JTrigger Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 Nice, I was gone for 1 week to find a place in Vancouver since I'm moving from the east coast... and I carefully instructed a close friend on how to feed (and what to feed) my nano while I was gone.. dose..etc.. lighting (which was on timer)... I come back and: 1) heater is gone - so the temp bottomed out 2) fish sitting on the floor covered in waste from obvious overfeeding 3) anemone curled up stuck in filter so filter not working 4) lights unplugged from timer.. only actinic on.. probably for days 5) food all over the place 6) lost my nudi... JEeeeeeeeshhhh... it can't be THAT hard for non-fish enthusiasts to follow a FEW simple instructions... DAMN... all this and I just got in from the airport at 3 friggin AM and now I get to do a nice water change and clean up this heap... Sorry, just needed to vent :*( Link to comment
Acoustic Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 Dam who did you have sit your tank? What an A CAPITOL HOLE! I hope you thoroughly kick that persons chonch all over the place. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 here are the instructions I left for my mother in law and my nanny when I went away for a long weekend: Mother in law - do not go near the tank. do not attempt to move anything, not even the boxes or bottles that are under the tank on the floor. Any movement might cause a flood and we (wife and I) wilol hold you responsible for any damage caused by the flood. (she didn't listen anyway but I'm sure she was extremely careful when she put my bottle of water in a closet). Nanny - do not feed the tank. Do not put anything into the tank, unless my dottyback leaps from the tank and even then, I'd be more comfortable if you flush the fish, even if you saw the leap and it was out of the tank for 5 seconds. Please check the level of water in the bucket. If the powerhead at the bottom is 8 inches or less from the water's surface (5 gallon bucket) please add another bottle of the distilled water that is sitting next to the bucket. No problem, no hassles, no worries. As long as you have a top off system, or your sitter knows to add water and nothing else, you will always end up fine. Once you give someone instructions on dosing, feeding etc. you are inviting catastrophe. Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 Originally posted by Crakeur As long as you have a top off system, or your sitter knows to add water and nothing else, you will always end up fine. Once you give someone instructions on dosing, feeding etc. you are inviting catastrophe. I do agree that the more instructions you have the worse the problem gets but I don't agree w/ the first sentence. I went on vaction for a week and had a fellow reefer (begining reefer but he did have a reef at home) watch my tank. Everything was automated. All he was asked to do was check on it once a day and call me if anything goes wrong or looks out of the ordinary. I was due back on Sunday. Friday sometime the AC in the house died. Now I wasn't expecting him to get the AC fixed but a phone call would have been nice. I could have had him unplug the MH and just run the Actinics, open all the house windows, put a fan in a window or something. Instead he figured I would be home soon enough (2 days) and did nothing. Needless to say I came home to a fully cooked reef tank. Every time I have gone on vacation w/ a reef at home some type of disaster struck. If you own a reef --- Just don't go on vacation. Send the wife and kids down to FL and enjoy the quiet time w/ your reef. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 How was your trip jtrigger?,did you find a place? Link to comment
JTrigger Posted May 19, 2003 Author Share Posted May 19, 2003 Yah, found a place.. in Coal Harbour nice and near the marina and Stanley Park.... it's just kinda $$$, but nice that I'm sharing a 2-bd... whew... Vancouver was awesome.. what can I say? Just wondering why there aren't any awesome LFS in the immediate area.. I went to J&Ls, King Eds, and Big Al's... all in the burbs.. but nothing nearby??? JTrigger Link to comment
JTrigger Posted May 19, 2003 Author Share Posted May 19, 2003 In terms of help with my tank, I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions seeing as my fish and all are now acclimated to lowwwwwwwww temps... I changed things around, added a new heater and now the temp is back up to 80, but the fish are a bit tachypneic so I'm presuming it's because they're used to higher O2 concentrations at low temps and now are stressed back up at 80 with less O2 saturation? Should I just put them back down lower and raise the temp gradually? Any suggestions on how to get my carpet stop looking like a big floating glob and to resume it's normal activity level perched on the LR? LoL. TIA! Link to comment
Nullig Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 Sorry to hear about your disaster. I'm sure I've heard of a couple of LFS in downtown Vancouver, but I don't think they do too well (high rental costs). J&L is probably the best one around. There's a few in Richmond as well. Good luck with your move. Noel Link to comment
JTrigger Posted May 20, 2003 Author Share Posted May 20, 2003 Thx Noel, Yep, the move won't be too fun, but I'll be glad to start setting up my new 72-90 gal reef... woohoo... I just wish there were more highways in Vancouver that were more accessible in the downtown area instead of having to travel so far east to hit the TCH... Kingsway dragggs... en route to Burnaby. JT Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted May 20, 2003 Share Posted May 20, 2003 wow wthats too bad. next time just setup a top-off with lots of water. i left my tank for about 5 weeks with no food or anyting just topoff and came home to a perfectly happy tank. im not recommending staying away from a tank that long but i had no choice and it worked out fine. everyhitn gon timers and such. Link to comment
xdevilxbebex Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 I have to agree with that one. Can't trust anyone with your tank. I went off for the weekend. And i was hoping no one would touch my tank. I figure my fish could live without food for 3 days. I come back and my dad has been feeding my fish and my DIY topoff system stopped working, cyanobateria covered my rocks and then my lawnmower blenny dies a day after i get back which caused a spike in my tank that killed my damsel. It was just a mess. I'm still trying to fight off my cyano. but it keeps coming back. Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 I wonder if it is possible to post a list of all our members and the towns they live in. Perhaps it would be a good starting point in looking for some qualified tank sitters now that vacation season is upon us. Just a thought. Link to comment
BIGBOB Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 a month ago, i took a week vacation., and to ensure that everything was fine, I hirered a employee from my LFS. And when I got home not only was my 50 gallon reef a mess but all the others, nanos, fresh water. My 50 reef suffered the most pain. It had brown and hair algae slathered from top to bottom, and I couldnt even start to see the coralline algae on the rocks for 2 more weeks, and there was at least and INCH of decaying debris on the sand bed. It has finnaly recovered. What will I do this summer when imma way for 2 weeks! (twice the damage!) I guess i'll caution tape it off. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 jtrigger you have to take a trip to delta there's a place out there that sell's frags pretty cheap and i know the owner he's a cool guy he trades and specializes in sps here's the link www.oceanaquatics.com there isn't to many places to buy from near your area Link to comment
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