Do you have your out of town tank babysitter?

[Heavydc2]

With all the threads about things going wrong somone suggested that we start a thread about getting someone else's number in case of emergency. Well Here is the begining of that thread.

I personally have someone who will come over and feed if I and my fiance are away, and I leave his number in case I am gone for a few days. In exchange I will do the same for him.
Do you have that person? If you don't I suggest you find a local BRS buddy who will do that for you. With the ammount of time and money put into your tank it would be a shame if you lost it one night because of some mishap. Make sure this person is familiar with your tank so that they know what they are getting into.

I also suggest you get some batteryt backup airpumps that will turn on incase you lose power that way at least you have o2 going into the water. I have one on my main tank, but not on my fuge and because of that I lost one of my clowns that were living in my fuge, it was a very upsetting thing that could have been avoided. My point is be proactive here it could save your fish.

[Scuba_Dave]

I have 3 auto-battery air pumps (power goes off, they go on), plus 2 more battery power air pumps, 3 or 4 reg electric fish air pumps, plus a monster electric air pump with (4) 10" air stones, and 5k generator
I actually need more of the auto-battery backups. I want (2) on the 125g, 1 on the 55g, 1 in the 75g, 1 in the sump - if I ever toss anything in there, and 2 when I setup the 180g
Unless I can rig something up - a sensor - to kick in the large air pump w/ 10" air stones...
Future plan (this summer hopefully) is an auto-start generator
I have a friend who has watched my tanks in the past. But this setup is very different. My last vacation I has someone volunteer (Steve) as a backup w/phone number.

I also have spare pumps - a 1200gph, and (2) 5000gph Dolphins

If anyone in the area has a problem & needs any of the equipment I have, let me know.

[Armando]

whatever you do, don't leave your corals in Scuba_Dave's hands. He is like that babysitter in the movie "The hand that rocks the cradle" :lol:

[Scuba_Dave]

I think you are going to have a waiting list of people to watch your tanks. And while your gone a mysterious plague will wipe out only the blue stuff :)

You'll need people to watch the people that watch your tanks

[Rick and Sandy]

We are in South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, and are available to help others in the area. We, in turn, will 'hook up' with others that can do the same for our Tanks.

Rick and Sandy

[Armando]

I am VERY available to look at tanks with rare colorful SPSs / zoos in fragable size ;)

[Scuba_Dave]

I also have a 350 UPS on one tank running a MJ1200, lasts approx 90 minutes - for short outages
And a 700 UPS on the 125g running a MJ1200 - lasts maybe 3 hours or so?
Planning on an additional UPS/larger.
I also have a Power Inverter - plugs into cig lighter, provides house current from converter

[loomisreefer]

im at school all the time and my gf watches my tanks... she does an awesome job considering theres a 125salt..my 29reef and a bunch of freshwater including a pond in my basement... good girlfriend lol... one time i even came home and there was a new maxima in my tank... a little suprise

[Syris]

I have 4 kids, a wife , a dog, a parrot, and my 75g reef and soon a 45g reef. With no money in my pockets I wont be going on any out of town trips for a long long time:lol:

I do run a couple UPS (APC650 + APC 1100) for powerheads though incase of those unexpected failures.

[mantishunter]

You guys can give me the names and numbers of your wives and fiances when your out of town

[Scuba_Dave]

I heard you'd prefer my brothers phone number...;) or is that Marv?

[Vallyre2001]

Speaking as someone on the "other end" of tank babysitting...

I don't know if us outsiders really truly understand the fragility of the systems you are running until something goes wrong. I listened to Ken blah de blah blah about how if the powerheads stop, or the tank is silent that it's some big 'ol crisis. I never really believed him. I mean, fish swim in water, there's water in the tank, right? Hence, fish okay (you all should be laughing here, but I think I hear you wincing).

When my disaster happened, something in the back of my head said Get Movement In The Water, Get Heat In The Water. So I did (unfortunately for me, the GFCI tripped while I was asleep and there were neither of those things for 6 hrs).

But I think the person who is tank sitting needs to understand the bare minimum of keeping a tank going in the face of disaster - you guys know what those bare minimums are, but in my case it was CIRCULATION and HEAT.

I'd make sure a tank sitter can stop the tank and start the tank.
I'd make sure a tank sitter can replace a pump - and that you have a spare handy.
I'd make sure a tank sitter can measure temperature, salinity & Ph.
I'd make sure a tank sitter can log on here!!!!!

And I'd make sure a tank sitter either loves the creatures, or loves the person who owns the creatures.

That said, I sure hope he doesn't have to travel for any extended time again soon!!!

[spyro]

When I'm in the area, my Octopus will "beep" me on my beeper if anything goes wrong with my tank. It also has a loud audible alarm that goes of f at my house. The Octopus is connected to a UPS. If I need emergency power I turn on my 7500 K generator and flip the trasnfer switches.

When I am away I can remotely, via the web, check in on my tank and actually control it using AquaWeb, the Octopus software. I usually have a relative stay with the tank, no feeding, just listening for an alarm. If an alarm sounds they call me and read off of the Octopus what is "out of whack". I then either talk them thru a remediation procedure.

However, it would be good to have an experienced person "on-call" in case the sitter can't start the generator, or test pH, etc.

I do not have the air pumps but plan to buy a few and plug them into my UPS and control them with the Octopus via X10.

[Scuba_Dave]

Great input Val, it's always good to hear from the person who needs to know. Gives a better viewpoint

[mikrok]

"Do you have your out of town tank babysitter?"

-I call him "Dad"



Originally posted by loomisreefer
im at school all the time and my gf watches my tanks... she does an awesome job considering theres a 125salt..my 29reef and a bunch of freshwater including a pond in my basement... good girlfriend lol... one time i even came home and there was a new maxima in my tank... a little suprise

^ any more where that one came from, bro? :eek2: :rolleye1::fun1:

[Keith Sheridan]

Originally posted by Rick and Sandy
We are in South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, and are available to help others in the area. We, in turn, will 'hook up' with others that can do the same for our Tanks.

Rick and Sandy

Ahh, we are now converting to the BSS, Boston Swingers Society. I think we should change the logo.

[drmooncricket]

Originally posted by mantishunter
You guys can give me the names and numbers of your wives and fiances when your out of town

i cant believe that was over looked... :D

[Scuba_Dave]

Originally posted by Scuba_Dave
I heard you'd prefer my brothers phone number...;) or is that Marv?

It wasn't

[Rick and Sandy]

Keith Sheridan...Is a jerk lately! :uzi: