Going Away for A Year. Instructions to Parents Is ther more to add?

I remember when I went on vacation for two weeks, and soon after I left, a powerhead fell on my anemone and blasted it to death. My parents had no idea what was going on, they had no idea why my entire room smelt TERRIBLE. When I got back everything was dead but my two yellowtail damsels (hardy dudes) and I had to donate them to my LFS.

My point is, they need to have a general idea of whats going on in your tank. You should sit them down and explain what everything in your tank is and what each requires. (On top of your letter, which I think is pretty good.)

 

I left my tank with a friend with no experience for 2 weeks and it went well. It was only two weeks though. I had him come out every 3 days. All food was pre-measured and stuck in its own bag in the freezer. All he had to do was pull a single serving bag of food out of the freezer and dissolve it in a cup of tank water and feed. He also added a square of nori that I also pre-cut to the right size. I also had him empty and clean my skimmer collection cup and fill my reservoir for my automatic top off system with RO/DI. All instructions were very clear and took more than a page. He came out for a dry run before I left and I had him call me when he was at my house and walked him through it the first time. I was nervous the entire vacation. What if an anemone moved and got sucked into a PH. What if a bubble developed in my overflow. I tried to take him through the worst case scenarios and showed him what to do.

I wouldn't even think about having him do water changes, testing the RO for TDS, doing general troubleshooting, etc... It seems like there is always something happening that needs some extraordinary attention too like overheating, coral falling, power outage, etc...

I think the only way you will pull this off is to get your parents into the hobby and get them to love it before you leave. Take them to the LFS and have them pick a favorite coral and fish of their own and add it to the tank so they have some vested interest in the tank. Turn them into a reef addicts before you leave if you want the tank to survive.

 

i agree with walking them through all the procedures. make a how to video for them, instant refreshers for them also. you can never be over prepared for something like this

 

Well said. I have to laugh a bit at the notion that 'parents' would be incapable of looking after a tank for a year since a lot of the members here are old enough to have kids in their 20's. The key element is to make sure that your parents have an interest and basic understanding of the hobby. It might even be a good idea to get them a 3reef user id 8). The only downside to this approach is that your tank may survive but they won't want to give it back.

 

i know i plan to move out in one or 2 years and i will be leaving my tank at home, and i'm going to teach them how to do everything now, that way they know how to run it when i leave home good luck on your 1 year vacation

 

You my friend, are VERY brave......

 

+1 on this ... get a refractometer!!

remember that they won't notice small problems you or I would catch. An anemone goes rogue, stinging everything in its way ... HLLE ... small white spots on fish ... they aren't going to notice any of this ...

I wish you the best of luck!

 

Hey i have an idea. let them know about this site "3reef.com" In a pinch if they can't reach you they can reach us. And you never know they may like us so much that we get them to enhance the tank for you!

 

and tell them how much easier it will be for them to read salinity with a refractometer. make their life so much easier if they bought one for themselves. and maybe even try and weasel a few more goodies to make it that much easier again for them. lol. you could end up getting loads of good stuff.

 

perfect.