Upcoming Travel/ tank suggestions while away

[TinyReefObsession]

Hi All, I will be away from home for 13 days (i’m terrified lol), and am hoping to get some suggestions on how to best set up the tank before I go. I have a small tank (biocube 14), with protein skimmer, filter fiber, bio balls, live rock, & ~1 inch sand bed. Water changes every 8-10 days (11days if i’m falling apart lol).

Am I right in thinking I should
- put some fresh carbon in the sump before I go, since they will be fed pellets for 13 days?
- And remove the filter fiber (since it will not be changed while I’m away)?
- …and slightly larger water change just before leaving?

I have never done any testing (although I’m intrigued!), I was just told to keep to the water changes. Is there a particular (easy to use/ read) test I can do to see what my numbers are at 11+ days before I go?

If 13 days is too long there’s a local service I can try to schedule to come & do a vacation checkup (dose/ top up) i think they’ll even clean it too! Haha Not that I get much algae… TIA for the suggestions & apologies if I missed anything!

EDIT: tank inhabitants! Duh! Lol 2 clowns, 1 big condy (hosting), a bunch of mushrooms, 3 hermits, 2 bumblebee snails, & 1 nassarius snail… lots of microfauna (pods, ball anemones, brittle stars, common fireworms & regular bristles)

 

[zfisk]

Carbon in the sump will not remove any nitrates or phosphates from leftover food and fish waste. Activated carbon helps remove unwanted chemicals and contaminants from the water. Water changes are great, but are even better with testing. Testing helps improve your knowledge of the water chemistry and what is going on inside the tank. An auto top off is really helpful for vacations to keep salinity stable. As far as testing kits I’ve really like the Red Sea foundation Pro kit for calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. The Hannah ULR phosphate checker for phosphate. Salifert PH test kit. And for salinity you can’t get any more accurate than a hydrometer as long as you measure outside the tank or with all of the flow off. Hope this helps and you have a good trip!

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Carbon in the sump will not remove any nitrates or phosphates from leftover food and fish waste. Activated carbon helps remove unwanted chemicals and contaminants from the water. Water changes are great, but are even better with testing. Testing helps improve your knowledge of the water chemistry and what is going on inside the tank. An auto top off is really helpful for vacations to keep salinity stable. As far as testing kits I’ve really like the Red Sea foundation Pro kit for calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. The Hannah ULR phosphate checker for phosphate. Salifert PH test kit. And for salinity you can’t get any more accurate than a hydrometer as long as you measure outside the tank or with all of the flow off. Hope this helps and you have a good trip!

Ah thanks! Will skip the carbon & let the CUC, skimmer, etc do their thing.appreciate the test kit recs! I definitely need to learn more about the water, since i plan to get a new tank in a few mos (condy needs it!), and expect to have ATO on the new one - looking forward to some upgrades- but have to learn about cycling/ testing first for sure many thanks!!!

 

[zfisk]

Ah thanks! Will skip the carbon & let the CUC, skimmer, etc do their thing.appreciate the test kit recs! I definitely need to learn more about the water, since i plan to get a new tank in a few mos (condy needs it!), and expect to have ATO on the new one - looking forward to some upgrades- but have to learn about cycling/ testing first for sure many thanks!!!

It’s pretty common practice to always run some carbon, even if it’s a small amount. It can save your pets from contaminants that you might never know we’re even in the tank! The filter media that will help you remove nutrients from the water is granular ferric oxide or GFO. It is very effective and I don’t recommend using it unless you’re testing the water. You can easily bottom out your nitrates and phosphates to 0 which would starve your corals, and can promote nuisance algae.