Autofeeder for frozen mysis

[Bent17]

So I'm going on vacation for almost two weeks and my tank sitter is going to be with me so I am trying to look into a form of automatic feeding mysis to my tank. I havent found much on the internet so I am turning to you guys in hope that you can help me out. I would obvisouly need a small fridge to keep the defrosted mysis chilled. Has anyone here used a dosing pump to feed mysis?
Any help would be appreciated and if you have a similar setup like what I am looking for please share with me

 

[blaxsun]

I know a few people have been working on refrigerated autofeeders, but I don't know where they're at of late.

 

[fodsod]

I saw a video a while back where they used a mini fridge and a Versa doing pump to auto feed mysis.

Found the video. If you're a dyi person then this seems pretty easy to do.

 

[Bent17]

I saw a video a while back where they used a mini fridge and a Versa doing pump to auto feed mysis.

Found the video. If you're a dyi person then this seems pretty easy to do.

Yeah I saw that this morning and will probably use it as a base. Was hoping that there is someone here who has something similar and can tell me if it works or not and also what doser is best. I have the RedSea doser but I doubt the pipes are wide enough for mysis. And also maybe might need to find a way to flush out the mysis in the pipe as it could dry out after 24hours? all questions would like to discuss with someone who hase it installed and is a frequent forum users

 

[blaxsun]

I can't recall the thread, but there was a guy on R2R who had his doser setup to dispense food. He used a T-junction to thoroughly flush it with water from a second head after every feeding.

 

[Enderg60]

Last one I saw used a larger fridge. They ran the display return through the fridge with a Tee where a dosing pump would push food in from a cup similar to the video. It was just all enclosed in the fridge.

I like this design better because all tube with food stays cold.

I would add a magnetic stirrer but its something I have on my to-do list.

 

[Ashwinclement]

I recently did something similar to ReefDudes video for my tank

Pumps 1 - 3, left to right, Pump 1 intake is my ATO container with RODI water, the outlet of pump 1 is connected to outlets of pump 2 and 3 via push connect T fittings. The inlet of pumps 2 and 3 are drilled inside the fridge for the frozen food. i dose the required amount food from pumps 2 and 3 and after 2 mins i flush the tubing with RODI water using pump 1. The outlet goes directly to my display, no sump. This works fine for me. I used the jebao doser, the dosing tube is i think is 5/16 OD x 3/16 ID, its bigger than RO tubing, it works perfectly with the doser. I used ReefNutrition frozen foods, mysis feast, Pac Pods, ROE for feeding

 

[Bent17]

Wow ok thought that the dosing tubes wont be wide enough! By any chance do you have a copperband? As thats the fish which worries me the most

 

[e-sully]

I actually do this regularly. I used the video above as a starting point. The fridge is too small that he used to hold a decent sized container and stir plate. (I couldn't get the stir plate to work well if put the fridge on the plate - too much distance between the container and the stir plate). I tried several options and, ultimately, I use the following set up with good success:

1. Refrigerator: https://a.co/d/eKxTo3f
2. Stir plate: https://a.co/d/eBcr6zy (but I use a larger stir bar than what it comes with it - about 2-3 inches)
3. Container: https://a.co/d/5UH7SOU
4. Doser: Neptune DOS - this works well for me as I use Apex to control my tank. Also, you can use the same dosing head to dose into tank and to draw out of tank. So, I dose 160 ml into tank of mysis and flush back with 80 ml tank water 10 minutes later. I do this several times a day.
5. Food: Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Mysis. I buy 8 oz flat packs which actually come as two 4 oz packs. I use one 4oz pack in the 1500 ml of RODI in the container. This lasts me almost a week.

A few notes:

1. The stir plate is placed under the container, inside the refrigerator. I keep it going all the time as sometimes the stir bar will get stuck when it first turns on.
2. To run the tubing for the doser and the power cable for the stir plate (and the level sensor, see below) into the refrigerator, I drilled a hole on the side of the refrigerator. DO NOT drill through the recessed handle on the side - this is where the control wires from the door panel to the electronics in the back run (learned this the hard way).
3. I built a no-contact level sensor so I can quickly see if the container is running low as I found that Fusion does not do the math correctly if Irely on the dashboard DDR icon (it counts the outflows and the inflows both as outflows). Here is the link: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/apex-dos-diy-level-switch.246352/post-11476332

Let me know if you have any questions. I've been very pleased with this system.

 

[fodsod]

I recently did something similar to ReefDudes video for my tank

Pumps 1 - 3, left to right, Pump 1 intake is my ATO container with RODI water, the outlet of pump 1 is connected to outlets of pump 2 and 3 via push connect T fittings. The inlet of pumps 2 and 3 are drilled inside the fridge for the frozen food. i dose the required amount food from pumps 2 and 3 and after 2 mins i flush the tubing with RODI water using pump 1. The outlet goes directly to my display, no sump. This works fine for me. I used the jebao doser, the dosing tube is i think is 5/16 OD x 3/16 ID, its bigger than RO tubing, it works perfectly with the doser. I used ReefNutrition frozen foods, mysis feast, Pac Pods, ROE for feeding

Well great. Now that you've shown me it's possible I have to build one of these.

 

[Ashwinclement]

Wow ok thought that the dosing tubes wont be wide enough! By any chance do you have a copperband? As thats the fish which worries me the most

Nope, I failed getting a copperband through quarantine 2 times, and never tried after.

 

[twentyleagues]

I did this years ago with a small fridge I got from work when they got a new one. The component I was missing was a stirrer. It worked fine for phyto feast and oyster feast but a mixed batch of mysis and those didnt work so well. Id shake the two bottles of "feast" daily. With the stirrer that would have taken care of it all, what a great idea. I had this set up to help me take care of the really hard nps corals. I eventually stopped trying those and stuck with lps nps types.

 

[Bent17]

Looks like a stirer is needed for sure!

 

[Bent17]

I actually do this regularly. I used the video above as a starting point. The fridge is too small that he used to hold a decent sized container and stir plate. (I couldn't get the stir plate to work well if put the fridge on the plate - too much distance between the container and the stir plate). I tried several options and, ultimately, I use the following set up with good success:

1. Refrigerator: https://a.co/d/eKxTo3f
2. Stir plate: https://a.co/d/eBcr6zy (but I use a larger stir bar than what it comes with it - about 2-3 inches)
3. Container: https://a.co/d/5UH7SOU
4. Doser: Neptune DOS - this works well for me as I use Apex to control my tank. Also, you can use the same dosing head to dose into tank and to draw out of tank. So, I dose 160 ml into tank of mysis and flush back with 80 ml tank water 10 minutes later. I do this several times a day.
5. Food: Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Mysis. I buy 8 oz flat packs which actually come as two 4 oz packs. I use one 4oz pack in the 1500 ml of RODI in the container. This lasts me almost a week.

A few notes:

1. The stir plate is placed under the container, inside the refrigerator. I keep it going all the time as sometimes the stir bar will get stuck when it first turns on.
2. To run the tubing for the doser and the power cable for the stir plate (and the level sensor, see below) into the refrigerator, I drilled a hole on the side of the refrigerator. DO NOT drill through the recessed handle on the side - this is where the control wires from the door panel to the electronics in the back run (learned this the hard way).
3. I built a no-contact level sensor so I can quickly see if the container is running low as I found that Fusion does not do the math correctly if Irely on the dashboard DDR icon (it counts the outflows and the inflows both as outflows). Here is the link: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/apex-dos-diy-level-switch.246352/post-11476332

Let me know if you have any questions. I've been very pleased with this system.

Do you have photos of your setup?

 

[dangles]

I actually do this regularly. I used the video above as a starting point. The fridge is too small that he used to hold a decent sized container and stir plate. (I couldn't get the stir plate to work well if put the fridge on the plate - too much distance between the container and the stir plate). I tried several options and, ultimately, I use the following set up with good success:

1. Refrigerator: https://a.co/d/eKxTo3f
2. Stir plate: https://a.co/d/eBcr6zy (but I use a larger stir bar than what it comes with it - about 2-3 inches)
3. Container: https://a.co/d/5UH7SOU
4. Doser: Neptune DOS - this works well for me as I use Apex to control my tank. Also, you can use the same dosing head to dose into tank and to draw out of tank. So, I dose 160 ml into tank of mysis and flush back with 80 ml tank water 10 minutes later. I do this several times a day.
5. Food: Hikari Bio-Pure Frozen Mysis. I buy 8 oz flat packs which actually come as two 4 oz packs. I use one 4oz pack in the 1500 ml of RODI in the container. This lasts me almost a week.

A few notes:

1. The stir plate is placed under the container, inside the refrigerator. I keep it going all the time as sometimes the stir bar will get stuck when it first turns on.
2. To run the tubing for the doser and the power cable for the stir plate (and the level sensor, see below) into the refrigerator, I drilled a hole on the side of the refrigerator. DO NOT drill through the recessed handle on the side - this is where the control wires from the door panel to the electronics in the back run (learned this the hard way).
3. I built a no-contact level sensor so I can quickly see if the container is running low as I found that Fusion does not do the math correctly if Irely on the dashboard DDR icon (it counts the outflows and the inflows both as outflows). Here is the link: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/apex-dos-diy-level-switch.246352/post-11476332

Let me know if you have any questions. I've been very pleased with this system.

Saving this post. Thank you. I’d love to see some photos and your programming for the DOS.

 

[Bent17]

Reef factory just announced that they will be having a dual head feeding doser apparently but dont want to give more info. Will be released in around about supposedly

 

[e-sully]

Will send photos this weekend. Here is the Apex code (the table data can be generated from the Fusion setup. The FrznFL is my non-contact level detector, and the other sensors are flood sensors). I also have the refrigerator and the stir plate connected to the Apex with the "If Power Apex Off 000 Then OFF" line since I want these off in the event of a power failure (so they don't train my UPS backups).

Fallback OFF
tdata 07:00:00,1,18,6,64,2,88,1,6,64,0,0,10,0
tdata 07:15:00,1,3,3,32,2,88,1,3,32,0,0,10,0
tdata 10:00:00,1,18,6,64,2,88,1,6,64,0,0,10,0
tdata 10:15:00,1,3,3,32,2,88,1,3,32,0,0,10,0
tdata 14:00:00,1,18,6,64,2,88,1,6,64,0,0,10,0
tdata 14:15:00,1,3,3,32,2,88,1,3,32,0,0,10,0
tdata 18:00:00,1,18,6,64,2,88,1,6,64,0,0,10,0
tdata 18:15:00,1,3,3,32,2,88,1,3,32,0,0,10,0
If SumpFD CLOSED Then OFF
If MainFd CLOSED Then OFF
If ShlfFD CLOSED Then OFF
If FrznFL OPEN Then OFF
If Output Return = OFF Then OFF
If Power Apex Off 000 Then OFF

 

[bkbrowning]

This one, the aF4 Auto Feeder, has been a long time coming. Maybe someday it will be the answer, but not for your upcoming trip. Looks promising though.

 

[Bent17]

This one, the aF4 Auto Feeder, has been a long time coming. Maybe someday it will be the answer, but not for your upcoming trip. Looks promising though.

Looks promising.. any idea when this will be available?

 

[JoJosReef]

I autofeed Reef Nutrition liquid food. See my build thread--sorry, I'd write it up but almost 2am!

Edit: for Mysis, I would have gone with a DOS pump instead since it has larger tubes/better pump. For ROE/pods/oyster feast/phyto feast works great.

Edit 2: video from today of fish getting fed--happens 4x/day.

New video by Joseph Campo

photos.app.goo.gl