Vacation

freezerrat · 07-08-2008, 01:49 PM

How long can a mixed reef be left without care? I'm sure the corals should be OK for quite a while but what about the fish? I had fresh water years ago in college and left the fish in the dorm over Christmas break (I wouldn't do it again) and lost nothing. Marine fish being much more active and demanding, How long can they go without food. This is just a hypothetical question as I don't even have water in my tank yet.

lcstorc · 07-08-2008, 01:52 PM

It's not just the food it is the top-off and water changes. If you have an ATO then you buy some time. I would go 3-4 days personally. I know people that will go a week or more.

djbacon · 07-08-2008, 02:38 PM

Ive been discussing this with my LFS - we have a month long trip to thailand coming up. What we worked out is that if we take out all the fish, and keep them at the LFS the reef should be fine for about 2 weeks before they will come do a water change, provided the reef is all photosynthetic and on reliable timers etc.

Without anything in there to pollute the water quality, it should be good for a while.

If the fish stay in, I get nervous over 3 days. They do need to feed and be monitored.

btw - I DONT receommend this - just saying - a good vacation option is to remove the poopers and any filter feeders if your LFS will care for them in your basence (e.g. coco worms etc) and leave the photosynthetic critters with less required maintenance.

I am afraid this might be stressful for the fish though.

freezerrat · 07-08-2008, 02:52 PM

That plan sounds better that having the neighbor come in and foul everything up. That's what I'm trying to find out. I would rather leave it alone than have someone in there who really doesn't get the importance of things. And how just a little too much of this or too little of that can devistate a system.

Witfull · 07-08-2008, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freezerrat

How long can a mixed reef be left without care?

no more than 10 hrs,,,you must come straight home after work, spend any vacation money on the tank and NEVER sleep in late on your day off~

07-08-2008, 01:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
freezerrat Fire Coral Join Date: May 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 63 View Gallery Karma Komment	Vacation How long can a mixed reef be left without care? I'm sure the corals should be OK for quite a while but what about the fish? I had fresh water years ago in college and left the fish in the dorm over Christmas break (I wouldn't do it again) and lost nothing. Marine fish being much more active and demanding, How long can they go without food. This is just a hypothetical question as I don't even have water in my tank yet.

07-08-2008, 01:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 26,433 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Vacation It's not just the food it is the top-off and water changes. If you have an ATO then you buy some time. I would go 3-4 days personally. I know people that will go a week or more. __________________ Peace LYNN Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g of sunshine Lynn's frag tank experiment A reef tank is like a race car. The faster you go the harder you crash.

07-08-2008, 02:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
djbacon Neon dottyback Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: San Francisco Posts: 601 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Vacation Ive been discussing this with my LFS - we have a month long trip to thailand coming up. What we worked out is that if we take out all the fish, and keep them at the LFS the reef should be fine for about 2 weeks before they will come do a water change, provided the reef is all photosynthetic and on reliable timers etc. Without anything in there to pollute the water quality, it should be good for a while. If the fish stay in, I get nervous over 3 days. They do need to feed and be monitored. btw - I DONT receommend this - just saying - a good vacation option is to remove the poopers and any filter feeders if your LFS will care for them in your basence (e.g. coco worms etc) and leave the photosynthetic critters with less required maintenance. I am afraid this might be stressful for the fish though. __________________ Check out my awesome 14g nanoreef in progress - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...ater-tank.html The Nano Club - It's not the size of the reef. It's what's in it that counts

07-08-2008, 02:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
freezerrat Fire Coral Join Date: May 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 63 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Vacation That plan sounds better that having the neighbor come in and foul everything up. That's what I'm trying to find out. I would rather leave it alone than have someone in there who really doesn't get the importance of things. And how just a little too much of this or too little of that can devistate a system.

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