Vacation and your aquarium

[Fishf00d]

I drove 16 hours from Alabama to Pennsylvania two days ago. I'm just hanging out and thought about my tank. I recently got back into the hobby and it's only a biocube 14 and doesn't have any fish yet, but I do have a couple hundred dollars of zoas and acans. I'm not really concerned cause I have a spectra pure ato and someone stopping by to make sure the top off tub is filled.

I know there is so much equipment out there to automate our systems but sometimes you need a human to check in. Since I don't have any fish I'm not concerned with overfeeding. Now I did notice all of Alabama is in a tornado warning today. A power outage does scare me.

Anyone have any horror stories or other tips and tricks that you use when out of town?

What is your favorite fail safe piece of equipment? I may slowly start adding controllers and monitors.

 

[den75]

I drove 16 hours from Alabama to Pennsylvania two days ago. I'm just hanging out and thought about my tank. I recently got back into the hobby and it's only a biocube 14 and doesn't have any fish yet, but I do have a couple hundred dollars of zoas and acans. I'm not really concerned cause I have a spectra pure ato and someone stopping by to make sure the top off tub is filled.

I know there is so much equipment out there to automate our systems but sometimes you need a human to check in. Since I don't have any fish I'm not concerned with overfeeding. Now I did notice all of Alabama is in a tornado warning today. A power outage does scare me.

Anyone have any horror stories or other tips and tricks that you use when out of town?

What is your favorite fail safe piece of equipment? I may slowly start adding controllers and monitors.

Favorite fail safe piece of equipment is a Generac whole house standby generator.

 

[LiveWire]

+1 on a whole house generator as well as having a tank sitter that can drop in once every day or two.

 

[Fishf00d]

Yea living on the Gulf Coast and having tropical storms or hurricanes every year I need to invest in one of these. Plan on moving within 5 yrs so I'm not sure if I want to add one on this house. I'll never recover the cost in my housing market.

And with a 14 gal biocube I can plug one pump into a normal generator and be good.

I did lose an entire 135 during Ivan but I'm not sure a whole house generator would have done much good. Had a tree smash half the house and it wasn't livable. Couldn't get it repaired for 2 months either.

 

[sawdonkey]

I'm heading to Belize for 10 days.

-I bought a foscam so I can monitor everything.
-My fish feeder will put in pellets three times per day.
-I made a home made skim locker.
-My neighbor will stop by about three times to feed frozen and to will let me know if there is a problem.
-I'll have the owner of my LFS on call if there is a problem.
-I'll fill up my 45 gallon brute with kalk rather than use my typical ATO (20 gallons that lasts about 5-6 days)

I'm a little nervous, but I think I've got the bases covered.

 

[kendavjac]

You are doing everything I do. Only suggestion: Post the phone # to a good local fish store that will come out help if an emergency does come up. Had a return pump fail once while I was on vacation. LFS guy came out and hooked up a temporary pump at no cost. This is either a indication of how good his customer service is or I spend way to much $$$ there.

 

[gcrawford]

Apex controller, foscam (Multiple), and whole house generator. Earlier this year when I went to the beach I had a not-so dependable return pump on my 75. I put a spare return pump in my sump connected to a hose and routed to the display. In case the main return locked up (It has before) I could turn the spare pump on with my apex controller. One foscam was focused on the sump water level and display water level. If the sump went up and the display went down I could turn on the spare pump. This could also be done automatically with float switches.
Otherwise, battery backup on my wave pumps.....

 

[maroun.c]

an Ip camera to have a look on how tank is doing, Controller, a reefer friend who knows your system quite well to come and check, battery backup or UPS... Can all help.