Going away for two days

[buttons buster]

what should I worry about?

I thinking of setting the salinity to like 1.025 or so to compensate for the evaporation.


No way for an instant top-off.
Plus it's only two days.

tanks are an 8 gallon and a 2 gallon.



Any other things I should be concerned about?

Open to suggestions?

[kiknchikn]

My 20L nano goes 2 days without me maintaining it every week since it's at work and I don't go in on weekends. I put a little extra topoff water into the tank to offset the evaporation a little, double check all the equipment, say a prayer, and walk away.

I've been doing it for over a year and a half and my tank is doing pretty well, so I don't think you have to worry too much :)

[NanoReefWanabe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11478257#post11478257 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kiknchikn
My 20L nano goes 2 days without me maintaining it every week since it's at work and I don't go in on weekends. I put a little extra topoff water into the tank to offset the evaporation a little, double check all the equipment, say a prayer, and walk away.

I've been doing it for over a year and a half and my tank is doing pretty well, so I don't think you have to worry too much :)

not so much the case with tanks this small..as any evaporation that occurs will greatly effect the SG...

and personally i dont think it is a good idea to lower the SG and allow evap to raise it again over the course of the weekend...Stability is the biggest factor in tanks this size...SG swinging from .025 to .027 on a daily basis is stressing your corals and fish, etc..and likely inhibiting them from taking off...weak stressed animals are prone to diseases

if you can i would put a 500 ml water bottle or a 1500ml water bottle above the tanks and allow it to drip over the course of the weekend/ trip...depends how much evap you experience over the course of a day though...if it is 500ml a day then only use 1000ml bottles...tie a knot in some airline and create a siphon by sucking on the air line...adjust the drip by tightening of loosening the knot..a drip every two seconds...or even a little slower should be good...tape the airline so it sits about a 1/4" above the bottom of the bottles...and allow it to just hang over the tank..

i use a gate valve on my airline to adjust the drip...works great...and it is one less pump running (if you were to use an airlifter or small MJ to pump to the tank)

[harleychic]

Well, I'll probably get flamed for this, but here goes. I have a 3 gal with no top off. I simply slowly add RO/DI to it and not everyday either. I think the longest I've gone is 3 or 4 days. Tanks been running 9 months.

[Chorethorious]

As long as your tanks survives and nothing goes into shock I don't see a problem with that... I'll get flamed with you!

[kiknchikn]

It's ok Harleychic... you won't get flamed by me. I know from experience that many corals are not as horribly effected by changes in salinity as some people would have you believe :rolleyes:

That said, I wouldn't recommend doing that if you're keeping extremely sensitive animals like some acros seem to be or anemones, etc. Most LPS, shrooms, and most softies seem to be fine with the slow fluctuations, as well as some hardy SPS corals like birds nest and digitatas.

[buttons buster]

haha it's too late now.
they are softy only so should't be too big of a problem.


Salinity was like 1.025 when I left. I'll update when i get back.

[zma21]

I'm worried about that two gallon..

[buttons buster]

That was my concern to, but I think it will be fine.
We'll see though

[tcilmo]

I run a 20 gallon, If I go out of today for a little bit . . I just add a little xtra top off water . . . , I have my lights on timers . . . I just not sure with a two gallon how that would work, that kind of makes me nervous.

[D to the P]

Maybe you could put the lights on timers and cut back the lighting by 2 hours or so to help with evaporation. Otherwise you can try to rig up a water bottle over the tank with the open end in the water a bit. the water won't pour out until the level in the tank gets below where the bottle ends and then it should just fill up to there. Or do what wannabe said. good luck!

[buttons buster]

THANKS EVERYONE