Traveling 3+ Weeks: Lighting and Dosing

[TheCa11ousOne]

Hello Reefers!

I need serious advice on how to handle a long trip, with a new-ish reef tank, that is doing very well... but not "3+ weeks-with-no-water-change-or-dosing" well...

20 gal long, 4 small fish, snail/hermit CUC, soft and LPS corals. I am currently doing a 30%-50% water change once a week. While I am testing multiple times a week... 7 days after the last water change, my parameters are consistently:

• Ammonia/Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: Lowest time was 3.4ppm, highest was 7.1ppm
• Sal: 1.025
• Calcium: Lowest was above 400
• Alk: Lowest was 7.4
• Phosphate: I manually dose 1 ml of Brightwell Phosphate-E DAILY to keep phosphate <0.02ppm.
  • It generally rises within a day to 0.1ppm - 0.15ppm without the Phosphate-E.
  • It will sit at 0.20ppm with no dosing.
    • I have chemi-clean, phosbond, and a phosphate removal pad in the filter, to keep it at 0.20 without the Phosphate-E.

Travel Plans:
8 Days - Out of Town
3 Days - Home
18 Days - Out of Town
1 Days - Home
20 Days - Out of Town

Note: I already have an auto feeder for pellets and ATO running. I've made sure that the reservoir can handle more than 3+ weeks of evaporation top off.

Question 1: Phosphate High

• Do I need to be chasing phosphate like this?? Can is just sit at 0.2ppm and be alright?
• If I need to keep it stable at 0.01-0.02... HOW?

Question 2: Alk Dropping

• My Alk gets pretty low, pretty fast. Esp for a tank running at 1.025
  • I have already switched salts, hopefully my alk gets higher with IO Reef Crystals.
  • Anything else I can/should do other than dosing Alk with softies and LPS?

Question 3: Lighting While Out of Town

• To prevent algae blooms when I'm not around to help the CUC:
  • Do I only do 2-3 hours of all spectrum mixed light, 21-22 lights off?
    • What is a more reasonable number?
    • Do I need cyan, red, purple, blue, and white for LPS and softies to live - or can i just throw up 2-3 hours of blue and that is enough?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Bumping your post!

 

[TX_REEF]

Here's some tips, I just got back from a 2 week vacation, no tank intervention whatsoever:

• ATO: plug your ATO into a timer that will only turn on for 1 minute every hour. This will prevent the ATO from getting stuck on for any reason, which would overflow your tank and/or plummet your salinity. Also, ensure you have a siphon break in the ATO water line to prevent the same issue. I recommend Kasa power strips for equipment control/timing: https://amzn.to/49zBQ78
• phosphate: .2 won't cause you any issues - it looks like you're gonna be home once a week for water change, don't sweat it.
• Alk - 7.4 isn't too low at all, see above re: weekly water change
• Why can't you run the normal lighting schedule? You'll be home once a week to scrape the glass and do a water change.
• Bonus: Set up a webcam if you can to observe from your mobile device for peace of mind

 

[TheCa11ousOne]

Here's some tips, I just got back from a 2 week vacation, no tank intervention whatsoever:

• ATO: plug your ATO into a timer that will only turn on for 1 minute every hour. This will prevent the ATO from getting stuck on for any reason, which would overflow your tank and/or plummet your salinity. Also, ensure you have a siphon break in the ATO water line to prevent the same issue. I recommend Kasa power strips for equipment control/timing: https://amzn.to/49zBQ78
• phosphate: .2 won't cause you any issues - it looks like you're gonna be home once a week for water change, don't sweat it.
• Alk - 7.4 isn't too low at all, see above re: weekly water change
• Why can't you run the normal lighting schedule? You'll be home once a week to scrape the glass and do a water change.
• Bonus: Set up a webcam if you can to observe from your mobile device for peace of mind

Thank you so much for the time you took to reply.

First, I will be out of town for 8 days, then out of town for 18 days, then out of town for 20 days, with only 3 days home and 1 days home, in-between those long stretches. So, in 46 days, I will only be in town for 4 total days.

• ATO suggestion: Thanks. I have Kasa plugs for all my freshwater tank lights and lamps in the house. I will test out setting a timer for the ATO, so it isn't switching on for a few seconds, 8 times a day as water evaporates a ml below the laser sightline.
• Phosphate: I have been reading a ton about phosphate and I really believe that chasing it isn't needed. I have stopped messing with the dosing to bring it down, to see how my tank does and validate that it wont kill my corals to be at 0.2 haha.
• Alk: I haven't been chasing it at all (esp since i don't have SPS, so the related calcium isn't likely a major issue in my tank). I'm just curious if the lower alk (therefore calcium) over a 7 day span, means it will be a major issue after no water change for 18, then 20, days.
• Lighting: I am trying to avoid algae build up on the glass/sand if i'm not going to be able to stir/wipe it up a bit, to help the CUC. As I mentioned, I will be gone for 8, then 18, then 20 days. My freshwater tanks are on lighting schedules that mean there is a perfect balance between light/algae eaters/filtration/plants to never have algae develop on glass/rocks. I'm not there yet with my reef tank - so cutting back on light enough to not kill the coral, but slow down the algae seems the easier solution.
• Cameras: Absolutely. I have ring cameras I set up to monitor the tanks and my cats while I'm away (and yes, my pet sitters know about the cameras). Trusting my pet sitters to do water changes/touch my tanks (even feeding) is a BIG no-no. If I need them to, I would hire someone from a local saltwater store to do it. I really don't want to though, haha.