Tank babysitting during vacations....?

[Littorina]

What do most of you do with your tanks during vacations?  Just get a trusted friend to pop in to feed and check water parameters, and water changes when needed?  What if you don't have friend who is familiar with saltwater tanks?  Can you hire someone? 

    Bringing a stranger into your home when you're not there for an extended period of time is a little unsettling, so if anyone HAS hired someone to take care of their tank while away, suggestions and experiences from forum members would be appreciated!

[Greatwhite]

If I'm away for a week, I do a good cleaning of my skimmer before going - and fill my auto feeder, that drops stuff 8 times a day and lasts about 10 days if I set it right.

I travel a bit and my wife doesn't know how to maintain my tank, so I try to keep it easy.

Once you have an established tank, there is a renewable, natural food source that can sustain the fish between feedings.. I have a very healthy copepod population these days.

[Got Fish?]

There are company's etc that offer a visiting service etc. They are all bonded so insurance shouldn't be a problem. basically set everything up right before you go and a friend should be enough to look after it but leave a stores number handy in case they have any problems.

[Stussi613]

I have a few friends that I can rely on in my area of town.  It's always best to have someone that knows how to maintain a tank and fix problems than someone who is going to do something that will crash your system.  Put up a poll on here and ask how many people have had tanks crashed, or had people over-feed and cause massive algae blooms/fish losses and you'd be shocked by the results.

I only know of one store, in the west end, that officially offers the service.  The fact that they have an actual store and are pretty easy to find would put me a bit more at ease about a stranger coming into the house.  I have known people who have used house sitters that they knew for years that did some pretty strange stuff in their house...so I'm not as worried about someone I'm paying to come in and do a job, since they are more likely to just do that job.

[Philnashbass]

It's always my concern too. Even the best "trained" friends I leave in charge: overfeed, forget how to top up...ya da, ya da, ya da....

[bandit]

I  have the worlds greatest neighbors who love my tanks and using a dosing pump and balling salts make things easy.

[Littorina]

     Didn't know there were autofeeders for salt tanks!  A good tip!  I presume that would be for pellet food only though?  So if anything needed frozen food or flakes, that requires a sentient being of some sort? ....

    So there's a company in the west end that will do aquarium maintenance?  Do you happen to know what it's called?  Or PM me if you don't feel comfortable sharing here....

[Greatwhite]

    Didn't know there were autofeeders for salt tanks!  A good tip!  I presume that would be for pellet food only though?  So if anything needed frozen food or flakes, that requires a sentient being of some sort? ....

I had an Eheim auto feeder with 2 food tubes.  I filled one with pellets, and one with broken flakes.  The schedule had them alternating between the foods.  I learned that particular feeder is not water proof, and when I went to replace it, I was only able to get a single food feeder...  So I mix the flakes and pellets, and it works fine.

There are ways to build a live food "feeder".. ie/ brine shrimp hatchery.  Auto feeding frozen cubed food may be possible with a dosing pump and a bottle...  I wouldn't feel right having a bottle of warm water with dead brine/mysis in it for very long though.

[Stussi613]

So there's a company in the west end that will do aquarium maintenance?  Do you happen to know what it's called?  Or PM me if you don't feel comfortable sharing here....

Got Fish? is a forum sponsor and they do maintenance, you can check out their forum on the site for contact information.

[Littorina]

I was checking out autofeeders online earlier today.  Very neat!  And they don't seem to be very expensive either. 

I didn't realize GotFish? did maintenance!  :-)     When you mentioned "west end", I assumed there was another company.  That's good to know, thanks! 

[Marinescape]

Marinescape Aquarium has a few maintenance people we know and trust...feel free to call and we would be happy to give you their numbers...

[Littorina]

Thanks Marinescape!