Out of town for 3 weeks, how to set my tank...

pangking · #1 01-19-2010, 04:50 PM

I and my whole family are going to Asia for 3 weeks. I'm really not sure how my 95gal tank can be survived through those days.
How to replace that water for evaporation. Usually I need to add 5 gal flesh water every 10 days to keep the sump working properlly.
If I only feed my fish pellets, will they be ok for 3 weeks?
Anything else do I need looke at ? Thanks for any words!

Albertan22 · #2 01-19-2010, 06:15 PM

Do you have an auto-topoff system in place? When I leave I move the pump out of my ATO reservoir into a garbage can full of fresh water that I just park in front of the tank. For long trips, I set up two garbage pail reservoirs and have a neighbour come and move the pump when the pail is getting low. I can't comment on the food question, but you also might want to consider the possibility of your skimmer cup filling up, overflowing and polluting the tank. Does it have a drain? Could you get a neighbour or someone to come in and empty the skimmer cup, check the fresh water reservoir and maybe feed some frozen food every 3 days or so?

pangking · #3 01-19-2010, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albertan22

Do you have an auto-topoff system in place? When I leave I move the pump out of my ATO reservoir into a garbage can full of fresh water that I just park in front of the tank. For long trips, I set up two garbage pail reservoirs and have a neighbour come and move the pump when the pail is getting low. I can't comment on the food question, but you also might want to consider the possibility of your skimmer cup filling up, overflowing and polluting the tank. Does it have a drain? Could you get a neighbour or someone to come in and empty the skimmer cup, check the fresh water reservoir and maybe feed some frozen food every 3 days or so?

First, Thanks for your words, helpful.
I don't have auto-topoff system.
The garbage can seems a good ideal. I have a 30 gal garbage can that used for tank water mixture, so I can set it up as a big sump, and park the garbage can infront of my tank when I'm out. Then move the pump from the sump into this garbage can, to pump the water back to tank, am I correct? but how can the water flow back to the garbage can? My tank is top-flow, considering the heigh of the garbage can, can the water be top-flow back to the garbage can? oh, god... I hope you can understand what I am talking about...

Bloodasp · #4 01-19-2010, 09:47 PM

I guess what he is saying is that the garbage bin you will be using will be filled with fresh water. Right now you are topping of your sump 5 galons of water every week if i read that right. The idea of an auto top-off is that you no longer need to manually top off your sump as it is done automatically. every time your water level drops from a certain level water from your reservoir is added to your sump until it reaches the point where the level originally was. This is actually good even to use even when you are around as it eliminates the fluctuation of your salinity level. And from what I understand you top off once a week, that's a huge fluctuation of your salinity level.

Albertan22 · #5 01-20-2010, 11:21 PM

Bloodasp is correct in what I was meaning. I use the garbage can as a top off reservoir, not the sump. If you used it as a sump and didn't have any topoff, your salinity level would get pretty high as water evaporated over the three weeks and could hurt or kill your livestock.

ferret · #6 01-21-2010, 12:15 AM

5 gal for 10 days during such weather! To me 5 gal is only good for 4 days for my fowlr with t5 light fixture set for 6 hrs a day. I experienced your situation too for departing more than 24 days, I ordered the auto-top off from bulk reef supply and completed the hook up by myself and purchased the auto feeder from J/L and to add the activated carbon ( with specified amount good for 30 days ) and all my fish were survived when I returned home from trip. Honestly speaking, to play safe the best way is to look for somebody to babysit your tank.