Cali Kid Corals

Automatic Feeders... Anyone use them?

zambavi

zambavi

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I have a few things that I feed my fish daily/weekly... using a mix/combination of....Frozen cyclopeeze bar... the entire line of reef nutrition products... formula one and two marine pellets and a mix I make with mysis, bloodworms, vitamins and a few odds and ends from the chinese market.

I'm interested if anyone uses Automatic Feeders for their SPS reefs with fish... I'm looking into this for two reasons.

1. I have anthias and I want to find a more automated way to meet their 2-3 times a day feeding needs.
2. If I leave for a three day weekend or similar I'd like an automated feeding system that will keep things going while I'm gone.

The one dried food that I feed my tanks are the Formula One and Two Marine Pellets. Is there an automatic feeder out there that works well with these? What else are people doing here? I've tried to feed flakes but the only thing in my tank that will even look at them are the chromis... Is there another dried food that can be used with an automatic feeder other than flakes that would be good for feeding an SPS reef with a variety of fish?
 
I forget which brand most are using now, but many like the Eheims. There are a few threads here on BAR re: it.
 
Ya i've heard some good things about the Eheims but from what I can tell they only feed flake food... and my fish won't eat flake food with the exception of my Chromis...
 
What type of food did you use in them?

[quote author=iani link=topic=6892.msg89205#msg89205 date=1237249646]
I've used the hydor ones in the past. I like them.
[/quote]
 
I asked this question of Kevin, owner of Live Water Aquariums company in San Diego. He builds beautiful systems that the owners want to be automated. Here is his responsef from a few months ago:

Currently I am using the Aqua-Chef by current in most of my set-ups with new life spectrum pellets- the best food available in my opinion. It can be programed to feed 4 times per day, then each setting can be set to feed 2 times instead of one, about 2 min. apart. This is great because a lot of fish start coming out after the first feeding and catch the second feeding.

The problem with the aqua chef with the small pellets(what I use on that tank) is it has to be set at the lowest setting. If you turn it up to the second dot it dumps way too much food for any tank. To accomidate this I set them to feed a little tiny bit many times a day, which is better for the fish anyway. As long as you dont have one monster who steals all the food and makes the other fish hide it works really well. I have tried countless brands of auto feeders and they are all pretty much crap. Including the aquachef.

The ehiem is a good unit too but not as good as their reputation(or price) would make you think. A little trick with the aquachef is dont use the cheapo batteries they come with (aa) they sometimes go out real fast. And put some scotch tape over the battery cover on the top and the bottom after you load it up with the batteries. Sometimes if you push too hard on the drum after you re-fill it when putting it back on the unit the battery cover can pop off and then you have to re sett it all over. Also make sure the little cover swings open easily, sometimes they come in kind of tight and don't open(trapping the food in the drum) If its tight at all I usually just snap that door off. It's there to keep moisture from getting in so it's good but sometimes they don't swing right. Also when you refill it make sure that it's set still on the lowest setting, sometimes it slipps, dumping way too much food in. Most of these things aren't much of an issue if you are just using it for a week on vacation, but if I were you I would keep using it. The fish love routine. When you refill dozens of these a week the little tricks matter.
 
I use the Eheim FeedAir and I've been fairly happy. I feed a mix of cyclopeeze, spectrum pellets, and ground up formula 1 flakes. I rarely feed my tank by hand.

A feeding ring is a definite must to keep the food from the feeder from going down the overflow.
 
does anyone have experience with the Super Feeder? ASAIK, its the only one you can control via your AquaController.

http://www.super-feed.com/product.html
 
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