Vacation Preparations???

[scytale]

I'm going to be out of town for 10 days--what does everyone else do to prep thier tanks before a vacation?

I have an 80 AGA--No sump, no overflow--mostly FOWLR, some shrooms, a good size frag of trumpet coral, and 6 new beautiful stalks of Xenia (thanks to Nick!)

Lights: on timers, of course
Food: via battery-op feeder
Water-level/Evaporation: going to pay a neighbor kid to come over twice and top off.
Current Chemistry: Salinity 34ppt, Ph 8.0, Alk 10.2, CA 420. Nitritites& Ammonia: 0, Nitrates 10ppm (the lowest it has been in weeks!)
:?:
Should I leave the salinity a little low? (since it'll rise a bit before my neighbor comes by to top-off)
Should I dose a little extra CA before I leave?
(The CA level has been holding steady at 420 for at least 5 days now w/o any dosing....)

My real issue is: to skim or not to skim?
I'm tempted to just unplug my (p.o.s.) Prizm skimmer because it doesn't produce very stable skimmate, and I won't be able to teach my "fish-sitters" how to find that "sweet spot" on the skimmer.

Or will not skimming for 10 days be worse?:?:
(I can't really even say how much skimmate I'm averaging per week,
because I never get more than 2-3 days worth before my skimmer goes screwy and starts pulling wet,wet,wet water....)

Any other tips, tricks to help my "unaccompanied minors" when they're "home alone"?:?:

FWIW: I just installed my battery-operated bubblers, and I'll put a small heater on my UPS.
I'm tempted to just to put the foam insulation up now in case the power goes out again....
but I guess I'm only going to be 300 miles away if the power goes out (I can lead-foot it home if I have too...)

 

[DonW]

I would leave the skimmer running. If it has a lid that is easy to get to have your helper just use a turkey baster and suck it out. This way it doesnt overfill and no adjustment is needed. If you need do dose Just put the ca additive in your top off water. If you need to dose ca and alk the just split the water.

Don

 

[dnjan]

If your lighting is adding much heat to your water (MH's, and even some PC's), I wouldn't put insulation around your tank. Part of your temperature control is heat loss through the sides of your tank to the room. If you put the insulation on while your lights are running normally, you could easily overheat.

 

[burning2nd]

scary,

i hate geting away for a day or 2.


10 days would be hair pulling.

i would leave it be...............

I dont know about the prizem. never use it.

but if i was seting my skimmer for 10 days, i would set it as high as i can, and have someone feed 3 times for me.

 

[auqua man]

I left for 10 days befor and used the auto feeder once a day I also set the skimmer a little dry and had no problems. I hope it goes well for you also. Have a good time.

 

[ronj]

i would turn the skimmer off...i have one of those on a small tank..they are screwy..mine would be fine for days and fill with black skimmate, then it would go haywire and dump back into the tank....

 

[Juanfer]

you could also reduce the lighting time to reduce the water evaporation.
GOOD LUCK

 

[Jumpincactus]

One thing I have found with even grown up sitters is they tend to overfeed and pollute the tank. So with a kid you may be asking for trouble. I now portion out each days supply in individual servings and dial them in that way. This way you dont have to worry about overfeeding.

As for skimming if you truly have a skimmer that is unstable or a HOB I would shut it down while you are gone. HOB can and will plug and overflow not something you want to happen while out of town. You are not going to have a disaster not skimming for 10 days. I had my skimmer goe down years ago with my 1st reef and nothing happened at all. Oh yea I lied when I came home and fired it back up it went crazeeeeee.

Personally I would be a little nervous with the kid doing the top off. How old are they and are they pretty sharp? If so figure out container wise what you lose to evap each day and then dial them in with that particular container. If its a quart a day then leave them a quart size jug. If they will only be there every other day then they will know 2 x 1 quart and then they add two jugs etc. Hope this helps. I"ll say this much I would be freaked out leaving my tank for 10 days unless I had a trusted adult to sit it.

 

[aquarookie]

I agree with the jug idea, except I would get more than one jug and fill each one with RO water (or whatever you use to top off). I left 8 one gallon jugs of top off water for my guy to top off while I was gone. As far as skimmer goes, you could always put a fitting in the cup and have it drain into a 5 gallon bucket... Or just have one of "us" (whoever lives by you) check on your tank once or twice... Good luck!

 

[scytale]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I think I'm going to leave the skimmer going, but dial it WAY BACK (and put a bucket underneath it)

I have the food loaded into an auto-timer, so that's taken care of.
(i left the bag of nori/seaweed by the tank so the sitter can give them "treats" a few times!)

And apparently we'll have an adult doing the FW top-offs/tank checks (she said it was easier to do it herslf than trying "to motivate her teenage sons off the couch" during vacation!)

I showed her my RO/DI containers, left the appropriately sized empty jugs on top.

(And she actually took written notes--so that makes me feel much better!!!)