Tank Sitter Needed

[stainless_wm]

Just thought I would get some thoughts on this.

In early April I will be getting activated to Iraq. I have no wife, kids or roommate. Just my fish.
I would drain the tank and give the fish back to [acronym:855481e4ce="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:855481e4ce], but I do not want to re-cycle the tank. It just got settled down. Mom and Dad do not know squat about fish and they are not the type of people who will research to find out what they need to know. I have a good friend in North Carolina that would probably do it, I am planning to visit NC, but I am not sure if I want to lug the tank all that way or not.
I might consider farming the tank out to a well recommended stranger, but in the real world I think this would be risky.

Anybody have any thought about this?

Should I just strip it down so nobody will have to worry about it?

I know it wouldnt be too big of a deal to move it to NC when I go, but is it worth it?


[acronym:855481e4ce="Thanks in Advance"]TIA[/acronym:855481e4ce]

Wade

[mykpoz]

depending on how long you will be in Iraq, i would just say strip it down... rather then having your parents "who know nothing about the tank" try to care for it, or having to move it from Kansas to North Carolina "which would be a pain" it would be just as easy to break it down and start over once you are back.

just my thought.

[spinman]

My advice? Don't go to Iraq becuase you could get killed and stay home with your fish.

Seriously, take care of yourself.

Spin

[mrcrazypants05]

Hmm... Interesting predicament. Well whatever you do, good luck. I'm just now setting up my first saltwater tank. Maybe you could talk to some [acronym:519c7a4632="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:519c7a4632] or something and ask them if they could have it setup lol Doubt that would work, oh well.. good luck.

[stainless_wm]

[acronym:d19a37eefc="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:d19a37eefc] well I would stay home,,,, but even if I did that I dont think there are too many fish in the military prison system. . . So I guess I will just go.

It looks like it is going to be a 18 month deployment.

I figure if I can get the tank pretty stable they might not have to do too much,,,,, thoughts?

[AndyH5512]

Not sure about where you are, but here there are a lot of aquarium service businesses that do regular maintenance. If you can locate one, maybe your parents can let them in your place when they do the service, and then lock up behind them.

[AndyH5512]

Oh, as far as regular feedings, I am sure you could give your parents a quick lesson in what to feed the tank. I had my father do it a while back, everything was fine. Just stress to them that less is better than nore, so the tank wont get polluted with excess food.

[mak1969]

I don't have any advice on your tank situation but I want to say thank you for fighting for freedom. Good luck.

[BillyZ]

are you in an appartment, appt complex or your own home?

if your in an appt complex, you could probably work something out with a neighbor to feed your fish and perhaps let a [acronym:4e901741be="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:4e901741be] maintenance guy into your appt once a week while your out... probably going to be kind costly but...

best of luck

[Phyl]

I think you're best off, unless you have rare and usual fish, to break it down and start back up when you get back. Unfortunately 18m quickly turns into 2 years, etc. Not to mention that LOTS can go wrong. Having responsibility for the tank long term like that would be difficult. It needs feeding, water changes, watching over the lights and the pumps, etc. Enough can go wrong with it while you're at work during the day (power outages, etc) or while you're on vacation (temperature spikes, death of a fish, etc), but to be gone for any longer than a month with really nobody to watch it is just asking for trouble. I'd break it down, personally.