Skimmerless for 2 weeks....

[wontonflip]

Do you guys think my 45g FOWLR, which has a sump and fuge, 30-40lbs of lr, live sand, and only 4 fish survive 2 weeks without a skimmer?

I've got a delimma where we're leaving for 2 weeks. I have my neighbor's kid coming in and feeding the fish and topping off my tank. I'm concerned about my utube, which might get too much air in it, and he won't know how to restart it (nor would I ask him to suck it out and risk gulping dirty fish water like i do sometimes LOL). It gets air bubbles because my return pump is really crappy.

I don't have the funds right now to buy a newer stronger one, so I thought if I took my rio from my skimmer, it would prevent the air bubbles from forming in the utube. I used this pump before to test the return and MAN it was STRONG. Strong enough to push any bubbles through the Utube. But of course this would mean no skimmer for 2 weeks.

What do you guys think? I've also premeasured and prerinsed the food, so he just has to thaw each li'l baggie and dump in....so he can't overfeed.

 

[meshman10]

you'll be fine..

 

[pLO420]

should be ok... i havnt had a skimmer on my tank for close to 4 or 5 months.... money is tight and no one will buy my REMORA....

 

[project5k]

trade the pumps around so that the strong one from the skimmer is doing the return and the crappy one is on the skimmer,

cant hurt, solves the flow problem for the u-tube, and still keeps the skimmer moving...

just a thought

 

[Wes888]

I'm planning to leave my skimmer off when I leave for my vacation next month. The skimmer always give me different kind of trouble.

 

[winyfrog]

It should be fine, without the skimmer.

 

[wontonflip]

Thanks everyone. I figured it'd be fine, but always helps to get other opinions...that way I can blame you guys if my tank crashes!!!!!!!! LOL

j/k

I can't use the crappy old pump in my skimmer...it's that weak. I've tried using it on the skimmer so I could keep using the better pump for the return, but it didn't make good bubbles. Plus it require me to do more jerry rigging.

 

[Bifferwine]

It will be fine. I'm currently skimmerless because my sump started leaking, and I'll be skimmerless for the next month or so until we move (it wasn't worth it for me to set up a new sump when we are moving at the end of the month anyways).

 

[PufferGuy]

just make sure the kid doesnt feed too much and maybe do like a 20% water change right before you leave... thats what i would do

 

[cthegame]

just make sure the kid doesnt feed too much and maybe do like a 20% water change right before you leave... thats what i would do

+ 1 puffer

If possible, have the kid do at least one water change in those 2 weeks. A skimmerless tank will work find if water changes are done on time.

 

[puttycat]

I put marks on my sump for safe levels and also on the overflow box.My skimmer is just about off,skimming very dry. I am stuck on vacation in Hawaii for 3 weeks, its just awful LOL. I got 4-5 calls a day from the tank sitter first couple days as they were very nervous.

 

[sen5241b]

I have a cheap airstone skimmer but that and my chaeto filled fuge keep nitrates and phosphates at zero. A high-end skimmer can be a great backup when other nitrate exporting filtration fails.

 

[yote]

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vacation and leave my tank:d

 

[wontonflip]

Hehehe....well, I premeasured the fishes food for the next 2 weeks, refroze them into one of those 28 compartment pill boxes. All he has to do is pick a day, take out the food rations for the day, let them sit and thaw for a bit, and that's it.

I ended up just running a 2nd weaker pump to the dt. Seems to work fine. I tried cutting out the skimmer, but it left such a mess in the sump, that I was worried about all the muck causing problems in 2 weeks time.

I, too, have a marked off line for the sump's water level, so the kid just has to follow it. He's a good sitter. I had him dogsit for 2 weeks last year. Plus his mom and sister help out. They did a walkthrough as well, so good backup. I made it as simple as possible. If all else fails, my LFS is on standby to come in and fix anything that goes wrong.