Reef Discussion

[Ben Daley]

Apologies for spamming the board with 3 cards in 3 days
Please help by sharing any tips for tank care while away on holiday.

• Primary tank sitters: Friendly neighbours. will feed the fish a frozen portion in the evenings and check on the auto feeder. Not reefers, but I suspect they will smoke some at some point. Will receive apex email alarms
  
• Emergency contact: Local reefer living < 5 mins drive away. Will receive apex email alarms and can contact the neighbours (or vice versa) to get access.
• Autofeeder: an eheim everyday fish feeder (arrived today) dispensing 3 small serves of flake and DIY feeder ring (air line) to keep food out of the overflow.
• Snail snacks: There is a small mantis in the fuge, will put 10 or so small snails in there for him to snack on
• ATO: Reservoir (>50L) may last the whole 2 weeks. A float switch is wired will trigger an email alarm if the reservoir gets too low.
  
• Filter Socks: Plan to take them out entirely while away
• Skimmer: set to dry skim. Will ask the primary sitters to check on it and empty if necessary (perhaps once)
• Dosing: Only alk/calc/mag. Refill before leaving, the reservoirs hold supply >30 days. No other sups while away.
• 50L made up RODI on hand
  
• 50L made up salt water on hand
• Heaters: 2 x 300w, apex alarm if outside range. Single temp probe as point of failure :(
• Pump maintenance: is almost due anyway, so I will give everything a good vinegar bath the week before

Is there anything missing?

 

[Sam Parker]

Any chance the local reefer could drop in once or twice a week? More likely to notice things wrong than the neighbors who are smoking something?! LOL

Only other thing I'd add is a web cam. If you have apex you can use most basic usb web cams, but otherwise a nice IP cam from foscam is worth its weight in gold.

 

[Wrangy]

Yeah, plus one to what Sam said :) get your buddy to drop by once or twice a week as it'll make a world of difference if something minor happens and can be spotted before it becomes a larger issue :)

 

[ReeferRob]

Or, you could fly me down to watch your tank, when you get back, you'll have THOUSANDS of litres of new corals, probably new tanks and your very own collecting station set up. :D

 

[Ben Daley]

Thanks for the suggestions.
@Sam Parker / @Wrangy - you're quite right (prevention vs cure). I'll ask the local reefer to stop by (will see him tomorrow)
In a perfect world @ReeferRob would simply submerge our place on the GBR - could get a snorkel for the cat I suppose :rolleyes

 

[Ben Daley]

Caught up with the reef buddy and he's happy to pop in and check the tank.
Peace of mind on holiday is well worth a bottle of patron - I really should license that slogan.
Thanks to a moment of serendipity, I happened to come home with over 30 rasta polyps - good result!

 

[ReeferRob]

Good to have someone you can count on, that would be impossible here.

 

[Sam Parker]

30 rasta polyps?!?! Nice! When you have time to cut a couple off, let me know a price :)

 

[Ben Daley]

30 rasta polyps?!?! Nice! When you have time to cut a couple off, let me know a price :)

Sure thing, there is a great frag plug with 10+ on it... Will let them get settled in and sort out a trade with you when I get back from "the Nam"

 

[Ben Daley]

Good to have someone you can count on, that would be impossible here.

Or, you could fly me up and when you get back you'll have THOUSANDS of stomatopods and possibly some broken tanks :cool:

 

[ReeferRob]

I actually just had reef abalones spawn in one of my home tanks.

 

[ReeferRob]

Why the hell anyone would want to come here from there boggles my mind. Y'all probably the same with people coming there.