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dmack
08/19/2006, 05:56 PM
What is the longest period of time you left your tank unattended/unsupervised due to vacations, work, etc. What was the outcome????

Andrew
08/19/2006, 06:11 PM
3 days. Everything was fine excapt the death of my scopas tang. ( which also had ich when I left )

c.rob
08/19/2006, 06:14 PM
Four days.The tank was never as clear as the day I got back.

Fountainhead
08/19/2006, 06:28 PM
Ten days. And I did this two years in a row for family vacations. No one entered the house to look at the tank at all.

I filled the sump up as high as I could to accomodate evaporation. I put in battery powered air pumps in the event of power failure. And I set up an automatic feeder to dispense a mix of flake food. No problem, except for excessive algae on the glass and so forth. I probably overfed with the feeder, because so much would end up going into the overflow befroe the fish would get to it.

I also had my computers connected to a UPS which would have emailed my cell phone in the event of a power failure, so I'd have had a heads up if something like that had happened.

Aquabucket
08/19/2006, 06:32 PM
3 days for me also. I don't have an auto top off and have a tank sitter when on vacation.

chrismunn
08/19/2006, 06:54 PM
7 days with no incdent. i had my wifes aunt come in every day and top off. no fish to feed. i dont know if she actually followed my dosing instructions for the b-ionic?

Btboy2004
08/19/2006, 07:44 PM
7 days, no one attending. Just got my auto top off and auto feeders, no losses.

jessp
08/19/2006, 08:17 PM
8 days, tank looked great, less tinkering i think the tank appreciated it

xtrstangx
08/19/2006, 09:03 PM
3 days, but I had someone to topoff the tank daily and feed the fish daily..

Only problem is that my hermit crabs decided to go after my hammer coral's skeleton, literally tearing it apart.

bubblethumper
08/19/2006, 09:31 PM
7 days with no human intervention

-Autofeeder (Eheim)
-ATO (JBJ)
-1 Gal skimmer collection cup

I had my feeder doing 2 small feedings a day and it caused a small algae bloom. Nothing that a week or two of sparse feeding couldn't take care of.

affan
08/19/2006, 09:35 PM
I left for seven days and came back to my tank looking absolutely gorgeous. The autofeeder I'd purchased before I left never kicked in, so the fish weren't fed for a week. The timer the lights were on malfunctioned and stuck on off so no lights, either. The salinity got a little high due to evaporation but there were no losses and over all the tank looked great.

clkwrk
08/19/2006, 09:40 PM
17 hrs :lol:

dmack
08/19/2006, 09:48 PM
Wow! Wide ranges. But I bet that there are some folks out there that have left their tanks for longer periods given much thought to automation. I'm lookiing for a record!

dmack
08/19/2006, 09:49 PM
Its also interesting to hear some accounts of how the tanks actually look better. Maybe there are lessons to be learned.

goodblasson
08/19/2006, 09:52 PM
12 days, had diy top off, and no problems what so ever

energy_crisis
08/19/2006, 09:54 PM
First time I left my tank unattended when I went to Vegas for 2-3 days my corals looked nicer than ever when I got back. I think I was too eager to tinker with it everyday and couldn't help keeping my hand out of the tank prior to that.

Poorcollegereef
08/19/2006, 09:55 PM
longest was 4 days, nothing happened excapt a little evap...

but the worst happend when i escorted my girlfriend to boston looking for grad schools. I HAD a beautiful green BTA. when I left it was chilling in the center of the tank since it picked that spot a month ago )before the trip) and my clowns were happy. I left friday night and took the train. I came back early sunday after not sleeping for two days... night trains with no sleepers grrrr... anyways I returned back to my apt and the tank at 6 am with one thing, my bed, on my mind. I looked at the tank really quickly and the BTA was missing. I took a closer look and all I say was BTA streamers flying through the tank. "@!#$&^(*^$^#@(!&)#!^#)*^@*@$(*^*&!%#" I said sreaming at the top of my lungs. I had some water mixed, about 4-5 gallons and started mixing more. I took readings, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0... everything else was fine. I guess the anemone played with the powerhead less than an hour before I returned, and YES I had screens and guards as well as inverting the powerhead so there could be no accidents. Will I did massive water changes, and siphoned out as much anemone chucks and confetti as I could. Surprizingly my ammonia never reached .5ppm and my acros (now gone due to a rough move) were not affected at all... except for the counciling they needed afterwards. Well it took me until about 10am when I gave up and sleep till 830pm. I have not bought another anemone since

dmack
08/19/2006, 10:04 PM
Poorcollegereef: That sucks about your BTA..."anemone chucks and confetti".... but your story is a little amusing!

ATP
08/19/2006, 10:21 PM
Two tanks, 180g and a 150g. Eight days, ATO, timers. Had a family member stop by a couple times to check things. Everything was fine.

ASaleem91
08/19/2006, 10:39 PM
9 days. Tank was fine when I got back except for a little evaporation.

ASaleem91

Poorcollegereef
08/20/2006, 12:00 PM
dmack, yeah I have to find humor in it. my girlfriend has never really enjoyed my hobby, mostly because she is a no frills person. She is the only one I know to exit college with 12G in the bank, no student loans... and first in the class, but she loved the clowns hosting. She felt really bad so she took me to the LFS so buy another but there were no healthy BTA so I convinced her to buy me an acro. i might get another BTA but right nowmy clown is fine