shutting down sump during vacation

[jag1979]

I recently heard of a guy that was out of town and had a friend checking in on his tank. When he got back it had crashed. His friend checked on the tank the morning the day b/f he got home and everything was ok. Turned out that the breaker tripped and pumps went out causing the crash.

So I was thinking what if I just shut down the sump when im gone for several days? I have powerheads in the tank (about 2000 gph currently). Can't be too bad to have the skimmer not running for a few days I wouldn't think...comments?

my other back up is that I have the tank running on two circuits so I will distribute the pumps across. btw $110 for an extra circuit was probably the best money I have spent in this hobby.

 

[Avi]

I've had two occasions when my protein skimmer ran into problems while I was away on vacation....I suppose due to my unintentional failure to foresee issues that I now address before I go away...and in both cases, the result was micro-algae proliferation at the base of some of my coral. It didn't have any effect on most of the coral, but damage did occur on some of my zoanthids and some of my clavularia. I think it was because I didn't have enough flow in my tank at that time. Anyway, I tell you this to caution you against shutting down your skimmer for any amount of time. In addition to that, the skimmer is often the main source of aeration which is so important in marine tanks, especially if the tank's covered. Water movement in your reef alone most likely isn't sufficient. So unless you're very certain that there'd be sufficient aeration, particularly for certain fish like Anthias that require maximum aeration, that's another reason to keep the skimmer running.

 

[Rendos]

If you don't have water running through the sump, the water in the sump may not be good to use when you get back. I guess you could do a water change on the sump before firing it back up when you get back.

 

[samsfishnchips]

jag1979,

if you are not overstock, it will be fine, but keep the sump active with at least an air pump, so you can still the water,

sam

 

[flameangel88]

Couple of times I had flood because of the skimmer going nuts and I turn it off now on long weekends when I'm away and only running actincs as well. Air pump is a good way to keep the water moving.

If you worry about not running a skimmer while you are away then do a water change b4 you leave.