New Avast Marine Auto feeder

[PanhandleReef]

My water pump is not a gentle stir, in fact, it's pretty torrential inside the little cylinder and food immediately gets shot out of the bottom. Is that normal?

Have you tried adjusting the little slider on the bottom of the pump?

 

[kinetic]

Have you tried adjusting the little slider on the bottom of the pump?

The slider that moves it up and down? Yes, but that doesn't change the flow rate. It seems like my pump is super charged. Water is almost splashing out of the top. I think I need like half the flow or something. Is there some way to adjust the pump flow?

 

[PanhandleReef]

The slider that moves it up and down? Yes, but that doesn't change the flow rate. It seems like my pump is super charged. Water is almost splashing out of the top. I think I need like half the flow or something. Is there some way to adjust the pump flow?

I know this manipulates the flow, but maybe you got a pump on steroids if that’s all the way down.

 

[ctenophore]

I know this manipulates the flow, but maybe you got a pump on steroids if that’s all the way down.

Also, make sure the little grille that holds the slider is firmly snapped into place. If it's lifted away from the pump body a little bit, water can bypass the slider.

 

[Darrell Brady]

I'm running this program now how would I bump it up to 2 minutes?
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

 

[driftin]

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/002:00/058:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

If you want it to run every hour, then the middle and last time amounts should add up to 60 minutes (002:00 + 058:00 = 060:00)

 

[Darrell Brady]

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/002:00/058:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

If you want it to run every hour, then the middle and last time amounts should add up to 60 minutes (002:00 + 058:00 = 060:00)

Thanks.

 

[Obsessed]

6 month update on mine and I could not be happier. Just got back from a week vacation and had loaded the Plank up with freeze dried mysis on a timer and it worked perfectly while I was gone.

I know it’s a big one time investment but this has been one of my favorite purchases for this tank.

Thank you Avast!!

 

[robby2782]

I couldn't imagine running my tank without this now. I feed my fish every 20 minutes between 8 am and 6 pm, and I have seen amazing growth from all of them.

 

[SoAg Reefer]

I need to buy a new pump. Mine shorted out I guess. Wont restart after a maintenance clean. Do you have a link for that little pump? The ones i found online didnt seem to match

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

If anyone needs parts or has ANY issues, feel free to email us [email protected] 99% of Planks are under warranty at this point and we will fudge that to ensure 100% satisfaction.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Correct, there is a tiny pump that swirls the water in the black tube. It's the last video posted above, when he sprinkles some food in by hand. The freeze-dried copepods, mysis, etc., that normally float are forced to rehydrate and become neutrally buoyant before they can exit the tube via pipe in the bottom. This works even better if the entire mechanism is located above a circulation pump (stream, vortech, etc) that will then broadcast the food all over the tank.

Wow that little pump is perfect in there. That makes it worth every penny to me. First in class or best in show from Innovation created by demand, gotta love it.

 

[BillyW]

Been eyeing the plank for awhile, I need an auto fish feeder to ensure stability. That said are most of you putting it on the rim or in the sump near the return? Does it work just as good in the return section of the sump? That’s where I would prefer it.

 

[BillyW]

Double Post

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Been eyeing the plank for awhile, I need an auto fish feeder to ensure stability. That said are most of you putting it on the rim or in the sump near the return? Does it work just as good in the return section of the sump? That’s where I would prefer it.

I've not set mine up yet, but it will be going over my return pumps. I've been hand feeding this way and it works out well.

 

[ctenophore]

Been eyeing the plank for awhile, I need an auto fish feeder to ensure stability. That said are most of you putting it on the rim or in the sump near the return? Does it work just as good in the return section of the sump? That’s where I would prefer it.

This works well as long as your return pump doesn't feed any additional equipment on the way back to the tank. Just contact us if you need a longer tube, so that mixed food empties out right near the intake of the return pump.

 

[BillyW]

This works well as long as your return pump doesn't feed any additional equipment on the way back to the tank. Just contact us if you need a longer tube, so that mixed food empties out right near the intake of the return pump.

Awesome! My return pump doesn’t feed anything else, I’m not that smart haha. I just ordered one and put dimensions in the comments! Looking forward to setting it up!

 

[hhaase]

3D printing is awesome. My plank arrived today, and it's an odd fit on my SCA 150, so I'm working on a new 6mm spacer instead of the 3mm spacer that it came with.

While that's printing, I can research how to integrate it with my Profilux 4, which I haven't figured out yet. Or at least I haven't figured out the food timer yet. I'm going to have the mixing pump come is easy enough to sort out.

-Hans

 

[hhaase]

Ok, I have my Plank setup with my GHL Profilux 4, and I didn't see it covered in here, so I'm going to do a quick guide. This is assuming you know the basics of using the timer features on the profilux. It's really not hard at all, just setting timer modes for the mixing pump and feeding motors, you can easily integrate a feed pause for your circulation pumps as well using this setup method. For full control you need 2 or 3 channels available on your powerbar, but for basic control you can get away with just a single channel for the feed motor and leave the mixing pump running continually.

You need to set up TWO timers inside the 'Processes' tab.

Timer 1 (or another timer setting of your choice): This controls your mixing pump on the plank, and alternatively can also control your circulation pumps if you want them powered down.

In the 'Switch Mode' tab, set it as a normal timer, and put your description name in there as well.

In the 'Schedule' block, have an appropriate start and end time. You can add multiple timeframes in this timer if you want to feed multiple times a day. I have mine set up at a single time right now. ON at 5:00pm and OFF at 5:15pm.

Timer 2 (or another timer setting of your choice): This controls your "Keg" feeder motor to actually dispense food.

In the "Switch Mode" tab, set it as a "Short" timer. Also add your description name in the switch mode tab. Having it set for "Short" allows you to have the timer on for seconds as opposed to minutes. I have mine coming on at 5:05pm for 30 seconds in this example. This allows time for the gyre to stop, the mixer to start, and fish to recognize the upcoming feeding.

Increasing or decreasing the duration in Timer 2 will regulate the amount of food being dispensed. This is going to be very different for each of us, so I highly recommend you measure a few feeding cycles to make sure the time duration of this motor is correct for your feeding amount.

Like timer 1, in timer 2 you will also potentially set multiple timeframes for multiple feeding events during the day.

Switch Channel: Mixing and Circulation Pumps

Whichever channel you have your plank mixing pump on, set that channel function to "Timer 1", with invert not highlighted. This will make your plank mixing pump turn ON during the times you programmed into "Timer 1".

I have my Gyre pump also set to "Timer 1", but with the invert highlighted, meaning it will turn OFF during the times programmed into "Timer 1".

Switch Channel: Plank Feeding Motor:

The channel with your plank feeding motor gets set to "Timer 2", with invert turned off. This will activate your feeding motor at the time indicated in "Timer 2", for the duration set in that timer.

 

[Gig-Island]

I've had my Plank for 6 months now. It works perfectly and I love it. Fish are so happy and healthy.

I have noticed that some food gets stuck in the tube chamber. This food is usually larger or lighter food. To keep it from becoming a phosphate and nitrate factory I just pour some tank water in the tube a couple times a week. This flushes the tube and cleans all the parts out well.

LOVE THIS FEEDER! Spend the extra money and get this feeder! Your fish deserve it!