New Avast Marine Auto feeder

[RSnodgrass]

My only nit pick was wishing both wires were on the same side (drum & mixing tube) but sounds like they already adjusted that going forward. It was a minor annoyance at most but they were super responsive to the feedback.

Definitely not a deal breaker, working flawlessly.

 

[HighChiefKC]

I Got mine in the mail last week. Just now had time
To set it up. I’m a total newb at my Apex, so I haven’t exactly mastered how to program it yet, except for messing with the default auto feeder settings. I’m running a dry trial tomorrow to see how much it dumps out while I’m at work.
But today I wet tested it, and dropped half a frozen cube in. Worked pretty awesome, and I didn’t put any pumps into feed mode, and I don’t think any food went into the overflow. What’s neat about it is, I’ve always hand fed fish from the right side of the tank, and the lazy bums always congregate there all day long waiting for more food, 6’ long tank. So I sent the auto feeder on the opposite end because I have more return flow down there. So now I’m actually getting them to come away from the right side of the tank!

 

[YankeeTankee]

I won’t go into videos and showing how it works as it’s already enough documented . I shall give my honest opinion - this has got to be the best gadget Avast has made !!!!
Am an Avast fan boy but even me is blown away by the precision of this machine .
Foods I have tried :-

1. TDO 1 mm pellets
2. Hikari marine
3. NLS Thera A
4. Panta rhei nouri polyp
5. PE pellets 1 mm
6. Benepets
7. Reef roids
8. Easy reefs Sps evo
9. BRS rotifer powder
10. BRS Spirulina
11. Fauna marine gorgonian foods

Phewww !! That’s a lot . I should stop buying foods

Every time it dropped exact amount and depending on time small quantities . Quiet as hell .
Even foods like BRS rotifers that float are delivered sinking !!!!

If you don’t order this now , you are missing out on one of the greatest gadgets ...

Which timer are you using?

 

[Abhishek]

Which timer are you using?

Well I use apex but any digital timer should work .

 

[YankeeTankee]

Well I use apex but any digital timer should work .

I just hate single failure points that can lead to a tank crash, outlet fails on dumps weeks worth of food in tank

 

[TheHarold]

I just hate single failure points that can lead to a tank crash, outlet fails on dumps weeks worth of food in tank

Could happen with any device though, more or less the same (very small) odds of failure between aquarium controller outlets, mechanical timers, and WiFi outlets.

 

[YankeeTankee]

Could happen with any device though, more or less the same (very small) odds of failure between aquarium controller outlets, mechanical timers, and WiFi outlets.

Do you ever add a plug in timer to a outlet already with a timer so there are 2? Failing off is better than failing on here I think!

 

[TheHarold]

Do you ever add a plug in timer to a outlet already with a timer so there are 2? Failing off is better than failing on here I think!

I think you are suggesting something similar to having a WiFi outlet set to run for example from 12:05 to 12:07, and then have your apex only give it power from 12:03 to 12:07

The WiFi outlet may fail more quickly if you are cycling it so often, and each time presents the risk that it does not pair with your network (it would need to, to get the time of day) successfully.

The apex outlets are extremely reliable, and can be set to go to OFF if there is any sort of communication error. Plus, you can be alerted if the outlet is on for longer than X time, is drawing power for longer than X time, etc. Thousands of users rely on the outlets for dosing with no issues.

 

[AVAST Marine Verified Sponsor]

I can honestly say we have tested many versions of this feeder across quite a few tanks spanning about 5 years now and there have been no reported timer failures, every test tank used an Apex. We started testing with the wifi timer I linked to earlier about 4 months ago and have had no issues, it is a much smaller sample though. This feeder also uses the exact same motor we have used for Swabbie, many if not most of those are deployed using a Apex timer, the sample size of that is HUGE, I have never heard of a single Apex timer failure in over 10 years of that products life. There was a reason we chose to use that same motor here

That being said, best practice would be to only put a weeks worth of food in the feeder at once until you are comfortable with it, most mature tanks can handle a large single addition of food like this without crashing, you would obviously want to do some water changes but it shouldn't crash.

I would say the risk of accidentally knocking ANY feeder in the tank is a greater risk than an Apex timer getting stuck on using this device. It has a pretty robust clamping system so we even tried to reduce the risk of this happening with The Plank.

 

[YankeeTankee]

I can honestly say we have tested many versions of this feeder across quite a few tanks spanning about 5 years now and there have been no reported timer failures, every test tank used an Apex. We started testing with the wifi timer I linked to earlier about 4 months ago and have had no issues, it is a much smaller sample though. This feeder also uses the exact same motor we have used for Swabbie, many if not most of those are deployed using a Apex timer, the sample size of that is HUGE, I have never heard of a single Apex timer failure in over 10 years of that products life. There was a reason we chose to use that same motor here

That being said, best practice would be to only put a weeks worth of food in the feeder at once until you are comfortable with it, most mature tanks can handle a large single addition of food like this without crashing, you would obviously want to do some water changes but it shouldn't crash.

I would say the risk of accidentally knocking ANY feeder in the tank is a greater risk than an Apex timer getting stuck on using this device. It has a pretty robust clamping system so we even tried to reduce the risk of this happening with The Plank.

Thanks, another question for you, if the device were full and left on for 1 minute. What % would be dropped roughly?

 

[ctenophore]

Thanks, another question for you, if the device were full and left on for 1 minute. What % would be dropped roughly?

Probably less than 1%. I get about two weeks out of a fillup running 1 min 12x per day. So that’s roughly 168 feeding runs. It will depend on the size of the food to some degree though. It will drop the same amount in 1 min whether full or empty, since the auger pushes the food towards the opening. Almost none is left in the hopper when it quits dispensing.
This is my feeding code for anyone interested:
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

 

[radiata]

I won’t go into videos and showing how it works as it’s already enough documented . I shall give my honest opinion - this has got to be the best gadget Avast has made !!!!
Am an Avast fan boy but even me is blown away by the precision of this machine .
Foods I have tried :-

1. TDO 1 mm pellets
2. Hikari marine
3. NLS Thera A
4. Panta rhei nouri polyp
5. PE pellets 1 mm
6. Benepets
7. Reef roids
8. Easy reefs Sps evo
9. BRS rotifer powder
10. BRS Spirulina
11. Fauna marine gorgonian foods

Phewww !! That’s a lot . I should stop buying foods

Every time it dropped exact amount and depending on time small quantities . Quiet as hell .
Even foods like BRS rotifers that float are delivered sinking !!!!

If you don’t order this now , you are missing out on one of the greatest gadgets ...

Abhishek ~ Just wondering... Did you found any of the foods your tested to be more neutrally buoyant than others?

 

[Abhishek]

Abhishek ~ Just wondering... Did you found any of the foods your tested to be more neutrally buoyant than others?

When they are fed through avast feeder ? Every food I tasted worked extremely well and no be of them were floating due to the constant small pump mixing them well . I would say - BRS rotifers and spirulina were difficult though but benereef , easy reefs Sps were really awesome to use

 

[radiata]

When they are fed through avast feeder ? Every food I tasted worked extremely well and no be of them were floating due to the constant small pump mixing them well . I would say - BRS rotifers and spirulina were difficult though but benereef , easy reefs Sps were really awesome to use

I should have been more explicit. The question was for foods coming out of the feeder. My primary interest in getting the feeder is to keep my anthias fat and happy. I think the best food for them would be the one that floats around in the water column the longest, before either being eaten or settling to the substrate. Golden Pearls claim to be neutrally buoyant, and in their 800 to 1000 Micron size should be acceptable to the anthias. It is available from BRS and from BSD (Brine Shrimp Direct).

So I was wondering if, in your testing, you noticed that any of those foods happened to stay in the water column longer than some of the other foods.

 

[Abhishek]

I should have been more explicit. The question was for foods coming out of the feeder. My primary interest in getting the feeder is to keep my anthias fat and happy. I think the best food for them would be the one that floats around in the water column the longest, before either being eaten or settling to the substrate. Golden Pearls claim to be neutrally buoyant, and in their 800 to 1000 Micron size should be acceptable to the anthias. It is available from BRS and from BSD (Brine Shrimp Direct).

So I was wondering if, in your testing, you noticed that any of those foods happened to stay in the water column longer than some of the other foods.

Nope as I want all my foods to be sinking . If anything floats , it won’t be eaten in my tank and will go down the drain . However if you k ow the food you want to try , why not just NOT use the feeding tube and just let the feeder drop food in the water ?

 

[hellsangelbx]

@AVAST Marine can it be connected to ghl? Great job on this

 

[halfmoon61]

I run mine on a P3, any controllable socket will work. The feeding tube pump can be plugged into a dumb socket since it's always on.

 

[Mattiejay6]

Decided to pre order! I love the idea of using the tube to defrost frozen food and the auto feeder for vacay and feeding Anthias non stop.

now i just need to figured out how to incorporate it with my top lids top before it’s made

 

[HighChiefKC]

Probably less than 1%. I get about two weeks out of a fillup running 1 min 12x per day. So that’s roughly 168 feeding runs. It will depend on the size of the food to some degree though. It will drop the same amount in 1 min whether full or empty, since the auger pushes the food towards the opening. Almost none is left in the hopper when it quits dispensing.
This is my feeding code for anyone interested:
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

how do you get to that coding in Fusion?
Noob at Fusion, so this is what my screen looks like. I’ve tested this out in a dry run, 1 drum rotation barely had anything come out, so I made it 3. If I think I done it right, it’s feeding at 10:30 am and then at 12:30 and 2:30.
I love it so far though, it’s gotten my spoiled fish to stop hanging out all day in the top right corner, to now not knowing where the food is going to come from, so they are all over the 6ft long tank now! Except my royal gramma is pretty stubborn to one spot and won’t budge. But I feed them by hand still once or twice a day on his side of tank

 

[NinjaTiLL]

how do you get to that coding in Fusion?
Noob at Fusion, so this is what my screen looks like. I’ve tested this out in a dry run, 1 drum rotation barely had anything come out, so I made it 3. If I think I done it right, it’s feeding at 10:30 am and then at 12:30 and 2:30.
I love it so far though, it’s gotten my spoiled fish to stop hanging out all day in the top right corner, to now not knowing where the food is going to come from, so they are all over the 6ft long tank now! Except my royal gramma is pretty stubborn to one spot and won’t budge. But I feed them by hand still once or twice a day on his side of tank

I don't think you would use the "Feeder" control type. I believe the Neptune AFS module does one complete rotation every time power is applied. The Plank doesn't work the same way, rather, it will keep rotating/dispensing as long as power is applied. You should abandon the preset control types in Fusion and use "Advanced" instead. Then determine how long you want the plank to run each time it comes on. Start a timer, plug the plank into a dumb outlet and dispense onto a piece of paper, when you have enough food, stop the timer and unplug the plank. Now you know how long the plank needs to run and you can use an OSC statement for better control.

Using the example above:
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/059:00 Then ON
If Time 20:00 to 07:00 Then OFF

-- The "Fallback OFF" statement is so that the unit will not run when power goes out and comes back on.
-- The OSC statement says that the feeder will run for 1 minute then turn off for 59 minutes. So you would be feeding 1 minute worth of food every hour. Use your timer measurement here. Set the delay to approximately 4 hours (or 240 minutes = 240:00) to run 3 times per day.
-- The "If Time" statement turns off the feeder at night between the hours of 8PM to 7AM. Adjust as needed.

There are some caveats about how the OSC statement works and triggering from feed modes but you should read the comprehensive guide on Neptune's website to understand it. Or, post your modified code and explain how you want it to work and someone like me can probably verify it.