Long Distance Tank Help

[joshinjosh]

in the fall i'll be dorming at uw and will be leaving a tank (NOT YETLL FULLY SETUP) behind at home and i'm looking to make my tank "self maintainable" for 5 out of 7 days of the week. so i'm not certain what to look for in terms of a controller/top-off/timing to make my tank pretty much "self maintainable". anyone got any suggestions for a controller/top-off/timing.

-i was thinking for a float valve in my refugium connected to freshwater that just drips in by gravity, will that work?

-would one of those high tech fancy controllers be really nessesary to give control over ph/temp/light timing?

josh

 

[jetaero]

I'd get...

- Neptune sys. Aquacontroller Jr.

- a top off system with liquid level switches

- buckets with waterchanges mixing while your gone

also, you may want a Ca reactor on there, depending on how much you have to dose currently. As well, even on my tanks with controllers etc. I wouldn't trust them more than a day without someone to check on them.

-Josh-

 

[Krish]

I couldn't say man...I personally don't feel all that comfortable with leaving my tank in the hands of electronics without some supervision so I know nothing about controllers. Tons of people use them though so here's a bump. I wish you the best

 

[NaH2O]

I'd get...

- Neptune sys. Aquacontroller Jr.

- a top off system with liquid level switches

- buckets with waterchanges mixing while your gone

also, you may want a Ca reactor on there, depending on how much you have to dose currently. As well, even on my tanks with controllers etc. I wouldn't trust them more than a day without someone to check on them.

-Josh-

I agree with Josh. I think a controller will be a good investment, especially if you are concerned at all about heaters/cooling systems failing. What is your tank load like? What and how often are you dosing anything? You could also set-up a webcam or something like that to have a peek at your tank every now and then.

 

[bc_slc]

I agree with both of the above. I would be very cautious with having a big amount of fresh water (5 days worth) set up to drip by gravity into the tank.

Otherwise, I think efforts at automating the tank make this hobby much more enjoyable. I assume you will be keeping fish + corals. That being said, you would likely need (1) some method to top off for evaporation, (2) automated feeder, (3) calcium doser or reactor, (4) timer for lights, (5) chiller. I also think having water ready for waterchanges is key.

I think that trying to setup a tank and get it stable and happy 30 min from where you will live is a very lofty goal. Not to say it can't be done, but I would be very hesitant and slow to add livestock etc. Without someone with some knowledge checking in on the tank (you or someone else) at least every other day I think you are asking to be disapointed by some disaster.....either unstable water parameters, flood, equipment failure etc, but in saltwater keeping it only takes something small to set off a snowball effect of livestock losses.

 

[joshinjosh]

basically, i've got a ton of zoos and lps, don't have any fishes. i only dose reef complete twice a week. i think a controller sounds good. anyone have experience with Reefkeeper or Aquatronica?