w2inc
Active Member
I like and use auto feeders. I have used most of the ones mentioned in this thread. Here are some thoughts:
The surface skimmer with a pump might work fine but I am not sure that it would work better than having your auto feeder just drop food into a floating plastic ring as seen on the previous page or into some kind of tube that sits above and below the water surface.
I used the RIO surface skimmer on my freshwater tank for a while but it didn't work well for me and I moved to other solutions. If you are worried about the food getting crushed or pulverized by going through a pump on it's way to the fish, I wouldn't be that concerned. They are set up to move things through rather than grind them. Also, my large fish are able to find tiny particles in the water column.
As far as feeders go for me, I have kind of settled on these two.
I use the apex AFS, on one tank and the $50 lifeguard aquatics version "intelligent-feed" on another. They look like they are exactly the same feeder but the Apex is really loud and expensive. The Lifeguard is quiet, it has no computer interface, but does have a physical button on the back that you can push for a single feed cycle. If I had it to do again, I would get the Lifeguard one. It takes a minute to set up but it is nice to be able to hit the button for feed rather than have to go get my phone and pull up the app. Especially when you are trying to calibrate how much food comes out with each drum rotation.
I used the Eheim double barrel screw feed unit for a long time. I really like it and think about going back to it sometimes. My issues were that it was hard to feed small amounts of pellet food because the screws do a minimum one rotation and dump whatever they have. For feeding flake food they did fine but sometimes I had to crush up the flakes to get them to go smoothly down the chute. It did ok with mixed pellet and flake but pellets would eventually fall to the bottom. You could put pellets in one side and flake in the other and alternate feedings between the two. The food seemed to stay dry but the unit didn't seal very well. On my system the top of the feeder sat at the perfect height so the cooling fan from my radon's would blow onto it. I think it might have helped to keep the food dry but also made the room smell like fish food.
Eheim has two other models that my brother uses on his freshwater tank. One has a built in fan that keeps the food dry to some extent. The other one will get damp if it is in constant service and needs to be dried. I tried one that had a carrousel with 12 slots that you add specific amounts of food to. I dont remember why I didn't like it, but I used it for a week before sending it back. I haven't found the perfect magic feeder
I almost never feed anything other than pellet or flake. For the past year I have been feeding Reef Nutrition TDO. Both the powder (for coral) as well as the really small pellets recommended for 1 inch fish. The stuff attracts water and clumps up in the feeder really easily. I have been keeping a silica gel desiccant pack in the Apex feeder with the food to manage this. I also had to put tape over the feed adjuster to get it to dump out smaller portions but it works fine now. I am not recommending or putting down that food. I bought a couple pounds and it is just what I have been using this past year.
My Eheim feeder came with a feeding station mount to put it on. There is a photo of a similar one on the previous page. I had to cut a notch in the trim on my 120 to accommodate it. The food drops into a bottomless square tube/container onto the water surface and eventually sinks down. My Tangs have no problems swimming up into it and taking food off the water surface. The whole things sits above and MP-40 that sucks the food in and spreads it all over the tank. Some food still makes it into the overflow. I dont use filter socks and so some of it comes back and it is not enough to worry me.
My Apex feeder is sitting on that Eheim platform now. The feed dump pattern is a little wider than the square tube it is supposed to drop the food in and so some of the food lands on the water surface and goes straight to the overflow. Guess I could just shut off the main drive pump for feeding but what I have is working well enough and I am not sure if I have an open slot on my power bar for a pump.
My other tank with the lifeguard "intelli feed" had a plastic cup with no bottom superglued to the feeder mounting bracket. It worked. I have switched it for a 6 inch section of clear pipe because it looks nicer and catches all of the food that drops.
Auto feeders work pretty well for me and they let me ignore the tank for weeks at a time. With the Apex set up to text me pH, temp and flood alerts, I have no issues leaving town for a week at a time. I do have a friend that checks on things for me if there is an issue.
I hope that helps some one. Enjoy your reef!
The surface skimmer with a pump might work fine but I am not sure that it would work better than having your auto feeder just drop food into a floating plastic ring as seen on the previous page or into some kind of tube that sits above and below the water surface.
I used the RIO surface skimmer on my freshwater tank for a while but it didn't work well for me and I moved to other solutions. If you are worried about the food getting crushed or pulverized by going through a pump on it's way to the fish, I wouldn't be that concerned. They are set up to move things through rather than grind them. Also, my large fish are able to find tiny particles in the water column.
As far as feeders go for me, I have kind of settled on these two.
I use the apex AFS, on one tank and the $50 lifeguard aquatics version "intelligent-feed" on another. They look like they are exactly the same feeder but the Apex is really loud and expensive. The Lifeguard is quiet, it has no computer interface, but does have a physical button on the back that you can push for a single feed cycle. If I had it to do again, I would get the Lifeguard one. It takes a minute to set up but it is nice to be able to hit the button for feed rather than have to go get my phone and pull up the app. Especially when you are trying to calibrate how much food comes out with each drum rotation.
I used the Eheim double barrel screw feed unit for a long time. I really like it and think about going back to it sometimes. My issues were that it was hard to feed small amounts of pellet food because the screws do a minimum one rotation and dump whatever they have. For feeding flake food they did fine but sometimes I had to crush up the flakes to get them to go smoothly down the chute. It did ok with mixed pellet and flake but pellets would eventually fall to the bottom. You could put pellets in one side and flake in the other and alternate feedings between the two. The food seemed to stay dry but the unit didn't seal very well. On my system the top of the feeder sat at the perfect height so the cooling fan from my radon's would blow onto it. I think it might have helped to keep the food dry but also made the room smell like fish food.
Eheim has two other models that my brother uses on his freshwater tank. One has a built in fan that keeps the food dry to some extent. The other one will get damp if it is in constant service and needs to be dried. I tried one that had a carrousel with 12 slots that you add specific amounts of food to. I dont remember why I didn't like it, but I used it for a week before sending it back. I haven't found the perfect magic feeder
I almost never feed anything other than pellet or flake. For the past year I have been feeding Reef Nutrition TDO. Both the powder (for coral) as well as the really small pellets recommended for 1 inch fish. The stuff attracts water and clumps up in the feeder really easily. I have been keeping a silica gel desiccant pack in the Apex feeder with the food to manage this. I also had to put tape over the feed adjuster to get it to dump out smaller portions but it works fine now. I am not recommending or putting down that food. I bought a couple pounds and it is just what I have been using this past year.
My Eheim feeder came with a feeding station mount to put it on. There is a photo of a similar one on the previous page. I had to cut a notch in the trim on my 120 to accommodate it. The food drops into a bottomless square tube/container onto the water surface and eventually sinks down. My Tangs have no problems swimming up into it and taking food off the water surface. The whole things sits above and MP-40 that sucks the food in and spreads it all over the tank. Some food still makes it into the overflow. I dont use filter socks and so some of it comes back and it is not enough to worry me.
My Apex feeder is sitting on that Eheim platform now. The feed dump pattern is a little wider than the square tube it is supposed to drop the food in and so some of the food lands on the water surface and goes straight to the overflow. Guess I could just shut off the main drive pump for feeding but what I have is working well enough and I am not sure if I have an open slot on my power bar for a pump.
My other tank with the lifeguard "intelli feed" had a plastic cup with no bottom superglued to the feeder mounting bracket. It worked. I have switched it for a 6 inch section of clear pipe because it looks nicer and catches all of the food that drops.
Auto feeders work pretty well for me and they let me ignore the tank for weeks at a time. With the Apex set up to text me pH, temp and flood alerts, I have no issues leaving town for a week at a time. I do have a friend that checks on things for me if there is an issue.
I hope that helps some one. Enjoy your reef!
