Leaving my aquarium for the first time. Ahhhh

[DiverGirl82]

So I'll be leaving my aquarium for the first time on Sat. I was planning a trip in Feb but I hoped to have an apex by then. Unfortunately my dad is having open heart surgery next week so I'm going to fly out to be with him. I'll be gone about a week. I've got a girl coming to take care of my dog and cat and she'll be taking care of my tank as well. Thankfully the few corals I have so far are photosynthetic and I think she can handle putting in a pinch of pellets twice a day for my two fish. What I'm a little worried about is my red serpent star. If it gets too hungry I'm afraid it might start eating my snails or hermits.

My nitrates have been hanging out around 8 and my phosphates .02. I'm going to test again in the morning. If they're still at those levels should I do a water change before I leave or would that possibly risk screwing things up when I won't be there to catch it?

 

[California Reef Co.]

You should put extra emphasis on the small amount of food you want your tanksitter to feed. People who don't keep reef aquariums don't understand the potential consequences of overfeeding but they also enjoy watching fish eat.

I would recommend doing a 25% water change before you go. Don't do any big changes before you leave. If relying on new equipment (auto top offs, auto feeders, timers, etc.), test them to make sure they work first.

Maybe consider feeding your starfish a big meal before leaving.

 

[gcarroll]

If you have someone feeding the tank. I would get a weeks worth of ziploc baggies to place the desired amount of food for each day. That will insure there is no overfeeding issues. I would be very careful with any maintenance before leaving. If you have a skimmer. Dump it before leaving but I would not clean it. don't make any changes.

 

[smh254]

I've left my house for 13 days on a couple different occasions and never had any problems. Just make sure I had enough water in my auto top off food in my Eheim fish feeder. Come home to a very dirty glass but once it was scraped off everything is fine. It's pretty nerve-racking not know what's going on with your tank. I now have an apex set up so any trips I take are a lot less nerve-racking.

 

[DiverGirl82]

Thank you all for the tips. I'll be spending most of the day tomorrow getting everything ready.

 

[clee36]

i luckily have a great friend to watch my tank. even though she isnt into the hobby, she learns from me and can handle the basics when im not there.
pre-portioning food is a must.
i cut up the frozen and put it in one of those daily pill containers.
everything portioned by day!

 

[argue.oa]

U can Use and old iPod or iPad or iPhone download presence app from the App Store and you can stream video 24 hours

 

[hingisp]

With my job I am away from home alot for extended periods. A week is not a problem at all for you. If anything, I do a water Change before leaving, clean skimmer, glass and put in new filter sock. Make sure the ATO is full of RO water. Then the morning I leave I put a grazer on the glass so the fish can eat which would last 24hrs..so they have had a good meal already for the first day or 2...expect the fish to be a little hungry when you get back and glass to be a bit dirty but no sweat... Relying on People to feed the tank is the week link in everything, they will overfeed... [emoji87] [emoji85]