What to do during vacation

[richarddeweerd]

Hi, I'm going on a 10 day vacation in a few weeks and what can I do for my tank to survive. My dad will come over daily to feed the fish, check the skimmer and the ato tank. but he is relatively in experienced.

Can I do more to be better prepared for this?
For example should I put the lights in acclimatization mode to make sure that the algae growth is minimized

 

[...]

Get your dad to wipe the glass to, not a hard job and I'd recommend do a water change before you leave, clean everything like skimmers, almost needing a cleaning pumps, filters etc,

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Do as much preventative maintenance before hand as possible. Do a decent water change a few days BEFORE you leave so that if anything bad happens, you’re there to correct it. I wouldn’t change anything with dosing or anything that might need adjusting so that there is less of a chance of problems related to that.

I’d make a 10% water change and have it ready just in case your dad needs to do a WC, along with some ATO water. Makes it way easier than having him make some.

Also, for peace of mind, are you going somewhere where you’ll have cell service? If so, he can call you if he needs help. I’m sure everything will be a-okay!

I’ve left my reef unattended for 6 days before and had no issues. I stocked pods a few weeks before that just so the fish would have something to eat while I was away because I have no one who could take care of it while I was gone.

 

[GabeM]

I was just gone for 7 days on a trip and used a huge ATO so all that needed to be done by my workmates was the feeding. Everything went swimmingly.

 

[Afrashz]

Buy a Wyze cam, their like 25$ bucks on amazon and you can even get them at places like Home Depot now. It will give you a live feed of your tank from anywhere in the world as long as your home where the tank is has WiFi!! This may give you some peace of mind.

 

[ScottB]

I will reiterate one thing that has been said:

In the two days leading up to departure, NO CHANGES of any kind. Any changes should have a chance to "settle" before you go.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do good water change and test water 2 days prior to leaving to assure all are on track. I suggest to take baggies and measure portions marking them Mon, Tues and so forth so tank is not overfed.
You can also buy yourself a cheap $49 indoor survelliance camera and monitor/watch tank from your phone. Then if your dad needs to talk to you, you can see what he is referring to.