Hmm, what to write about? Here I sit on a plane going cross-country. I already saw the movie because I was sitting exactly here last week. I'm on my way to San Diego on business for the second time in two weeks and that means that I will have to visit some of the local fish stores. Meanwhile my wife, home in cold New Hampshire, is taking care of my reef and I'm worrying about it. Not that I really have much to worry about but I don't usually leave it two weeks in a row, although I do leave it at least one week a month. I guess that will be the topic of this little ditty then, "How to leave your reef on auto-pilot for short periods of time."

When I first set up my reef everything had to be maintained manually and it was quite a task for my wife, who herself had to go to work. Although she did a great job, I felt guilty leaving her so often with that responsibility. So what did she have to do? Well, the evaporation rate was about a gallon a day so she needed to replace that with DI water. Then there was the b-ionic, a two-part calcium supplement, checking the tank for and righting turned over snails, feeding, monitoring the temperature, etc. Now it was obvious that I couldn't automate everything, but I wanted to make things easier on her.

The first task was the b-ionic, measuring and dosing daily was a pain, even for me, but how could I make that easier. My solution was simple. I bought some 3 ounce plastic Dixie Cups, I labeled five with a "1" and five with a "2". I only labeled five because Im usually not gone longer than that. I also bought some of those Glad disposable Tupperware-like containers. Sitting here on the plane I cant tell you the exact size of the container but they are as deep as the 3 oz Dixie Cup is tall. Anyway I then measured each part into it's respective cup, then placed the cups in the container and snapped closed the lid, which pressed firmly in the cups holding them in place. Now all that was needed was to open the container each morning, take one of each kind of cup, and pour it into the sump. Much easier when you still have sleep in your eyes and you're rushing out to work.

The next thing I did was to automate the top-off. I decided on the Reef-Filler top-off pump. You can read a review of that pump in another article at http://cerealport.homeip.net/reeffiller.html. In summary, what I did was as follows: I commandeered about a 20" wide piece of the closet in my laundry room. I then mounted my two Tap Water Purifier (TWP) cartridges on the top shelf. I tapped into the 1/2" cold water pipe with one of those brass self taping valves and used it to feed the TWP. The output of the TWPs is fed to a 35 gallon trash can that I use for a DI reservoir. Also mounted on the top shelf is my Reef-Filler pump which draws water from the trash can and pushes it about 50 feet to the sump of my tank. With the Reef-Filler you adjust the pumping rate to match your evaporation rate so there is no level switch involved. It does require weekly checking of the sump level to assure that things are on track.

With the two biggest chores taken care of, heres a few tips to make your time away uneventful.

• Feed all your coral a day before you leave.
  
• Cut your fish feedings in half. That way if/when your reef-sitter overfeeds, its not as bad. Consider packaging your food for the sitter. When Im gone my fish only get Mysis shrimp, 1/2 cube a day. Pretty hard to mess up.
  *UPDATE* The above was my recommendations before I discovered a great way to feed the fish. Now my fish get fed as if I was still home. I use a ice cube tray from one of those "dorm" refrigerators. It makes cubes about 1/2" square. What I do is prepare a meal in each cube. I actually have breakfast cubes and supper cubes. Once the right amount of food is in the cubes, I top the cubes off with DI water, and freeze. Then my wife just has to grab a cube or two depending on the meal, let it defrost in a 3oz Dixie Cup of tank water, and dump it into the tank..Simple and foolproof.
  
• Do all your weekly maintenance the day before you leave, like cleaning the skimmer for example.
  
• Leave instructions as to what the reef-sitter is to expect like lights on/off periods, acceptable temperature ranges, acceptable sump levels, etc. and to call you for further help if there is a problem.
  
• DO NOT perform any water changes, any thermostat adjustments, skimmer, reactor, or any other adjustments within a week of leaving. You need a fully stable system.
  
• Make sure all your plugs are labeled, and that the sitter knows where and how to reset the breakers or Ground Fault Interrupters. You may have to tell them to unplug the heater and want them to do that and not unplug the pump, for instance.
  
• Lastly, go to church that week.
  

About three months ago I made a DIY Nilsen (kalkwasser) reactor so my wife doesnt have to worry about the b-ionic dosing anymore. She is relegated to feeding and turning over snails while I gone&much easier than it was in the beginning. You can read up on the details of the reactor at http://cerealport.homeip.net/nilsen.html

Oh, by the way, the movie I mentioned in the first paragraph is Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd. Very entertaining and I did stop to watch the movie again...I just love Ashley Judd :)