Unfortunately, I've had poor luck with my old nano reef tanks during the summer. My first reef tank crashed when I went to Las Vegas. My next reef tanks followed suit. I have had poor luck whenever I have left town for more than two or three days. Asking someone to care for my reef tank is a possibility, but even then I worry. This summer, I plan on leaving for one full week. While I have taken many smaller trips for camping, we haven't been able to take a whole week off for several years. To make things more complicated, my dad is going out of town, so I have no one home to check on the tank.
I have some good things going for me this time. I have the assistance of automation. I can set up an auto top off system to control evaporation. I will leave my window fan running in my bedroom to circulate the heat on hot days, and I will set up fans on the sump to assist with cooling. I can set up a large bucket to collect excess skim, so I won't need to worry about the skimmer cup overflowing. Lighting is also on timers, so I won't have to worry about lighting cycles.
My last concern is feeding. While I can feed my coral before I leave, I will need to obtain an automated fish feeder. I will also test my automated system for 1-2 weeks before the trip. This will allow me to monitor my system to ensure it works flawlessly, and work out any kinks. I will also have to train someone or ask a fellow hobbyist to come by halfway through the week to check on things.
And finally, I may have to set up a remote webcam so I can keep an eye on the tank. While it won't be overly sophisticated, I purchased a webcam off eBay for $0.01. I can set-up a simple webcam system to upload snapshots to the internet. This can give me a change to spot a problem (or prevent a problem) and call my standby person.
I'm sure I'll document this process, but I wanted to kick around some ideas first.
