When going on a trip for business or a vacation, it is best to make plans and arrange to have someone attend to or at least check in on your aquarium once a day while you are gone.
Reasons NOT to Leave an Aquarium Unattended
- Problems with the power going out, an overflow pipe getting plugged up, a heater malfunctioning, and other unfortunate situations can occur without warning at any time.
- You most likely have a substantial amount of money invested in your system. Why take the risk of something going wrong, possibly resulting in the lose of everything!
- If you own a dog, cat, bird, pot-bellied pig or other family pet, you wouldn't even think about leaving it alone and uncared for, and being an aquarium pet owner is no different!
Aquarium Care Planning Tips
- Ask someone to help you that you know is trustworthy, reliable, and preferably has "some" knowledge about saltwater aquariums.
- Do any necessary regular maintenance tasks several days prior to leaving. A system that is in tip-top shape will need little, if any care at all. In all likelihood your "helper's" daily jobs will be limited to checking to see that everything is running ok, doing a few simple things like feeding the tank inhabitants, turning the lights on/off, and possibly adding supplements if you have a reef tank.
- To make things simplier, the fewer things a helper has to do, the better. Many tasks can be eliminated by adding an automatic feeder (compare prices), a doser and water top-off unit (compare prices / DIY plans), connecting the lights to a timer, and even running the whole system with an electronic controlling device.
- Go over the basics of how your system is set up with your helper. If you going away for a substantial period of time you'll want to cover everything in greater detail. For this situation it is a good idea to plan ahead and have your helper spend time with you and your aquarium, showing and allowing them do any task that may need to be performed. This is beneficial, as visual or hands-on demonstrations for many people are much easier to understand and retain, compared to verbal or written instructions.
- If there is a lot to do, put together a "things-to-do" checklist. This will make your helper's job easier for remembering what needs to be done, and when, as well as can help ease your mind that nothing is being overlooked.
- Be sure you are stocked up on all the supplies your helper will need to use. Even though there is little chance your helper will have to do a water change, storing a premixed batch of saltwater is a wise thing to do in case an emergency arises.
- Leave phone numbers for where you can be reached, including an emergency number for a person or persons who may be able to assist with a problem if you cannot be contacted.
- If you are using any kind of an online tank minder or computer software program to keep a record of your aquarium's statistics, instruct your helper in how to use it. The information provided in the log will tell you all you need to know about what transpired with your system while you were gone. Besides, many of these types of programs have diagnostic or analysis capabilities, which can provide some troubleshooting assistance if a problem arises.
- If you plan to be away from home for some time and are unable to find someone to help you out, consider hiring a professional company in your area that specializes in aquarium maintenance care or babysitting services. It's better to be safe, than sorry!
