How long can you leave your SPS tank unattended, without something dying?

[Acrotrdco]

I'm asking because I know a lot of reefers who went away on vacation, often come home to find out something's wrong with their tank, either something died, or the tank crashed.

I've been talking to local reefers who're running KZ ZEOvit systems, if they went away on vacation for just a few days, without having someone to help take care of their SPS tank, (as you know ZEOvit tanks requires a lot of husbandry to sustain, such as pumping the zeolite reactor, adding zeostart/zeobak daily - the VSV and bacteria) they'll often come back to their tank with something just bleached, or the N-cycle getting thrown out of balance, etc.

Some folks may went as far as setting up a fully automated system but it's not bullet proof. If you're away on vacation and really couldn't find anything to look after you tank for you, how long can your tank survive unattended?

I'll start with my own tank. I just left Singapore for 4 days 2 weeks ago, then a week later, I left for Phuket Thailand for another 5 days, leaving my tank totally unattended during such time, running only ATO, dosing pump and auto-feeder. I came home and to my relieve it's just the same as I left it, except some dino on the glass. I'm running NPBP so there's no zeolites that I need to pump and I don't need to dose VSV either, which helped minimize the maintenance needed.

I know my tank would last at most 7-10 days unattended, because my ATO have enough water reserve for 10 days (on humid days), and my Ca/KH additive would also last about 10 days as well. The longest I've attempted, is 5 continuous days.

This is the FTS after the 4+5 days vacation break:

 

[piusma]

I run Zeovit system on my tank and I would expect the water quality and such would be fine if I leave for 4 days. From what you describe that people often found their corals bleached appears that they have a high export of nutrients and required dosing to keep the corals healthy.

For my tank, rather than worrying about water quality issue, I'm actually worried that if I starve my fish, they'll start eating my clams and LPS. I once tried to reduce feeding to help with nutrients and my wrasse immediately start looking for alternative food sources (my clams!) and randomly picking on things inside my tank. I would never leave my tank without a tank sitter if I'm going more than 48 hours.

 

[Stanley-Reefer]

If I didn't have a capable tank sitter, I'd probably not have my tanks d/t work travel and vacationing. Murphy's law would get me--thats when a pump would die or skimmer would go nuts or timer would get stuck on lights:headwalls:

I've thought of total automation, but there's no fun in that:spin2:

I've gone to Steeler games on Friday and got back Sunday night--no feeding just my aquadose jugs and IV lines that I can dial in on the money.

 

[MAXreefer]

If I would leave for a longer period my concern wouldn't be just the dosing issue but also the eventual failure of hardware like return pumps, heaters, light etc. not talking about power outages.

Recently I had to leave for Europe for 2 weeks and during that period my return pump failed (which never happened before). Having my heaters in the sump the temperature went down very quickly in the display of course. Luckily enough my Apex sent out an alarm email to one of my buddies and he was able to come over to fix the issue very quickly.

I see you have a beautiful tank and it would be a disaster if something like this would happen to it.
I don't know where you live but over here we have some LFS offering "vacation services" at reasonable prices. You can arrange with them how many times a week they would check on the tank but if there is no need for real maintenance you can negotiate just an "emergency service". In case something goes wrong they would get an alarm email/sms from your controller and they would come over to look at the issue.

Just my thoughts
Michael

 

[rkaires]

I'm running full Zeo and go away a week at a time without issue. I just use a Eheim feeder for the fish and a Eheim liquid doser for my Start3.

 

[dvanacker]

My tank was completely unattended for 8days when I went on vacation. Not even a hiccup. I just have everything clean and automated....double,even triple check everything before I go.....fish feeder for the fish and Im gone. Scary feeling though.

Next time I will have someone on stand by and a webcam so I can check up on the tank.

 

[gofor100]

I don't run ZEO, just the basic dosing of Ca/Alk and heavy skimming. So I could probably go 2 weeks (probably longer), with an automatic feeder for the fish.

-Chad

 

[Paco]

I dose vinegar and Kalk through a LiterMeter from a 45 gallon reservoir (1 gallon per day). My ATO is plumbed direct to my RO/DI through a LeveLoc. The limiting factor for me would be cleaning the skimmer which I do every three to five days. I could stretch that to a week or even more but after a week, it's really producing very little as the neck is full of waste. With an auto-cleaning skimmer I could go even longer. Fortunately my mom lives with us an rarely leaves the house so I can press her to clean the skimmer once a week (she is not happy about it).

 

[sanchoy]

It really depends on your tank IMO.

If you have less fish, leaving your tank unattended is easier, as fish tend to knock down corals and create higher bio-load.

Personally, my system will not last more then 3 days without someone checking on it, due to my larger fish stock.

 

[Acrotrdco]

If you can train your fish to eat pellets then it'll be a lot easier, just put an auto-feeder and they should be fine for at least a week.

I didn't install a webcam because I knew if something happen, there's nothing I could do about but it'll ruin my vacation, so I triple checked everything then leave it hoping for the best

 

[gon08]

My issue is with Murphy and his stupid law. I can be gone for one day and something will go wrong. A few years back I took my daughter to Disney for one day. Drove up in the morning and was home by midnight..... turns out a cucumber freakishly got caught by the pump intake shredding it and killing every last fish in the tank.

 

[cthedaytrader]

I just left my tank alone for 11 days, I did have someone feeding the fish though (just flake food easily remedied if I bought an auto feeder I would think) but nothing else what so ever.

The tank was a little stressed when I got back, but I think thats because I was forced to have the tank topping off directly from the RO/DI unit everyday.

I run my tank with the Apex and had the ability to monitor and control it over the internet but I never had to intervene.

With that said, my old tank I left it for a week alone, and that was when I didnt have a sump, a snail over the float switch overflowed the tank, which tripped the GFI, no power in the tank and killed just about everything.

You never know, but with todays controllers, and with enough reduncancy it is getting easier to leave a tank unattended for longer periods of time without anything dieing.

But failer and your done. Its best to keep something off the controller like the return and atleast one good Powerhead this way of the controller fails you still have the PH and the return, or if the return fails you still have some flow in the tank from a PH or two etc.

 

[LifeAquatic]

My ATO is only 20 gallons and only last a week between refills. If I had 40 gal ATO and a fish feeder I could leave for 2 weeks no problem.

 

[xcorallusx]

I think as long as your ATO is full, your skimmer is clean, and you have an automatic fish cleaner, you can leave and have no problems for a week. If you have an apex, it also makes things easier. Even with all the automation, I still always want to have someone come over and feed the fish. That way they can get fed properly, and the person can see if anything doesn't look right. The biggest problem I've had when going on vacation is frags or corals getting knocked over and die.

 

[evoi19]

I could probably go a week or so w/o any problems. ATO will last around 9 or 10 days and I'd have to set my skimmer to skim super dry. I have enough 2part to last a long time and have extra dozing pumps ready to go to automate my zeovit supps.

 

[collie man]

I am leaving for Cabo next Thursday for a week and am slightly nervous about leave the tank alone. I will have someone coming over everyday to feed the fish but my SPS is another story. My ATO is large enough so all they will have to do is feed. Just nervous ya know?

I have left it for about a week a while ago and everything was fine. I think ill be good for a week or until my ATO runs out and my pumps run dry.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Interesting information folks!

I've a friend who'd fully automated his system because he's a firefighter and is always working on shifts.

This is his sump:

However it's still not bullet proof, he went on a vacation for a few days last year, came back to his tank crashed, because the chiller on/off switch was stuck and the chiller had been running non-stop for at least 1-2 days. Ouch.

 

[houser]

My tank has logged quite a few week-long trips and even a few 2-week trips. I get a little nervous I admit but not much I can do. Maintain equipment on regular cycles, 25 gallon top-off, phone numbers of friends on the board, and I don't do anything different right before I leave.

 

[NatureNerd]

Without any attention at all, 7 days is fine. I do it often. No autofeeder but auto topoff and a controller for light and temp management. If I am gone longer than that, I get someone to feed the fish. I have not had good luck with autofeeders as my fish don't seem to like pellets and the flakes quickly go into the overflow. I have 6 small fish in a 75g with a great pod population and just barely enough algae growth to keep the herbivores going. I have often wondered how long the tank could go with absolutely no care or added food.

I did add a security cam so that when I am away I can watch the tank. I know... I am obsessive.

 

[Arkayology]

I go out of the country for research every summer for 3 months and have had minimal problems. I have done this twice with only someone coming to fill up the ATO reservoir and feed the fish. Haven't lost a SPS colony yet *knock on wood*