How to prepare for being away.
 

I am hoping/planning to be away over Christmas for +/- 2 weeks.:eek: and am making a list of how to fortify my tanks against the house sitter and inevitable disasters.

Aside from a fresh water change, premixed water for top offs, bright red sticky notes warning against over-feedings, timers for lights, equipment checks and rechecks, what else would you do (aside from staying home) to prepare your systems for being away?

Please keep in mind that I do not have high-tech equipment and live in a remote community where the next reefer is 2 hours away. Thanks in advance. :mrgreen:

What do you mean premixed for top off?

I would mark very heavy salt mix water and fresh water... My sitter was typing off with salt ... For the first day luckily he asked alot of questions and I picked it up. Then I red taped all the salt water buckets in my house .

gather all information needed or things you do on a regular basis and have it all on a computer file labeled by time of day...videos of you going through the chores as needed,and things to look out for in case of problems...something I would do if I ever leave for longer than a week,...

I will premix my water at .20 to account for evaporation and rises in salinity. I know approximately how much evaporation I have per week. The second week will be at a lower salinity level, I just have to figure it out based on no weekly water change, as I normally do a 1/4 weekly wc.

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you or not, but your top-off water should contain no salt at all.

I dont see how salinity fluctuates. I go for a month at a time. I just make sure theres alot of fresh water in case my reservoir runs empty, show how to clean skimmer and strict feeding rules. But I have contact via cell everyday. Next time all cleaning magnets will be hidden though. Came home to a scratched tank.

No you weren't misunderstanding, I was misunderstanding as I was still thinking about it from a wc perspective minus the actual wc. Thank you so incredibly much for pointing out the error in my logic.:biggrin:

I clean my skimmer before I leave, pre-pack daily food (or interval of visits) and leave it at that. My top off is automated. I wouldn't want anyone doing any type of water change. Everything else is on timers (controller).

Leave a good set of instructions on feeding and cleaning you want them to do .

Also I think giving them a number of a fellow reefer or LFS and giving them a heads up or even ability to post a forum on here would be helpful in the case of an accident that you didn't plan for could help