"Fun" - Neptune Apex & Reef Roids Idea - Thoughts?

[PaulieReef]

Ok, so my favorite thing in the hobby is not the fish, not the corals, but the technology. Don't get me wrong I love looking at the fish and corals, but what keeps me interested is the constant fiddling with the tech.

Anyway, my idea. Reef Roids is suggested to dose twice a week, as much as I love sitting there, mixing everything, turning off the return, dumping the reef roids, waiting 1-2 hours so everything gets properly fed, then turning everything back on. I want to automate it.

I have the AFS (Automatic Feeding System) that I was using for my Anthias, however, they seem to be doing great, so I want to switch it for something more useful. Reef Roids does not need to be refrigerated, just in a dark place. My idea is to put ReefRoids in the AFS and have it dose twice a week.

AFS will be set for Feed Cycle D, which is set to be active for 1-2 hours (haven't figured out the time yet). I will custom code my return pump to turn off when Feed Cycle D is active. This will all run at around 10pm, so I don't even have to see it.

I have a 240g tank with 2x mp60s on it which will give ample surface agitation to mix the dry reef roids into the tank. At least I think.

Thoughts, suggestions? Am I setting myself up for failure?

 

[PaulieReef]

Just did a test for the solubility of ReefRoids being dumped on the top of the water. I get a nice little film but after about 30 minutes, the top layer is pretty clear.

 

[garbled]

I've been thinking of maybe playing with a 3d-printer, and some bent acrylic, to kinda make a slide, to drop food out of an AFS down a chute, to try to get a little oomph to it when it hits the water. But if roids is just a powder, that probably won't help much..

What I do with my current AFS, is I have it hooked up to a surge bucket. But if you just wanted a feed cycle... maybe you can do something like:

1) aqualifter pump pushes water up into little container. Container has overflow to avoid spills.
2) AFS sits on top of container.
3) Time of magic occurs. AFS dumps food into container. Maybe container has tiny powerhead in there to mix?
4) 10 minutes later, solenoid opens, food mixed with water is unceremoniously dumped into display.
5) Reset solenoid, start over.

Huh.. You know what.. I'm gonna build one of these now.. just look at what you did there to me!

 

[PaulieReef]

I've been thinking of maybe playing with a 3d-printer, and some bent acrylic, to kinda make a slide, to drop food out of an AFS down a chute, to try to get a little oomph to it when it hits the water. But if roids is just a powder, that probably won't help much..

What I do with my current AFS, is I have it hooked up to a surge bucket. But if you just wanted a feed cycle... maybe you can do something like:

1) aqualifter pump pushes water up into little container. Container has overflow to avoid spills.
2) AFS sits on top of container.
3) Time of magic occurs. AFS dumps food into container. Maybe container has tiny powerhead in there to mix?
4) 10 minutes later, solenoid opens, food mixed with water is unceremoniously dumped into display.
5) Reset solenoid, start over.

Huh.. You know what.. I'm gonna build one of these now.. just look at what you did there to me!

I like it! If you do I want to see!

 

[ccurnick]

Get a feeding ring of some sort (I use the 2 little fishes magnetic one), there's plenty of options and 3d printed ones. Position it so your AFS dumps the food into it and set your pump programing as needed. It keeps it all from flowing down the drain, and because there still is some water movement, manages to disperse it through the tank.

I do this for my daily feeding of coral food (and 1 of 2 fish feedings).