Help! Have to shut down my tank for two weeks!

Robatusan · 10/23/2017, 02:56 PM

Due to a family emergency I have to leave town for maybe one or two weeks and I may not have anyone to look after my tank. Fortunately there's no live stock as I am nearing the end of my fishless cycle. Ammonia still is at 0.1 according to my Red Sea test kit. (Side note: the Seachem Ammonia Alert in-the-tank-stick-on-hangy-doodle is saying ammonia is at a safe level. Not sure which one to trust.)

Tank specs: Biocube 32, 30 pounds reefsaver dry rock (hopefully becoming alive,) 20 pounds live sand, Colbalt Neotherm 100 watt heater, Sicce Voyager Nano 2000 power head, Intank media basket with filter floss only, Tunze 9001 skimmer. I recently purchased a Tunze 3155 Osmolator which I may have time to set up before I leave, but I'm not sure if I should just set it up and hope the best while I'm away.

Questions: Should I just shut everything down? Should I keep the power head and/or heater running while I'm away? Keep the skimmer running? How will this affect my cycle which I'm almost 2 months into and don't want to disrupt or have to start over again?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

BigBearMD · 10/23/2017, 03:00 PM

Easy. Leave it running. No question. Turn off the skimmer so it doesn’t overflow. It would be preferable to set up the ATO but honestly my biocube goes through just a couple of cups a week so if you don’t it’ll be fine.

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BigBearMD · 10/23/2017, 03:01 PM

Consider it free cycling time

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jayball · 10/23/2017, 03:18 PM

Agree, Kill your skimmer, leave your powerhead on. You have had it running for 2 months so you should know how much you evaporate. Calculate how much is going to evap and make sure your return will not go dry if you top off as much as you can before you go.

Aside. If you have had the thing running for 2 months the cycle should have been finished, or at least ready for some livestock, if you had fed the tank in the first place. You may be getting a false positive on the test. have you had any algae blooms yet? Typically it comes in waves of diatoms, then cyano, then green hair algae. If you have not had any of those you may want to drop a little food in before you go to help kick it off.

alanbetiger · 10/23/2017, 03:24 PM

Agreedyou should be good to go with some livestock when you return

Robatusan · 10/23/2017, 03:49 PM

Thank you all for the feedback. I'll turn off the skimmer and keep everything else running.

billdogg · 10/23/2017, 05:12 PM

turn off the lights too. No need to waste the electricity. Depending on type, it might help cut down on evaporation too.

10/23/2017, 02:56 PM	#1
Robatusan Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2	Help! Have to shut down my tank for two weeks! Due to a family emergency I have to leave town for maybe one or two weeks and I may not have anyone to look after my tank. Fortunately there's no live stock as I am nearing the end of my fishless cycle. Ammonia still is at 0.1 according to my Red Sea test kit. (Side note: the Seachem Ammonia Alert in-the-tank-stick-on-hangy-doodle is saying ammonia is at a safe level. Not sure which one to trust.) Tank specs: Biocube 32, 30 pounds reefsaver dry rock (hopefully becoming alive,) 20 pounds live sand, Colbalt Neotherm 100 watt heater, Sicce Voyager Nano 2000 power head, Intank media basket with filter floss only, Tunze 9001 skimmer. I recently purchased a Tunze 3155 Osmolator which I may have time to set up before I leave, but I'm not sure if I should just set it up and hope the best while I'm away. Questions: Should I just shut everything down? Should I keep the power head and/or heater running while I'm away? Keep the skimmer running? How will this affect my cycle which I'm almost 2 months into and don't want to disrupt or have to start over again? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

10/23/2017, 05:12 PM	#7
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	turn off the lights too. No need to waste the electricity. Depending on type, it might help cut down on evaporation too. __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

10/23/2017, 03:00 PM	#2
BigBearMD Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 83	Easy. Leave it running. No question. Turn off the skimmer so it doesn’t overflow. It would be preferable to set up the ATO but honestly my biocube goes through just a couple of cups a week so if you don’t it’ll be fine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

10/23/2017, 03:01 PM	#3
BigBearMD Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 83	Consider it free cycling time Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

10/23/2017, 03:18 PM	#4
jayball Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Maryland Posts: 1,671	Agree, Kill your skimmer, leave your powerhead on. You have had it running for 2 months so you should know how much you evaporate. Calculate how much is going to evap and make sure your return will not go dry if you top off as much as you can before you go. Aside. If you have had the thing running for 2 months the cycle should have been finished, or at least ready for some livestock, if you had fed the tank in the first place. You may be getting a false positive on the test. have you had any algae blooms yet? Typically it comes in waves of diatoms, then cyano, then green hair algae. If you have not had any of those you may want to drop a little food in before you go to help kick it off.

10/23/2017, 03:24 PM	#5
alanbetiger Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Aubrey, TX USA Posts: 33	Agreedyou should be good to go with some livestock when you return

10/23/2017, 03:49 PM	#6
Robatusan Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2	Thank you all for the feedback. I'll turn off the skimmer and keep everything else running.