if you had to leave your tank for 6 months...

am3gross

am3gross

New member
what would u do...? here is what is in the tank right now..

fish:
achillies tang
black mollie

corals:
just bought 13 small and i mean very small frags from mr. coral... all acros

inverts:
crabs
snails
cleaner shrimp

thats it for the live stock. i have my wife that is gonna take care of the tank for me. i have a few saltwater buddies that is gonna check in on the tank every once in a while to make sure its all doing well.. my topoff water is automated..
i guess i am a little nervous about leaving the tank in the wifes hands but the live stock is very minimal and i am thinking that with the small frags that she shouldnt have to much of a problem. she will be doing water changes 1x a month of about 25%. i just want to make sure that i am not forgetting anything. in all honesty i really want my achillies tang to survive while i am away. the corals that i just bought i thought would be cool if i bought them now and to see the size difference when i get back...

so my question is if you had to leave for 6 months what would you do to try and make your tank survive?
 
Well, you have a large volume of water with a very small bio-load so I think you can absolutely leave the tank in the wifes hands for 6 months. The only thing that really concerns me is the fully automated ATO. Will she be attentive enough to notice if it has malfunctioned, and would she know what to do to fix it?
 
Try to automate as much as you could, or even invest in a computer controlled system with SMS/email notification if you've got the budget.
 
If I were leaving for that amount of time, I'd seriously look into have a good maintenance guy do service once a month. If anything else for the peace of mind.
 
^ I agree. If you dont have one get a controller to automate as much as possible including the top off system, heaters, lights, pumps, dosing if you dose ca/alk all for safety. Teach the wife as much as possible about how to care for the tank, the equipment the runs it ect. If you have only a few fish and a 210g tank you should be alright with the proper steps taken.
 
you guys are all giving me a warm and fuzzy right now... she is use to the water.. i go out for weeks and sometimes months at a time now and she does ok.. this will be the longest i will be out tho.. as far as getting everything else automated it worries me that she wont be able to figure that out if something goes wrong... i was really hoping doing the water change would take care of any water discrepancies that i may have.. or atleast slow down any problems until i get back....
 
I assume the heater(s) has a controller that goes off and sets an alarm when it malfunctions.

Just make sure she knows how to calibrate and use your refractometer. The ATO is the thing I'd be worried about the most. Or better yet, draw a line in the refugium where the water sits and have her check it when feeding. That makes it easy for her to tell if the level is wrong.

The tang should be fine. Even if the ATO goes wacky, fish can take a decent salinity change.
 
Make sure she doesn't overfeed.

Invest in some Polyfilter or Pura pads. These can erase a multitude of sins. Have her use one per month or so as preventative care.

Smaller, more frequent water changes might be easier and less risky.
 
If she's comfortable, I'd call and tallk her through the tank stuff as needed. Start letting her feed and do it now under your supervision if you have the chance too.

Automation would be more for her to handle if it goes wrong and she can't explain it.
 
I had to leave my tank for 6 months for medical reasons. My son fed the fish and topped off the ATO supply and a local fish guy did the maintenance. When I came home, I was shocked at the poor condition of the tank and the coral and fish that I had lost. I had to essentially start from scratch. What I learned and should have known was, that no one will monitor your tank and care for it like you do yourself. So, I would say, try to get someone to help your wife with maintenance, automate what you can, but simply prepare yourself for the worst when you return.
 
ok... well i figure with the minimal livestock that i got and the size of the tank i should be ok.. however i will brace myself for the worst as mentioned....

now i did buy 13 frags, just to see what they would do in the time that i am gone... right now they are getting acclimated to the lights, flow etc... they are sitting on a frag rack.. should i leave them on the rack or should i go ahead and place them where i want in the tank?
 
Since you have a small amount of livestock, I would find a friend and give him/her the frags for the 6 months on the idea that they will keep a frag when you get back and you get the rest. I would also try to find someone that would keep your fish while you're gone. Empty the tank and leave it until you get back. It isn't like you have a full blown setup with coral colonies and dozens of fish. With such a small amount I don't think it would be worth asking your wife to watch everything when so many things can go wrong. If she makes one mistake then everything could die leaving her there to clean it all up. If you already have some friends in the hobby then ask for their help to hold your livestock until you come back. I'm sure they will be more than happy to do so if they're getting some frags out of it.
 
MrKite24 said:
Since you have a small amount of livestock, I would find a friend and give him/her the frags for the 6 months on the idea that they will keep a frag when you get back and you get the rest. I would also try to find someone that would keep your fish while you're gone. Empty the tank and leave it until you get back. It isn't like you have a full blown setup with coral colonies and dozens of fish. With such a small amount I don't think it would be worth asking your wife to watch everything when so many things can go wrong. If she makes one mistake then everything could die leaving her there to clean it all up. If you already have some friends in the hobby then ask for their help to hold your livestock until you come back. I'm sure they will be more than happy to do so if they're getting some frags out of it.
Click to expand...

Agree with this, it's more safe then let your wife handle it...
 
Your wife will do fine, she knows how to take care of the tank because this isn't the first time you leave the tank in her hands, and she did well the other times too? Just explain everything and write it down so she doesnt have to call you every time she forgets something. Also, leave some phone numbers from the LFS or fellow reefers in case of emergencies, so she knows who to call. Do you have enough food for the fish? Do you have backup parts such as a heater or lamps?

Please be carefull with automated stuff like dosing and water topoff. There used to be an UPS on our tank and one night I was home alone when the alarm went off and I had to do an emergency shutdown procedure with my boyfriend yelling on the phone while I was panicing because I thought it was gonna explode or something.
 
I would never trust my reef to a spouse or a family member over an extended period of time. Non-reefers often don't anticipate problems or know when something is wrong until it is too late. In addition to that they often don't have quite the level of affection for the animals in the tank that you have and when something is lost they don't feel it is as much as a loss as you the owner would. If the worst case scenario happens to your tank your wife won't know what to do or could have even been the culprit by unknowingly doing something wrong to the tank. I would either hire someone to look after it or get rid most of the delicate stuff and restock when I got back.
 
where in VA are you, id be happy to help if your close.

really i would just make a list of things that have gone wrong over the past years, i mean things that would cause bad stuff to happen.

give her a checklist of things to do..aka testing water, step by step for changes etc.. so its simple and she just has to look at the list and check it off each month or whatever.

if you have frags your really care about most including myself would be happy to hold them for ya (im sure a frag of what they turn into would be a bonus)

i think the email alerts are a good idea, but really if you ask her to look at the tank daily now and get her used to how things look, what you see as the start of a problem etc it should be fine..

my wife never notices when a frag falls, for some reason i do an unconcious count everytime i look at the tank so its the first thing i notice if something has moved or doesnt look right.....so get her a camera so she can send you pics in case there is something you see. if your friends know your system shouldnt be any problem having them come over every so often to help, unless your wife is REAAALLY hot. then its your call.

I would put some extra things around, aka bulbs, heater, pump, (polypad is a great idea), soap she can use before and after reaching in the tank (aka that youve used and know wont kill things...no dawn) food, etc etc etc...

write the corals off as dead and if you come home to living colonies buy your wife a large dinner, day at the spa with a manicure for the salty hands, etc etc.... and if not oh well do it anyways and get some bonus points.

i bet she does fine.
again PM if your in or somewhere near the DC area id be happy to help out
 
ok.... here is some more info for you guys.. she has taken care of it before.. longest time being a 1 1/2 months.. now she use to have her own setup for about 2 years so she does know whats up.. she didnt get into the testing an all when she did it but she did do water changes and kept up with most of it.. she stopped due to being pregnant and not having the time to care for it... her set up was not as automated as mine is... so i think she will be able to handle it for the 6 months i will be gone...

now as far as me being able to call that will be a problem as i am getting deployed somewhere they just wont tell us where yet.. so... phone calls will be an issue.. hopefully i will be able to email...

i live in hampton va so i think that is a bit far for someone to come from dc to help with a tank... lol.. i might be wrong tho!!! but is you do come down i will need you to cut my grass also.. make it worth your time!!!!
 
Am3gross, I'll help you out. I'm in the Navy on shore duty, so I'm not getting deploy for the next 2 yrs. I live in Newport News by the airport, so I'm only about maybe 10 mins from you. I have a 120 gal, and been reefing for 7 yrs.
 
Quis said:
Am3gross, I'll help you out. I'm in the Navy on shore duty, so I'm not getting deploy for the next 2 yrs. I live in Newport News by the airport, so I'm only about maybe 10 mins from you. I have a 120 gal, and been reefing for 7 yrs.
Click to expand...

awesome!!! we should get together before i have to leave... i leave in may
 
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