How you take card of your tank when the whole family is on holiday?

[stetan]

Hi, Need some best practices from all of you.

 

My family is going on a holiday for 2 weeks inJune and there will be no others at home. Want to know how you guys deal with the situation to continue to "take care" of the tank, if this is even possible.  Thanks

[josephwzr]

The only thing I used was an auto feeder when I went overseas for 3weeks.

[JMW]

I think ATO is one of the most important, not only for salinity to remain constant, but also ensuring the correct water level for eqmt such as return pump, sump, etc, stay functional instead of drying up.

if you are keeping corals, especially hard corals, KH & Ca & Mg should be automatically dosed to maintain levels for them.

the rest - lighting, temperature, I assume you would already be running them on timers & do not need daily intervention or monitoring.

food can be supplied via those auto feeders as mentioned by josephwzr

[josephwzr]

Yup that's true, when I went overseas I only had fish and no corals, so no dosing needed for me and didn't really bother using an ATO back then

[josephwzr]

And always remember that feeding them minimal food is always better than excess.

[Harlequinmania]

More importantly is the power supply in the tank is not disrupted while you are away. Consider getting a sms power failure notification or Web camera to enable to monitor it .

Else ask a reef buddy here or a trusted lfs for help to come by visit your house every few day

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[sherman]

Yes. Agree with he.

A SMS notification for power failure is a must.

And arrange with neighbour or reefers to help you in case of power failure

[kenyee]

Most ideal is to get relative/friend to help monitor n care..if cant, basic equipment needed is ATO (ensure the ATO tank sufficient to top up as the weather nowaday is crazy hot thus causing higher evaporation), auto dosing (coral tank), autofeeding (feed minimal as mentioned) & "power failure warning" (this is the most headache problem which is rather rare but if happen, man's help is needed)

Just to share my experience, my tank can b monitored by webcam..once when i overseas, i spotted my 8" blonde naso tang dying n eventually it rip..leaving it in the tank is a risk..lucky i have a good tenant who help me to remove it..the other problem is my ATO tank auto top up got problem..knowing that my ATO tank insufficient, i set up a timer run ATO for my ATO tank but when i monitor thru my webcam, the system fail halfway..once again my tenant is alerted n his help is much appreciated..sump it all is that man's help is a must for all "unlucky happening"..

Cheers n happy holiday n safe reefing 

[stetan]

thanks to all ! 

[Killerwhale]

where to activate this  a sms power failure notification?

[JMW]

On 9 May 2016 at 11:04 AM, kenyee said:

Most ideal is to get relative/friend to help monitor n care..if cant, basic equipment needed is ATO (ensure the ATO tank sufficient to top up as the weather nowaday is crazy hot thus causing higher evaporation), auto dosing (coral tank), autofeeding (feed minimal as mentioned) & "power failure warning" (this is the most headache problem which is rather rare but if happen, man's help is needed)

Just to share my experience, my tank can b monitored by webcam..once when i overseas, i spotted my 8" blonde naso tang dying n eventually it rip..leaving it in the tank is a risk..lucky i have a good tenant who help me to remove it..the other problem is my ATO tank auto top up got problem..knowing that my ATO tank insufficient, i set up a timer run ATO for my ATO tank but when i monitor thru my webcam, the system fail halfway..once again my tenant is alerted n his help is much appreciated..sump it all is that man's help is a must for all "unlucky happening"..

Cheers n happy holiday n safe reefing 

Very helpful & relevant sharing here.. From what I gather, we can have remote video footage, SMS notifications, emails, etc.. But a common theme after all these things happen is that human intervention is still needed to fix or mitigate a problem?

I'm curious as to whether there are 'fully-automated' fail-safes out there?

[SubzeroLT]

1 hour ago, JMW said:

Very helpful & relevant sharing here.. From what I gather, we can have remote video footage, SMS notifications, emails, etc.. But a common theme after all these things happen is that human intervention is still needed to fix or mitigate a problem?

I'm curious as to whether there are 'fully-automated' fail-safes out there?

I guess the best thing to do is to build in redundancies that can accommodate issues that arise. Just to share what i've done :

- ATO - Extra large volume

- Auto Feeder - trial 1 week ahead of holiday to be sure its working reliably & amount is correct

- Power failure SMS notification (iSocket)

- Backup power source - APC UPS + Ecotech battery for wavemaker

- Apex Neptune control system. Float switch in sump & display tank to trigger action in case of overflow, email alert 

- OF Hydra Stream - In case 1 or 2 fishes die. Shrimps & other clean up crew will take care of dead fish. Hydra Stream will take care of ammonia spikes

- Install Toms aqua lifter to drain skimmate from skimmer cup into a separate container

- Web cam

- Pass house key to a trusted reefing friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kenyee]

By n large human is still needed for the most unlucky happening that's circuit breaker tripped..unless u got Chappie..haha

[JMW]

On 10 May 2016 at 10:04 PM, SubzeroLT said:

I guess the best thing to do is to build in redundancies that can accommodate issues that arise. Just to share what i've done :

- ATO - Extra large volume

- Auto Feeder - trial 1 week ahead of holiday to be sure its working reliably & amount is correct

- Power failure SMS notification (iSocket)

- Backup power source - APC UPS + Ecotech battery for wavemaker

- Apex Neptune control system. Float switch in sump & display tank to trigger action in case of overflow, email alert 

- OF Hydra Stream - In case 1 or 2 fishes die. Shrimps & other clean up crew will take care of dead fish. Hydra Stream will take care of ammonia spikes

- Install Toms aqua lifter to drain skimmate from skimmer cup into a separate container

- Web cam

- Pass house key to a trusted reefing friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow this is great! I see many redundancies worked into your system which will take care of power outages, water levels, feeding, etc.. Certainly given me one or so ideas too, on how to protect my system when traveling, thanks!

Btw how about temperature - say when chiller & back-up fan also malfunction, possible to stop the lights from coming on & also possibly stopping some of the wavemakers/pumps from coming on too?

[JMW]

On 10 May 2016 at 11:16 PM, kenyee said:

By n large human is still needed for the most unlucky happening that's circuit breaker tripped..unless u got Chappie..haha

I'd pay big money for a Chappie, he can help me do WC also 

[SubzeroLT]

2 hours ago, JMW said:

Wow this is great! I see many redundancies worked into your system which will take care of power outages, water levels, feeding, etc.. Certainly given me one or so ideas too, on how to protect my system when traveling, thanks!

Btw how about temperature - say when chiller & back-up fan also malfunction, possible to stop the lights from coming on & also possibly stopping some of the wavemakers/pumps from coming on too?

With the Apex Neptune, its easy to control to turn off the lights if it exceeds a certain temperature limit. It also sends out an email.

If you have the iSocket (environment version), you can plug in a temperature sensor - it can then send you an SMS & power off the plug (connected to lights?) as well.

 

I'd always keep the wavemakers on - they provide circulation & oxygen for fishes/corals. Never turn it off. They don't give out much heat anyway.

 

And to take care of drop in salinity due to skimmate removal, this is what i do for longer trips - Aqualifter pumps skimmate into a large container in the sump. The water displaced will maintain water level such that the ATO only takes care of evaporation only. 

 

 

 

[leejwa]

Great info !! Thanks for sharing

Another idea is for those without a ATO is to fill more water at the sump while you are away. I always do that to be more kaisu when I am away for a few day.

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[reefaquaria]

More water in sump without ato will cause salinity to go up due to evaporation. It's fine if evaporation rate is low.

Drop in sump water level may also affect the effectiveness of skimmer.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kenyee]

Bro subzerolt, may i ask why need a pump to pump the skimmate whereas can drain from the skim cup from the drain point(my skimz sk251 have)?

[kenyee]

27 minutes ago, reefaquaria said:

More water in sump without ato will cause salinity to go up due to evaporation. It's fine if evaporation rate is low.

Drop in sump water level may also affect the effectiveness of skimmer.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

More water in sump shd b lower SG unless top with seawater then after evaporation the SG will b higher..

Sump water level shd b dropping at the last compartment which is the return pump..so unless ur skimmer is in the last compartment which is unusual as it will cause bubbles in ur DT..

[reefaquaria]

More water in sump shd b lower SG unless top with seawater then after evaporation the SG will b higher..

Sump water level shd b dropping at the last compartment which is the return pump..so unless ur skimmer is in the last compartment which is unusual as it will cause bubbles in ur DT..

I think we are saying the same thing. Put more salt water in sump will not affect salinity. But over time due to evaporation (without ato) the salinity will increase.

You are right if you increase the water level in last compartment. But if the increase affect skimmer compartment then there could be issue.

Cheers

[SubzeroLT]

11 hours ago, kenyee said:

Bro subzerolt, may i ask why need a pump to pump the skimmate whereas can drain from the skim cup from the drain point(my skimz sk251 have)?

My Skimmer (Skimz SV203) does not have a drainage tap. Hence i need to have an extra pump to drain the skim out.