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Leaving your reef can be a traumatic situation, but there are some things you can do to minimize the danger of major catastrophy. For short durations, a well designed, stable tank can easily go without supervision for a few days. This article is meant to address longer trips which would require someone to look after your tank for you.
Choosing a tank sitter
This is probably the most important step. You can hire someone that specializes in aquarium care, but this is expensive and there are no guarantees that they will take care of your tank the way you'd like. It is a good idea to choose someone you know and feel you can trust to follow your instructions to the letter.
The best choice is a friend that has experience with reef tanks. If that is not a possibility, then choose someone that has shown consistent interest in the tank, and that you can trust to follow your instructions without improvising.
Preparation
The more you prepare for being gone, the more likely it will be that your reef will be happy and healthy when you return. The best way to be sure that your tank is not overfeed, or overdosed is to pre-measure everything that will be added to the tank while you are gone. Flake food can be put into labelled baggies with a day's portion in the bag. Two part additives can be put in cheap, small plastic containers labelled for each day, or for shorter trips they can be ignored altogether, a stable tank will not suffer from a few days lacking two part additives. Be sure that any saltwater is well marked and is not easily accessible to avoid accidental evaporation replacement with saltwater. It would be advisable to explain carefully to your assitant that they should always replace evaporation with freshwater - not salt. Explaining why this is true will help it make sense to your assitant.
Even more important, fix any broken or non-functional devices so that your assitant won't have to deal with them. Get the tank operating smoothly long before you leave. Use this even as an excuse to simplify all your chores as much as possible, not just for your assistants benefit while you are gone, but also for your own. Do any major chores (ie: water changes, major cleanings / maintenance, etc...) before you leave so that they won't need done while you are gone.
Checklist
Create a simple checklist of tasks for your assistant to use each visit. This is were you tell them exactly what you want done on each visit. This needs to be as specific as possible. Without a checklist it will be very easy for your assistant to forget something, or do more than you want each visit.
Demonstrate how to do everything on the checklist to your assistant. Have them do it at least once in your presence so you can verify that they understand the process.
Log Book
Keep a log book with the checklist. Ask your assistant to note anything out of the ordinary, and keep track of what they've done each visit. Dates and times are important required fields for each log entry. This can be usefull for when you return to see how things went. Also, if something does go wrong, your assistant can read the log book to you over the phone to give you an idea of what is going on with the tank.
Frequency of visits
Depending on how confident you are of your tanks stability, you probably only need to have someone stop by every other day. If it will help your nerves, or if your tank typically needs daily attention (fresh water replacement for example) then certainly arrange for daily visits. Your tank corals and fish will do just fine without daily feedings.
Don't make major changes
If at all possible, avoid making any major changes just before leaving. The first few days after making a change is when a failure is most likely to occur. Avoid the temptation of installing a neat new gadget right before you leave.
Keep it simple
Don't overcomplicate things. What seems simple to you, may confuse your assitant. Only do what is absolutely necessary to keep your reef going until you get back. Water changes can be postponed, additives can be skipped, feedings can be changed from elaborate custom seafood mixtures to simply flake food. The simpler the better.
Communication
Whenever possible, make regular contact with your tank sitter. Tell your assitant not to do anything not on the checklist until they talk to you first. Of course the exception to this rule is if there is a leak or some other major problem that has an obvious solution. Let your assistant know that if they follow your direction on the checklist and call you if anything else occurs, they don't have to feel responsible if anything goes wrong. Every few days have a short conversation with your assistant just to verify there are no problems. Be sure to give contact information to your assistant so that they can contact you if something does go wrong.
Document basic troubleshooting
Document anything that has gone wrong for you in the recent past and how to deal with the problem if it occurs. If it happened to you, it can happen to your sitter. Also describe how to deal with any problems that you feel are likely to occur while you are gone.
Relax and enjoy your trip. You've done everything you can to ensure the health of your tank.
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This page last updated on: June 23, 2002
Copyright ©
2001 by Gregory S. Taylor. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be
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without permission in writing from Gregory
S. Taylor.