Tank sitter suggestions

[Mscott203]

So I am leaving on a 2 week vacation and will be relatively unaccessible during that time but in emergencies I should be able to be reached.
I have left a tank drawing, and an electrical schematic for the sitter. here is a picture of each.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a79/mscott203/fish%20tank/TANKSCHEMATIC.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a79/mscott203/fish%20tank/Electricalsceme1.jpg

I have generated a 2 minute tank check list that the sitter will go through 3 times per day and a contingency plan for each check if something goes wrong.
1) Water on the floor alarm going off?
2) Check thermometer
3) Check each wall outlet and ensure little red gfci light is on on each one
4) count and find each fish
5) Check each power head and pump outlet for water movement
6) Check the two rotating water deflectors
7) Check water level in sump and refugium
8) Scan the sand bed for stranded snails
9) Check to make sure the lighting is on schedule

Does anyone have anything to add based on your experience?
thanks so much

[TXAlbert]

You have gone way beyond the call of duty, my friend. I salute you. Oh, and the check list looks good. What about feeding? Did I miss that?

[bonerfortuna]

You are soooo F-ed ! That is way too complicated for anyone but yourself to manage. Define a "stranded snail " You have to simplify this ,you are dealing with mortals.

[Toddrtrex]

Is your tank sitter in the hobby? And do they live next door? 3 times a day seems a bit much to me, and if the sitter isn't familiar with tanks they are going to be overwhelmed.

[Mscott203]

so, the tank sitter is not in the hobby, but he is actually house sitting for us and will be staying here the whole time. He will have our 3 dogs, 1 cat and a bird to take care of as well and fish feeding is just part of the whole house sitting routine.
I left the schematics for him in case he needs to call me for anything major... otherwise he shouldn't need them at all. Nothing has been off in some time and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. the list is just a quick checklist for him to go through a few times per day to catch anything as early as possible if there happens to be something to catch. Then if he has to call me I can take my copies of the schematics and talk him through what needs to be done.
the list has a long outline of protocol for him to follow if something is off which I have gone over with him.
whew, I really am keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for the input though. I hope I have covered my bases

[pledosophy]

I'm leaving on vacation soon to. My tank sitter will put salt water in the cups of food marked with the day of the week in the freezer, and refil the evaporated water.

If anything is wrong, she has the number of a professional to call who can come and fix anything in case something horrible happens.

JMO

[BadRoma1]

pledosophy, why are replacing evaporated water with salt water? salt doesn't evaporate. or did i get what you said wrong? my bad if i did. mscott, honestly, the chances of things going wrong are very slim if you have everything set up well and you haven't had any problems with it before. so, don't worry, it'll be fine. if things are going to go bad, i think your sitter won't know what to do even if you tell him, so it's good you left contacts. even with my poor set up and cheap equipment there is not much happening. thanks God!

[BigJay]

Remind your tank sitter not to overfeed. Only measured amounts every day, no matter how much they beg, plead, and look hungry. Remind the tank sitter that too much food will kill them all.

Fish are accomplished con artists. They are extremely capable of scamming extra food out of tank sitters with their frenzied "fishie-hungry dance".

[Mscott203]

So.. just as an update....
Tanks sitter failed.
We return home tomorrow and have just spoken with him again. His email yesterday stated: "the water in the tank where the fishes are has dropped about 3-4 inches" is that normal?
next question from him. "Yeah.. the smaller tanks underneath. are they supposed to have water in them?
results... both return pumps, the skimmer feed and recirc pumps, and the phosban reactor pump, have all run dry and siezed, About 40 gallons of water has evaporated from a total of about 150. He sais the fish are still swimming. just a little lower in the water lately.
I assume there has been no topoff water running the entire time we have been gone. not sure why yet. I have talked him through the process of unplugging the 5 pumps located in the sump, and disconnecting the ro/di feed line from the auto topoff and fixing it in place in the main tank and just letting it run until we arrive home, hopefully that will add 30 or so gallons of fresh water back to the tank between now and when we return home tomorrow.
I expect to find the salinity up around 1.030 or higher, some of the sps corals exposed, xenia dead and decaying, snails dead and decaying. I would guess any shrooms and maybe some zoos will survive.
Maybe we will luck out and many things will live, if so keep your eyes out for a "selling out" thread. I think this is the straw that forces us out of the hobby this time.
If only he had paid heed to number 6 and/or 7 on the checklist. - an issue in either of these would have indicated a problem - the protocol on both of these was to call us immediately. each time we spoke to him throughout the week he said everything was fine. I guess I can thank god there wasn't a fire.
oh well, it felt good to **** and moan about it where people might understand.

[cdness]

This is the reason I am setting up a controller attached to the media center PC. It will be able to log some of the stuff. Also since the PC is so close to the tank, it can also have 2 web cams. One in the canopy and another in the sump. This will help me "double-check" the tank sitter.

I don't have any issues because my brother tank sits. He also cares for my turtle and 2 chinchillas while I am gone. He knows just enough to take care of it and I let him know that if there is anything out of the ordinar (wierd noises, missing fish, anything overflowing, lights not working) to give me a call and I'd walk him through checking things out.

Sorry to hear about your losses. Don't let this scare you out of the hobby. Do make sure you get a better house sitter for the next time though.

[tkeracer619]

Hopefully an experienced reefer from the area can pm you with a number and go over there to get a real idea of whats going on.

The fish are still swimming doesn't mean much from a non tank person. You need to find a fish friend anyways.

Sorry