Non-Tank Related Issues While on Vacation

[dbl]

I wrote an article a few of years ago providing some guidelines for preparing for vacation. Well I thought that I had captured most of the items, and what wasn’t mentioned, was brought up in the ongoing discussions.

Well I just got back from being gone for ten days and while I was away (actually on the second day) I was reminded of one item I hadn’t thought of. My controller alerted me that the temperature in the tank was rising. Fired up the webcam and noticed the lights were not on in the middle of the day. Checked and noticed the heater was not stuck on. Sent my tank sitter (aka daughter) to the house to discover the house was up to 90 degrees!!!

Turns out the house A/C decided to go on vacation along with us! It was repaired within 24 hours, on a Sunday – so a $15 part cost me $275…lol. Tank temperature got to 87 but thus far it doesn’t appear to have done any major damage.

This got me wondering…we plan, plan and plan, and yet, things can still go astray. Wondering if others have experienced issues while away that were not technically tank related. Figured I would throw a poll up and see what others say.

I guess the moral of the story is to add having your home A/C serviced to the list of items to prepare for vacation!

 

[Peter Clark]

I assume a temp probe could work fine outside of water, so maybe have one outside the tank and stand to measure room temp and alert you if it gets too hot (or cold in winter).

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Same. Our A/C broke and the house got up to 94 degrees. My tank overheated and I lost pretty much all my coral. Oddly enough, all the fish were fine.

 

[dbl]

I assume a temp probe could work fine outside of water, so maybe have one outside the tank and stand to measure room temp and alert you if it gets too hot (or cold in winter).

I'm glad you brought this up as I actually wondered about that last week while I was away. I too assume it would work outside of the water but does anyone know for sure?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Needs a “Never took a vacation” option

 

[dbl]

Needs a “Never took a vacation” option

I added it...lol.

 

[fish farmer]

I remember coming home from a short out of state trip to a tree down in front of my house knocking power out to the whole road. There were multiple outtages in my area of the state. We were without power for 3 days. It was April so it wasn't super cold but the GF didn't want to camp out at the house so we went to a motel 15 miles away. I didn't have a generator at the time.

My tank was more a FOWLR at the time, don't think I lost any fish.


I've also had the heat wave while on vacation, with a tank sitter present but no A/C.....sometimes Vermont doesn't get summer, lived without one for years.

 

[cmcimino]

ATO overflow switch got stuck, and did not top off water for 4 days. I was dosing Kalk through my ATO at the time. Pump ran dry for who knows how long, alkalinity dropped to 5.6, water was not being heated so my water temp lowered. Ended up having a bunch of pale receded corals when I got home. 90% recovered, but lost a couple of pieces.

I now have a wifi camera in my sump area, and a lockbox with a key I put out in case I need someone to swing by and help me out.

 

[andrewkw]

Normally when I go away I leave 2 full gas cans and extension cords throughout my house leading to my tanks. That way a neighbor can just pull my generator out of the shed start it and follow the extension cords (I also leave tape on everything that needs to be plugged in). Last October I was away 2 days for a wedding. A few days prior there was a planned outage to upgrade the grid. So I burned through most of my gas and did not bother to fill everything up. Nor did I leave all the extension cords out.

Sure enough lost power and my neighbor had to come over, I had to explain to him what to plug and. Thankfully the outage was only a few hours and I did not have to send him to the gas station. To this day I feel bad asking him to do all this but it was either that or let everything die.

 

[MnFish1]

I wrote an article a few of years ago providing some guidelines for preparing for vacation. Well I thought that I had captured most of the items, and what wasn’t mentioned, was brought up in the ongoing discussions.

Well I just got back from being gone for ten days and while I was away (actually on the second day) I was reminded of one item I hadn’t thought of. My controller alerted me that the temperature in the tank was rising. Fired up the webcam and noticed the lights were not on in the middle of the day. Checked and noticed the heater was not stuck on. Sent my tank sitter (aka daughter) to the house to discover the house was up to 90 degrees!!!

Turns out the house A/C decided to go on vacation along with us! It was repaired within 24 hours, on a Sunday – so a $15 part cost me $275…lol. Tank temperature got to 87 but thus far it doesn’t appear to have done any major damage.

This got me wondering…we plan, plan and plan, and yet, things can still go astray. Wondering if others have experienced issues while away that were not technically tank related. Figured I would throw a poll up and see what others say.

I guess the moral of the story is to add having your home A/C serviced to the list of items to prepare for vacation!

This is a good reminder. I thought I had everything 'in line' - Apex, everything stable, etc. It was the first time we decided not to have a 'full time' house sitter. The EB on ny Apex went out - and everything was 'off' on my apex I noticed the temp was 'dropping' (but didnt get an alarm) - The house sitter said 'the water seems cold'. Thinking I could solve the problem with merely getting a new heater I sent her to the store for one. When she came back she casually mentioned 'oh - why aren't the lights on'. I said - they should be - turns out everything was off. Another neighbor came and tried to fix it - but quite a bit of stuff was lost. We have a generator now - and a full time sitter with written instructions....

 

[Neo Jeo]

Ugh. Im going on a 11 day vacation in 2 days.. I did not want this poll lol...

I got everything set. If my temp goes up I have fans that kick on and my inkbird will text me something is wrong. I also can turn my AC on when Im away.

 

[Gopi]

In college, I kept FW planted tanks and lived in house that had been converted into apartments. For whatever reason, the thermostat for the WHOLE building was in one of the apartments- they had total control. Over the winter break, they left and turned the heat off- not down. I had left for a few days and when I got back the whole building was less than 50 degrees, my neighbors had frozen pipes, and my whole tank had died.

A couple summers ago, I had a temporary move for about 2 months and had a house sitter. Of course, the skimmer broke shortly after we left, she thought the rapidly growing bryopsis and caluerpa was pretty, and didn't even mention dead/dying fish to me (or remove them from the tank...) I got back to a huge mess. A few days later, our AC broke and the entire HVAC system had to be replaced. The house was over 95 degrees for 4 days. I lost several corals from the heat, but not the algae!

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

July 2017 while snorkeling in hawaii, breaker to my system tripped? what the heck?! My house sitter came the next day to feed the fish but all my big ones were DOA. 9yo sailfin gone. Now I specialize in fail proofing.

It is my strong opinion that everyone should have this, or something similar! It is 99cents per month but it monitors room temp and water temp and will text and email you custom alerts for high and low temps. And if the power is out it will also notify you!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06ZYJ5L5B/ref=psdcmw_7491105011_t2_B0081UR76G

I have a wifi power strip and a camera. Return pump is on separate power circuit now and air stone starts on no power thanks to my daughter's power wheels battery and a 90-341 relay.

Being notified at the first sign of trouble has saved me since then and is priceless. And, I'm an a/c contractor which doesn't help if I'm out of town, but I would definitely reccomend new capacitors as they are inexpensive and very very common to fail.

 

[dbl]

...but I would definitely recommend new capacitors as they are inexpensive and very very common to fail.

And where were you a couple of weeks ago...lol. A capacitor is in fact what failed on my system and the reason for this thread. Parts inexpensive...Sunday labor not so much.

 

[smartwater101]

Flying out for a week tomorrow. Finally have an Apex and auto feeders.

Really worried the Apex will disconnect and need a hard reset. Everything in my place stays connected no problem but not the Apex. (Neptune, as usual, insists its not on their end)

When traveling before, all ive had is a camera to check in on the sump level. So ultimately it should be fine..... i hope....

 

[timrocks311]

Was lucky last year. I had the LFS watch my tank and had no issues.

Now I'm leaving for vacation in three days. I hope I'm lucky again.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

And where were you a couple of weeks ago...lol. A capacitor is in fact what failed on my system and the reason for this thread. Parts inexpensive...Sunday labor not so much.

The DIY labor on a capacitor is "shockingly" easy. But it definitely helps to have an extra capacitor on hand. Trying to get one shipped to you while your A/C is out sucks!

I've considered getting a Nest thermostat for our house. Sometimes we leave for weeks in the winter time and in Cali it can fluctuate from a 95 degree winter day to a 20 degree winter day in a matter of a week. I usually leave the the thermostat set to either cool or heat, but I can't do both!

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

And where were you a couple of weeks ago...lol. A capacitor is in fact what failed on my system and the reason for this thread. Parts inexpensive...Sunday labor not so much.

Yeah, one of my neighbors had some big companies come out for bad capacitor and they almost sold them an entire new system. They said it was probably going to just break again... unbelievable!!!! Luckily I was able to go fix it for them as I ran over there waving my hands in the air yelling, Noooo, dont do it! Lol.

Flying out for a week tomorrow. Finally have an Apex and auto feeders.

Really worried the Apex will disconnect and need a hard reset. Everything in my place stays connected no problem but not the Apex. (Neptune, as usual, insists its not on their end)

I have had a few issues with this on my wifi power strip for the 3 years in use but never with the lacrosse mobile alerts. It has a module that plugs into the ethernet on your router and a second module that you can place at the tank which is battery powered. I'm going on my third year with it and I've only had to change the batteries once.

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

I usually leave the the thermostat set to either cool or heat, but I can't do both!

Yeah, having an auto changeover is great. You can get some reasonably priced thermostats that have this function too.

 

[ReefGeezer]

We get away regularly but usually not more than a few days, maybe a week. We were gone for 10 days on vacation last summer and all went well. As I travel some for work, the tank is set up to operate by itself for about 3 weeks a time. It runs itself and has some battery back-up. I have a web cam I turn on when we're away and there are people I can call if I see something looks wrong.

That said, I've been lucky. No leaks, hoses popping off, prolonged power outages, dead pumps, malfunctioning dosing pumps or heaters, or etc. have challenged my set-up... yet!