vacation feeding

We are going to be gone for a week and I was wondering how long can I go with out feeding my tank? My tank has been running in different forms for around 5 Years and has 3 firefish, a wrasse, a arrow crab and a Harlequin shrimp. My corals should be fine but I don't know about my Ducans, Dendros and my Suncorals. My wife is paranoid about having anyone in our home when we are gone . Would it be smart to buy a auto-feeder to feed dry food or should I not worry about it. I was also thinking about a surge feeder. I saw plans years ago but never built it- the one I saw dripped water to a algae tank then overflowed into a copepod tank, then flowed into a brine shrimp then was pumped to to tank, anyone else have seen this?

The tank will be fine for a week. Coral can go longer than fish without any supplemental feedings. Fish can survive 3 weeks or more on just the stuff growing in a well established aquarium.

If your wife is not comfortable with just anyone, find someone that she trusts and have me and my wife(she loves it almost as much as I do) come over with them to check out the tank. I would only need to come once and I would be happy to feed the tank that once. I offer my phone number below as a resource to anyone, even the person watching your house so if there is any tank emergency, I'm available to help anytime night or day. Yes, I'm serious.

Fish can be fed a little extra for a couple days prior and without additional feedings after that, it's unlikely that any problems would arise. You know that I can quickly size up any problem and there would be no need for me to go into any other part of the house. It will be okay.

Bring your wife over to my place so she can meet my wife and I. That will help her feel more comfortable with a fish nerd couple. Ask her. I'll bet she would love to see the baby clownfish.


Edited by Mark Peterson - April 06 2011 at 1:22pm

I would advise caution. Unless they are an experienced reef hobbyist, any friend you have looking after the tank for a week can actually cause more harm than good. Nothing against the friend. I cannot count the number of horror stories that have happened over the years because the friend had no idea what was going on or even that anything bad was going on. People have come home to reef aquarium disasters. You would be wise to have an experienced hobbyist check the tank midweek.

And be sure to have the club emergency number handy so you or they can call for immediate help.