Time for a change?

[ri]

I have a simple problem...

My current job has me traveling about 1 week each month. I also enjoy travel with my family and as part of my dive hobby. Planned trips include the south and mid-west several times for work and vacations include Bahamas, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. A few "work trips" will span the week-end giving me time for diving and business. On a side note, if you like experiencing different type of food, travel is the best way!

So, what is the problem you ask?

Yup... what to do with the tank while I'm away.
On a trip to the Bahamas last year, my family had nothing but problems with, well, everything. Although all the problems were a result of their inexperience maintaining the tank, it is stress for everyone involved. I call home and ask "how is the tank" before I ask about my family. I'm sure they all prefer to feed the cats - much less thinking and much less potential for problems.

Back to the problem... what do I do with the fish tank?
Keep everything as-is? (as I've been doing for a while)
Automate? (maintenance currently takes less than 5 minutes/day including feeding)
Convert to fresh water? (still would require maintenance but a bit less)
Get rid of the entire setup? (most extreme but would completely solve the problem)

Any thoughts? Would love to hear what others would do.

ri

 

[Jamie2337]

Or another option...Get someone who is knowlegable about SW to take care of it. Maybe someone from URS to stop by once a day and make sure everything is A-OK.

 

[captain7359]

i'm gone monday to thursday or friday each week. i have one of our most execllent club reefkeepers stop in the middle of the week just to check and give some food. topoff is easy enough to automate and auto feeders may simplify feedings enough while away.

 

[SVXH6]

i find it hard to have others maintain your tank.. even with things explained from the very easy feeding of fish to topping off water to maybe dosing B-Ionic.. for those who are not in the hobby, dont know the importance of even the smallest things..IMO maintaing a stable reef is hard.. how many times has you(beinf the tank owner)asked someone to do what you think the easiest thing, just to have it get messed up somehow.. if you feel it hard to maintain while being away and nothing but a headache why not just convert it to a FOWLR.. this way things become a little simpler, no dosing(if needed), just feedings and topoffs, water changes.. but if you have done this for awhile why not just keep going.. Either way hope your decision is a well thought out one..good luck..or maybe while away have someone(URS) stop over to check it out a couple of times that week..

 

[sailfinreef]

I would go the automatic route with low voltage controls. if you want to get really crazy you could get a cheap plc and control everything with the computer. I think they have some sort of plc specifically for salt water aquariums that are nice.

 

[fat-tony]

plenty of people in rochester with tanks that i'm sure wouldn't find problems with helping. even down here, have a couple people who i'm confident would be able to keep things on track while i was away

 

[dalbrecht]

You don't discus transitioning your tank to a lower maintenence reef. Yes automation is important ( especially top off ). But there are things you could do with the tank to reduce the need for so much maintenence.

Reduce lighting ( slower growth means reduced calcium demand and reduced evap )
Reduce Fish load (fewer fish means less nutrient output & less need for nutrient input)
Increase your water volume, Add water to your system by plumbing a reservoir in line with your sump.

Change the make up of your corals to less demanding specimens.

Increase redundency of things like heaters, float valves & the like.

Automate top off.

 

[sailfinreef]

if you go the plc route you could never have to lift a finger to do anything.

 

[gary greguire]

Hey ri I have the solution I will just swing by and pick the whole thing up on sunday.

 

[Spartan]

I think you can automate almost everything (I have tried to), but it does cost you $. The only thing I have to do is siphon the bottom (and btw if anyone has an automated way to do this aside from going BB, please share ) and change carbon. You can get by a for at least a few weeks at a time this way.
You could also look into hiring a maintenance service. Some of the LFs' do this, but there are others as well.

 

[Kent E]

Which option you go with depends on how much you enjoy the hobby. So where are you?

 

[sailfinreef]

siphoning is about the only thing I havent figured out yet, everything I think of is way to elaborate. although one idea I had was to have a powerhead on the glass bottom and kick on once every so often and kick all the crap up into the water coloumb and let the filter pad in the sump take care of it.

 

[ri]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

As the setup currently exists, there is less than 5 minutes maintenance, which includes feeding, per day. I suppose I could automate things a bit more but I'm not sure I would worry any less.

My worrying goes beyond the day-to-day maintenance. There are too many unknowns that cannot be planned for. Heck, a coral (or fish) could die and pollute the tank and cause a mass die-off. Its emergency situations that have me most concerned.

As far as having someone (experienced) stop over... that might work, even on an emergency call basis.

Kent brought up a great point... not necessarily how much I enjoy the hobby but rather how much I care for the livestock I have. I'll be really bummed out if I decide to get rid of the tank. I'll be far worse off if something bad happens (not to mention my family for not being able to prevent the problem).

I guess I just need more time to think about what to do.

ri

 

[ReeferMac]

Well, as Spartan mentioned, you can always hire someone, there's a URS member or two who does it on the side, and you know the LFS's around town. You could also ask one of the folks from the club, to be a call-tree. We have redundancy setup for the zoo tank, it works... If properly planned, you can have redundancy and peace-of-mind. I leave my tank for up to 3 days at a time, w/o even batting an eye - I just have to make sure the reservoir is full.... If you set things up right, it doesn't have to be a stressor.

- Mac