Poll: Auto Feeder - Do You Use One?

[dbl]

Do you use an auto-feeder? If so, is it to supplement your feeding regimen or is it your primary source of feeding?

 

[jsker]

My auto feeder is called my neighbor. I have a couple of furry friends, and along with the tank is just like the Ruthamatic feeder.

 

[ksanfranfan]

No.

 

[Andy G]

I have the Neptune installed but don't use it. Is just in case i cannot feed.

 

[Labridaedicted]

Yep, mine is a dosing pump set up running through a mini fridge. I ran a line off my manifold into the side of the fridge and plumbed in 3 murloc t's and dose 3 kinds of reef nutrition refrigerated foods: mysis feast (3x per day), oyster feast (2x per day), and R.O.E. (1x per day).

The line discharges next to the return pump and them is distributed through the tank via the 4 locline return nozzles so the food is spread throughout the tank.

This is an older picture showing the premise of it. I'll post pictures of it later that show it completely finished

 

[Andy G]

Yep, mine is a dosing pump set up running through a mini fridge. I ran a line off my manifold into the side of the fridge and plumbed in 3 murloc t's and dose 3 kinds of reef nutrition refrigerated foods: mysis feast (3x per day), oyster feast (2x per day), and R.O.E. (1x per day).

The line discharges next to the return pump and them is distributed through the tank via the 4 locline return nozzles so the food is spread throughout the tank.

This is an older picture showing the premise of it. I'll post pictures of it later that show it completely finished

Very clever solution, would love to see more pictures.

Im trying to automate as much as possible.

 

[Breadman03]

I hope to have something like that set up someday. For now, I've just got the Neptune AFS. It's just a lot easier to keep my tank fed with an irregular schedule and 4 kids.

Yep, mine is a dosing pump set up running through a mini fridge. I ran a line off my manifold into the side of the fridge and plumbed in 3 murloc t's and dose 3 kinds of reef nutrition refrigerated foods: mysis feast (3x per day), oyster feast (2x per day), and R.O.E. (1x per day).

The line discharges next to the return pump and them is distributed through the tank via the 4 locline return nozzles so the food is spread throughout the tank.

This is an older picture showing the premise of it. I'll post pictures of it later that show it completely finished.

 

[Mrx7899]

I run an apex feeder twice a day one time in the early afternoon and one time in the evening and I manually feed a frozen cude.

 

[ubasu]

I just started using an auto feeder in the last month or so. I use to just use one on vacation. But I watched a video about Sanjays tanks and he was talking about how small fish stomachs where etc and that you can in theory feed more in smaller amounts several times a day and the fish will be able to digest more of food. Also I don't stress about if the fish got fed today etc...

My two clowns look fatter and I think the coral is growing with more nutrients.

 

[zachxlutz]

I use an eheim auto-feeder set to feed a small amount of pellet food 4x a day. I have 3 bartlett's anthias in addition to a dozen or so other fish in my tank. The anthias are known to have better survivability rates when fed multiple times per day. I supplement the pellet food with a cube or two of frozen each day, as well.

 

[Labridaedicted]

As promised, here's some pictures I just took of the auto feeder fridge.

 

[zachxlutz]

As promised, here's some pictures I just took of the auto feeder fridge.

What is keeping the manifold pressure from pushing water into the dosing containers? The peristaltic pumps themselves? Are you concerned with one of the dosing heads failing and draining your tank through your mini-fridge?

 

[Labridaedicted]

What is keeping the manifold pressure from pushing water into the dosing containers? The peristaltic pumps themselves? Are you concerned with one of the dosing heads failing and draining your tank through your mini-fridge?

So the dosing pump heads and the path of least resistance is what keeps it from back flowing. Can't use check valves with the chunky food. The feed is 1/2 inch vinyl tube to 1/2 inch pvc and the food goes in through the 1/4 inch murloc. There's no restriction on the flow out of the feed, so the water naturally wants to continue through the larger diameter tube rather than forcing up the 90 degree t's to the smaller tube. Fluid dynamics is my worst enemy, but sometimes works in my favor.

I suppose that a head failure could potentially cause a drainage, but I think the rate of back flow would be pretty slow given the diameter of the tube. It's fed off the manifold, which runs the feed to the fuge, frag, and double sump stack which is a slow feed anyways and then it's dialed back from there by a valve before the fridge. The amount of pressure should be pretty minimal by the way I designed it and I wouldn't expect much backflow.

 

[Andy G]

What is keeping the manifold pressure from pushing water into the dosing containers? The peristaltic pumps themselves? Are you concerned with one of the dosing heads failing and draining your tank through your mini-fridge?

Loved the idea

 

[DBR_Reef]

Yep, mine is a dosing pump set up running through a mini fridge. I ran a line off my manifold into the side of the fridge and plumbed in 3 murloc t's and dose 3 kinds of reef nutrition refrigerated foods: mysis feast (3x per day), oyster feast (2x per day), and R.O.E. (1x per day).

The line discharges next to the return pump and them is distributed through the tank via the 4 locline return nozzles so the food is spread throughout the tank.

This is an older picture showing the premise of it. I'll post pictures of it later that show it completely finished

I do basically the exact same thing but with beefier pumps and home made food- I can't handle the reef nutrition prices

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Eheim auto feeder with feeding station just started using it.

 

[dmw913]

I just ordered the @smarterreefs Reefsicle frozen food autofeeder. Looking forward to trying this solution for many reasons.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

Eheim Auto Feeder it works well

 

[Cae]

Do you use an auto-feeder? If so, is it to supplement your feeding regimen or is it your primary source of feeding?

No I don't. I thought I would loose all the fun by leaving it to a machine. I mean soon we will have machines doing everything for us!

 

[Mark Gray]

I use Neptune's auto feeder I'm away often so it works well