High Tide Aquatics

"The Plank" from avast marine?

My only thought is that $200 is a lot more than my magnetic feeding ring and eheim auto feeder for $30 each and it does pretty much the same thing.
 
I think I am going to order it. It's the missing step in automating my aquarium. I am on my last pack of LRS reef frenzy so this would be a good time to switch to freeze dried food.

- Randy
 
Randyadammartin said:
I think I am going to order it. It's the missing step in automating my aquarium. I am on my last pack of LRS reef frenzy so this would be a good time to switch to freeze dried food.

- Randy
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call those two types of food equal in nutrition. LRS has a lot more variety mixed in where freeze dried is often only one type of food. I often soak mine in selcon to give my fish extra fat and vitamins.

Not that it isn't a good addition to the system, I run an auto feeder on my tank, but I supplement the pellets with lots of different frozen foods and veggies.
 
I need something scalable while I am away. The fact of the matter is I am going to have to return to work in an office environment soonish. I won't have the luxary of hand feeding small amounts several times a day.

- Randy
 
Randyadammartin said:
I need something scalable while I am away. The fact of the matter is I am going to have to return to work in an office environment soonish. I won't have the luxary of hand feeding small amounts several times a day.

- Randy
Click to expand...
Totally, Exactly why I run the auto feeder for my anthias. I would just recommend you don't stop frozen and other more nutritious foods for your nighttime feeding when the corals all open up.
 
I'm curious as to why this would be better than an Eheim or Apex feeder with TDO pellets at between half and 1/6 of the price? Avast Marine stuff is certainly well-built and they make quaility products, but I'd be much more comfortable feeding TDO on a regular basis than freeze dried.
 
One thing I like with the Ehiem feeder is that the food section is removable simple plastic.
Easy to refill, because you can take that section off and put food in, leaving mechanism anchored.
Easy to wash and clean for maintenance.

Yes, the Ehiem slide gate is annoying. But trivially fixed with a tiny piece of tape, which
I think most people have.

So I am not so sure this new plank thing is better, especially at such a premium price.
 
I like the screw mechanism of the Plank vs just having a drum turn, this is the big selling point for me. I like how it is quiet. I don’t like needing to have a small pump running all the time, extra cord, extra plug. The thing overall looks large and bulky, both inside the tank and outside, which is a negative. I’m disappointed they didn’t come up with a better way to tell the user when the food is empty, like an alarm, a countdown based on screw rotations, or more obviously empty chamber. I don’t really care about price for something that is the best. I’m just not convinced it is the best. I’ll be interested to hear some more real user reviews (not just social media types).
 
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rygh said:
One thing I like with the Ehiem feeder is that the food section is removable simple plastic.
Easy to refill, because you can take that section off and put food in, leaving mechanism anchored.
Easy to wash and clean for maintenance.

Yes, the Ehiem slide gate is annoying. But trivially fixed with a tiny piece of tape, which
I think most people have.

So I am not so sure this new plank thing is better, especially at such a premium price.
Click to expand...

so it’s looks like coralvue made an exact copy of the eheim feeder. I mean just the name stamped on it is different .

…. Except one thing! It works with the hydros app! It’s 34.95 too . Anyone have this yet ?

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Hydros Automatic Fish Feeder

**Please note that this feeder requires a HYDROS Controller (sold separately) for operation** Feed Your Fish In Confidence Feeding your fish can be one of the most enjoyable interactions with your aquarium, but we can’t always be around and sometimes we need a helping hand. Whether you’re out...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
Randyadammartin said:
so it’s looks like coralvue made an exact copy of the eheim feeder. I mean just the name stamped on it is different .

…. Except one thing! It works with the hydros app! It’s 34.95 too . Anyone have this yet ?

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Hydros Automatic Fish Feeder

**Please note that this feeder requires a HYDROS Controller (sold separately) for operation** Feed Your Fish In Confidence Feeding your fish can be one of the most enjoyable interactions with your aquarium, but we can’t always be around and sometimes we need a helping hand. Whether you’re out...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
Click to expand...
Hmm, I think actually it is a lot different inside.
The Coralvue one is wifi based, has a fancy iphone app, and requires the Hydros controller.
The Eheim has a simple (although slightly annoying) push button interface on the feeder to program it.
 
I use the Eheim for pellets before with a little bit of tape it worked perfectly. I had to switch from flakes to pellets for the Eheim to work. For more precise feeding with something like Reef Roids, maybe this could be effective and possibly an option even at this price point.
 
I had an old "bucket style" feeder long ago.
You could load anything in each individual bucket. It would dump 1 or 2 per day.
Perfectly controlled amounts and timing.
Every weekend I would load up a weeks worth of food. Pellets / flakes / power / whetever.
I was sad when it died.
But given the set/forget of normal Ehiem types, I am not surprised they do not sell.

The "fish mate" one is similar, but design was not reliable.
 
I just talked to BRS, while it doesn't require a connection to the Hydros controller, it still requires one. The way they framed the sales pitch is incredibly misleading. It uses WIFI to connect to the HYDROS controller.
 
Wonder how many BRS is going to sell that end up getting returned because it doesn't state on their webpage that a controller is required, where as other online stores and CoralVue do state that the Hydros Control is required.
 
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