't work make sure you check everything before you leave and size the ATO with room for extra just to be safe.
