I need to take a break!!! 🥴 (1 Viewer)

[BlindSwordsman]

Like the Chicago sang 'even lovers need a holiday, far away from each other', so, I'M QUITTING!!!! ... OK! Just kidding! But I really need to take some time off and travel or something. I've been sitting home for too long. I plan to take off for a few weeks. Not anytime soon, but I will. So, let's say that having someone taking care of the tank is out of the question, if you need to walk off the house for a few weeks, what are the things you would do to prepare for it so the tank can mostly sustain on its own? Things that pop up into my head:

1) ATO: I think my system can manage.

2) Feeding: Does anyone have a good auto feeder that you'd recommend? Or how do you auto-feed your fish usually??

3)... What else? .. I don't dose, so if I'm away for a few weeks, the tank will basically be running for a few weeks with no water change. That can't be a big of an issue there.

But other problems that I see with my tank include: It is not drilled and I use an overflow box. So if I'm away and the flow gets cut off, that can be a disaster. I just redid this tank 1 year ago and it just settled down and here I am, thinking about buying a new system, something without the overflow issue . .. And there are a lot of issues with this plan . I think I can find a solution for this but in the long run, I probably should take care of this issue .

Any wisdom to share, anyone? Thanks in advance .

.. Here is the full tank shot taken last month. I think I will leave it up to fate for a few weeks when that time comes .

 

[Chris Goetz]

Man that is a crazy beautiful tank!!!
Where do you live? You may be able to find a volunteer nearby to check in on it or find a trusted service company.

If you’re anywhere near the west metro, I’d be happy to help out. I travel for work myself but usually not more than a week at a time.
Chris

 

[reef junkie]

-ATO is a must,
-If you can grab a cheap blink camera could point towards the tank. Piece of mind being able to check on the tank while away
-Overflow for skimmer just in case skimmer grows crazy while gone and overflows
-The avast plank is an awesome feeder to be able to dial in very small amounts of food as many times a day as needed, but the Eheim also works well just harder to dial in smaller amounts,
-heater controller with back up. To many horror stories of heaters getting stuck on. Off would not be as bad but a back up heater never hurts.

If you can do a camera and have a back up person, if you see a problem someone could stop in and take care of anything that you see with out having to have a sitter stop in dail….

Amazon sells some cheap Wi-Fi outlets that you could plug into certain devices that may or may not need restarted in a power outage maybe??? They work really well.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Thanks, guys! And Happy Labor Day!

This is very advance planning, because beside my work, I'm also taking some classes this fall, so I'm not going anywhere yet .

@Chris Goetz: The problem with me is: I usually do not like to rely on other people, and I try not to, if I think I can manage it myself.

@reef junkie: You have some good points there.

1) ATO: I got this. I might think about using a bigger container for the RODI water. Currently it holds about 3 gallons which last about 3 - 4 days.

2) Camera for the fish tank: .. Hmmm, I do have extra camera. I can set it up. But I'm not sure I want to know if there's a disaster going on at home while I'm away. It will be like me, arriving at work, with a lingering thought that I might have left the garage door open. It'd drive me nuts. But I will probably set this up .

3) Overflowing skimmer: Checked! The skimmer is completely in the sump. If it overflows (which it did once or twice in the past), the worst thing will happen is it renders the skimmer useless, but everything is contained in the sump. It will pull more water into the skimmer, the water level in the sump will drop so the ATO system will pump a bunch of fresh water in, but it won't kill anything.

4) I will look into the Avast and Eheim auto feeders.

5) Heater: I actually don't use any heater. My tank usually has 'heat' issue, not 'cold' issue. I actually run a chiller all year round.

6) Wifi outlets: ... OK, this is something new. I'll research into this. Thanks!

The problem I still have is the overflow. I should have drilled my tank before! Now I'm regretting. I would hate to head out, buy a new tank, drill it, and pull everything out, then put everything back. TOO MUCH WORK!!! (with all of the junks I hide in the closets) If the flow gets cut off, it will over flows, the ATO system will continue to pull all of the fresh water in, and all of this water will overflow out of the tank, and out to the floor. Beside having the sump running dry, without the flow to the sump, the main tank will not be well aerated and things will get suffocated and die. So, I'm thinking about how to improve this 'overflow' issue. Can some sort of system be created using an external pump? (this does not work with the tank undrilled regardless??!!! ) Adding an additional pump into the overflow box? Or adding an external filtration system so the main tank does not rely solely on the current sump? ... Well, too much thinking for a merely 'fish tank' to me! .. But maybe one good thing I've done so far with my tank is: It can do fine without the sump, as long as the water is aerated. So, maybe I should vary it off from the sump for a few weeks while I'm gone.

 

[Chris Goetz]

I can 1000% relate…and since it sounds like we’re similar - you must know you can’t rely on yourself if you’re taking a break and you will need help.
AND you’ve obviously taken great care to get your ecosystem to where it is today, so like having the camera on the tank, knowing there’s a possibility something is the matter or might be… won’t allow you to enjoy your break.

There are some very reputable service companies in the cities that should be able to give you the peace of mind you need.

If I remember correctly @Jonty traveled for work frequently, setup a ton of automation and still enlisted a service company. He may be able to help offer advice on getting past that.

If all else fails you could shut the tank down, sell the livestock and start over when your break is over. I did that in 2017 and decided in April that I’m coming back this fall.
Chris

 

[Jonty]

I have been able to consistently leave my tank for two consecutive weeks each month for the last six months, I do not use a service company, but having a rock-solid ATO solution, heater redundancy, and feeding ( Avast Plank is a fantastic piece of kit), and monitoring are a must. A good controller and proper programming to mitigate issues go a long way. I checked my apex every few hours at first, but now after my last trip, I realized I had not checked my apex in 7 days LOL. The tanks would look much better if I was home all the time but all things considered, I am quite happy for now until it all goes horribly wrong.
Pics from just now I returned last week from 17 days away.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Most of the times, I feel like if I want to get something, I have to do it myself. There is an old saying, in rough translation, it says: 'If you want to eat, then roll into the kitchen, if you want to die, then roll yourself into the coffin'. It's hard to wait around for help, you see? . This is not fish related but the recent thing I just did: Chopped down my pine tree myself, and cut up some unused aluminum shelves and created a big spin wheel and stuck on top the tree trunk. I was waiting for someone to show up to give me estimate for the tree and he never showed. Someone else promised to get me a number of someone they'd recommend and I never got it. So, I went: 'Heck with this!!' Climbing up the roof with the chainsaw one morning with my cup of coffee, I chopped it off myself and here is the final result. I think it's pretty cool myself!!

Before:





After:





Back to the fish stuff: So, yes, I know I have problems. I made a quick search on the internet, then ordered a 90 gallon tank that supposedly has pre-drilled overflow and plumbing parts. It cost me $640 with tax and free shipping. It's not too cheap but I guess I paid for something that is somewhat made ready for use and I don't have to deal with drilling a tank myself and get the right stuff for that. It'll be here in about 2 weeks.
I like my traditional looking stand, and the tank size (it fits that spot) so I don't want an upgrade. The current tank is a 75 gallon tank, and a 90 gallon tank should have the same width and depth but a few inches more in height. The weird thing is the standard 75 gallon tank's length is usually 48", so this 90 gallon tank should have a 48" length as well, but they listed 48.5" in the description. So, hopefully it will fit my stand when I get it. If not, I'm screwed. So, in about a few weeks, if it comes unbroken and fits the stand, I'm looking into another tank transfer again, 1 year after the last redo. This is going to be interesting! (Wonder if I will ever get that money back from selling my frags!?? ) ..

*** Note: I don't know where else to get a tank like this, so if I way overpaid for this tank, please don't tell me. Because I'll hate myself for that, so I'd rather not know about it. Thank you very much!

 

[Varig]

Haha, you’re the man Ken. Philosophically I disagree with your solo attitude , but I appreciate your make it happen attitude. Nice command decision on the tank. It sounded like your siphon overflow was your biggest concern, so that’s great you addressed it. I’m excited to see the 90. It will still look better than my tank

 

[reef junkie]

Well that took a quick spin in another direction. Lol. Congrats on the 90.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Haha, you’re the man Ken. Philosophically I disagree with your solo attitude , but I appreciate your make it happen attitude. Nice command decision on the tank. It sounded like your siphon overflow was your biggest concern, so that’s great you addressed it. I’m excited to see the 90. It will still look better than my tank

'One must stand on one's own feet', mister David. Sometimes we don't have a choice, or just simply because I might prefer to struggle with it myself and the end result might not be great, but I choose to go that way, because I find there is usually a price for everything .

Well that took a quick spin in another direction. Lol. Congrats on the 90.

Thanks! I .. didn't make the tank. I just forked out the credit card. Let's wait until I successfully transfer my stuff over then, hahaha ...