help, going out of town

[Go29]

I am going out of town for 3 days, but i havean order from live aquaria comming on fri. morrning and i am leaving on saturday afternoon. I can still cancel the order but i would really like to get the things i ordered before the go out of stock. I dont want to crash my tank though. HELP

[Randall_James]

What has your order got to do with crashing your tank?

[shel3702]

You could always check to see if there is a reef club in your area and join quickly, and while joining, tell the person about your situation and see what they say. Maybe he/she will be super generous and offer to receive the package.

Hmm, I'm just now realizing something...I think LiveAquaria required signature from the actual person, not just any person.

AHA, I remember something else...you can call Fedex and tell them that you want the signature requirement droppped, and they will make a note of it, but say that you have to have LiveAquaria call them (Fedex) directly to issue the directive (the Fedex person will give you his/her phone number straight to their center). Then call LiveAquaria and tell them this, and they will call Fedex with the directive IF their is still enough time.

I would follow up the next day with Fedex just to be sure that the signature requirment has been dropped.

I did this once before and the people at LiveAquaria and Fedex were great.

Good Luck

Tim

[shel3702]

D'oh!!! I just realized that when I did that, it wasn't for a LIVE package, it was for a dry goods order that was being shipped seperately from the live order. I'm not sure if there is any way to get around the signature requirement for the live order.

Sorry for the error.

[Randall_James]

shel3702 , if you read his post, his package comes in friday and he is leaving town on saturday, what has that got to do with package and a signature? Also he is asking about his tank crashing and unsure what that would have to do with a package of unknown contents.

[hubris007]

Send me a pm, i will send you my address. Just have them ship it to me and i'll sign for it. You can just pick it up if you are ever down this way.

[shel3702]

:o Oops. Sorry Randall, sorry Go29. You would think I would pay better attention, being a teacher and all... :reading: :worried2:

[Go29]

my package contains a bangaii cardinal and 3 pices of lps brain, bubble and torch,and a bunch of snails. what i am worried about is can i leave the new things on sat, and not worry about anything perishing and causing toxins to kill everything else, so what i am asking is would you recieve and order a day before you were going out of town, and what should i be worried about if i do. thanx

[swims withthe fishes]

I would be worried about a neighbor reefer seeing your new goodies, and then noticing you leave town, and slipping in your window to swipe your torches and bubbles and brains........

really, you should have someone coming to check on the tank atleast one of the 3 days you will be gone anyway, intrust a neighbor to come by and feed your bangaii and chek up on stuff for you.

[Randall_James]

Well first thing that comes to mind here is that you are apparently do not use a quarantine tank. This is not good IMO.

With literally thousands invested in most reef tanks, the $100 OR so it takes to setup a qt tank is nothing.

A healthy fish or coral can go the 3 days without food without missing a beat. However, you have no idea of the condition or the stress these items have been subjected to.

Personally if you are not going to qt these items, push the delivery back until you can give them proper attention when you get back. If 2 or 3 of your snails die upon introduction, you could very well have a full blown disaster waiting for your return. I think the snails are in fact most likely the biggest risk in the shipment.

Please think seriously about setting up a quarantine tank and save yourself some problems later.

This is just how I would do it. The health and well being of my tanks is pretty important to me and the introduction of so much new stuff at one time without qt or your attention is at best risky.

[Go29]

i pushed it back for two weeks, should i quarteen coral too??

[lchase12]

I usually only QT Fish. Never add any water from any bags into your tank.

[Randall_James]

I qt my corals long enough to verify no parasites are being introduced. Depending on the coral, they get a fresh water dip, a dip in flatworm exit, or even iodine dip depending on what it is.

I would go to the expert forum for particular advise on specific corals.

Do a search on your newcomers and you can usually find good info.
I have had more problems with corals than fish in this respect. Hydroids, nudi's, snails, crabs etc, are all common hitchhikers.

Fish will spend 6 to 8 weeks in qt so you need to be patient. This will save you the agony of tearing down your tank to remove all your fish to qt because a new guy brought in ich or some other problem. You should get a power sponge filter asap and get it running in your sump or fuge if possible. This will get an active bacteria population going in the filter for your qt.
Quarantine tanks are a complete different issue for water changes etc. 25 to 50% daily is not unusual so be prepared. I run a 10 and 20 gallon qt depending on what I have coming in. As the fish is a tiny guy, 10g should be just fine.


BTW, great to see you take this precaution and can most certainly promise that it will be worth its weight in gold just knowing your other tank inhabitants are secure.

If you note any problems with the fish or corals, i would venture over to the expert forums and ask the pros. People that utilize qt seem to have terrific success with treatments.

[Go29]

ok, thanx to everyone who has helped. One more question though should i have live rock and substrate in my quartine?? i would like to make it look nice even thought it is a qt. I am picking up a 10 when i get home from my trip. thanx

[Randall_James]

No live rock and a bare bottom.
If you put the tank into hypo for ich, the rock is toast, also you need to vacuum the tank daily so the substrate is also an issue.

Water quality is tough to maintain in qt (ammonia especially) so a seasoned power filter is really a big big help. If at all possible you need to get one in your current tank and running so that the bacteria can get established. This bacteria will cycle the ammonia > nitrite > nitrate . Also pick up fresh ammonia test kit as you need to really watch this closely.