Anyone auto-dose food?
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BlAcK_PeRcUlA
Premium Member
I have an air pump hooked up to my ATO unit.
Whenever the float valve turns on the freshwater resevoir, the air pump pushes air into a bottle containing a mixture of zooplankton, aminos, and phyto which then forces the food up and out of the bottle by pressure. These foods are all sold in concentrated solution and are OK to leave at room temperature (in the cap- there is one hole for air inlet and one hose from the bottom of the bottle leading right above my powerhead).
I also use this system to dose 2 part CA alk supplement automatically because I have a 3 way gangway valve on the airpump.
I have to go home for long periods of time and this system helps to stabilize every parameter even when I am there also. I found that feeding my tank in a dilute, continuous manner is more natural and the large amount of food relative to small tank size has not caused any algae problems to date. Good luck!
Whenever the float valve turns on the freshwater resevoir, the air pump pushes air into a bottle containing a mixture of zooplankton, aminos, and phyto which then forces the food up and out of the bottle by pressure. These foods are all sold in concentrated solution and are OK to leave at room temperature (in the cap- there is one hole for air inlet and one hose from the bottom of the bottle leading right above my powerhead).
I also use this system to dose 2 part CA alk supplement automatically because I have a 3 way gangway valve on the airpump.
I have to go home for long periods of time and this system helps to stabilize every parameter even when I am there also. I found that feeding my tank in a dilute, continuous manner is more natural and the large amount of food relative to small tank size has not caused any algae problems to date. Good luck!
1fishkeeper
Premium Member
I would also love to see a picture of your set up Dave. I was thinking about something like that but I wasnt sure if it would work or not.
BlAcK_PeRcUlA
Premium Member
Hey people,
I actually just got home for the holidays and am crossing my fingers that my little tank will fare the next 3 weeks without me. These are some pictures I took of the entire setup to let you get an idea of how the auto-feeder works.
The float valve is connected to an extension cord with an easy on/off button so I can disable the top-off when necessary for water changes etc.
This float valve controls: 1. An aqua lifter pump-drawing from a 5 gallon RO/DI reservoir and delivering to the sump AND ALSO 2. a small airpump-pushing air into 3 bottles (feeder, CA, ALK buffer).
They are just Fiji water bottles with drilled caps. I refill all three bottles every 5 or 6 days.
Pushing air into the top of a sealed bottle forces water out of the airline hose I have running to the bottoms due to pressure.
Green tubing = air
clear tubing = water
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3106061387_9688571511.jpg?v=0
The feeder bottle normally sits hidden behind the display and feeds into the Koralia nano powerhead for even distribution.
Hope that helps
I can normally make the pictures appear with the post but this is my first time with flickr, does anyone know how to make them work?
I actually just got home for the holidays and am crossing my fingers that my little tank will fare the next 3 weeks without me. These are some pictures I took of the entire setup to let you get an idea of how the auto-feeder works.
The float valve is connected to an extension cord with an easy on/off button so I can disable the top-off when necessary for water changes etc.
This float valve controls: 1. An aqua lifter pump-drawing from a 5 gallon RO/DI reservoir and delivering to the sump AND ALSO 2. a small airpump-pushing air into 3 bottles (feeder, CA, ALK buffer).
They are just Fiji water bottles with drilled caps. I refill all three bottles every 5 or 6 days.
Pushing air into the top of a sealed bottle forces water out of the airline hose I have running to the bottoms due to pressure.
Green tubing = air
clear tubing = water
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3106061387_9688571511.jpg?v=0
The feeder bottle normally sits hidden behind the display and feeds into the Koralia nano powerhead for even distribution.
Hope that helps
I can normally make the pictures appear with the post but this is my first time with flickr, does anyone know how to make them work?
Thats Sweet!
Where is your ATO bucket? by the chiller?
And let me get this straight, you have one float valve in the tank, it turns on a power head that pumps FW from an ATO bucket, at the same time one air pump turns on pushing air into 3 containers (alk, ca, and food) and doses the correct amount of each?
Is that right? How do you get the correct amt dosed out of each container? The gang valve? Do you have one way valves hooked up at all?
and whats the white container by the skimmer? sorry for all the Q's, but im also intrigued.
Where is your ATO bucket? by the chiller?
And let me get this straight, you have one float valve in the tank, it turns on a power head that pumps FW from an ATO bucket, at the same time one air pump turns on pushing air into 3 containers (alk, ca, and food) and doses the correct amount of each?
Is that right? How do you get the correct amt dosed out of each container? The gang valve? Do you have one way valves hooked up at all?
and whats the white container by the skimmer? sorry for all the Q's, but im also intrigued.
BlAcK_PeRcUlA
Premium Member
Michika,
I am feeding 3 foods mixed together in the food bottle:
1. zooplankton-S (brightwell aquatics) - zooplankton suspension - 50-300 um
2. nutra-complete (the most important one IMO)
NutraPlus Complete is a complete ready-to-feed mix of microalgae and zooplankton that provides all the nutritional requirements of both invertebrates and fish. NutraPlus Complete contains concentrated red microalgae Dunaliella salina, green microalgae Nannochloropsis sp., rotifers Brachionus plicatilis and brine shrimps Artemia. NutraPlus Complete provides all the necessary and essential proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins and carotenoids for most marine organisms.
Protein >18.5
Lipids >6.5
Carbohydrates >6.5
Chlorophyll 0.026
Beta-carotene and mix carotenoids 1.2
3. a small chunk of frozen cyclops for something larger. They were the only food needed to be frozen but being larger, they sink to the bottom where the inlet for the hose sits.
-This means the most concentrated feeding will happen the first few days and then it will gradually move down in food size as the smaller pieces can stay suspended higher.
Bri Guy,
The auto-top off reservoir is in the cabinet to the bottom right and is next to the chiller.
You got it. The float valve in the sump simultaneously runs an air pump and an aqua lifter pump. This way, less volume of liquid is dosed from the 3 bottles and they can be smaller and more concentrated.
-If you had room for a large (airtight) container, I think a very dilute solution of food or Ca for example would be a simple combination of top off and food dosing. There is no concern with clogging of the pump because the food never touches the pump.
Here is a paint drawing that I hope makes sense.
Dosing
I roughly calculated what concentration I needed in each bottle based on the amount of days it took for the bottle to be finished.
I did an experimental trial with just RO/DI water in all bottles and it took about 5 days if i didn't mess with the tank too much.
If you know how much food and/or 2-part you need to add DAILY, then what you need to add to a reservoir for 5 days is 5 times that amount.
-The one exception is the food because the larger particles are fed first.
The 3 way gangway valve was cheap from PETCO actually. It is a flowmeter and a checkvalve with 3 different outlets and 2 inlets (1 is plugged)
The white container by the skimmer is my return-box-thing. A 99 cent 2-part tupperware that i drilled to be a carbon chamber in the top and a small, removable filter pad area down bottom for fine particulates. It sits anchored by rock rubble and handles most of the flow from the tank. I got tired of dealing with nasty filter socks. I just throw out a small strip of filter pad and cut another from a big sheet.
About 1/4 of the overflow goes directly into the refugium area of the sump without any filtration.
Sorry for the long post and let me know if there are more questions.
I am feeding 3 foods mixed together in the food bottle:
1. zooplankton-S (brightwell aquatics) - zooplankton suspension - 50-300 um
2. nutra-complete (the most important one IMO)
NutraPlus Complete is a complete ready-to-feed mix of microalgae and zooplankton that provides all the nutritional requirements of both invertebrates and fish. NutraPlus Complete contains concentrated red microalgae Dunaliella salina, green microalgae Nannochloropsis sp., rotifers Brachionus plicatilis and brine shrimps Artemia. NutraPlus Complete provides all the necessary and essential proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins and carotenoids for most marine organisms.
Protein >18.5
Lipids >6.5
Carbohydrates >6.5
Chlorophyll 0.026
Beta-carotene and mix carotenoids 1.2
3. a small chunk of frozen cyclops for something larger. They were the only food needed to be frozen but being larger, they sink to the bottom where the inlet for the hose sits.
-This means the most concentrated feeding will happen the first few days and then it will gradually move down in food size as the smaller pieces can stay suspended higher.
Bri Guy,
The auto-top off reservoir is in the cabinet to the bottom right and is next to the chiller.
You got it. The float valve in the sump simultaneously runs an air pump and an aqua lifter pump. This way, less volume of liquid is dosed from the 3 bottles and they can be smaller and more concentrated.
-If you had room for a large (airtight) container, I think a very dilute solution of food or Ca for example would be a simple combination of top off and food dosing. There is no concern with clogging of the pump because the food never touches the pump.
Here is a paint drawing that I hope makes sense.
Dosing
I roughly calculated what concentration I needed in each bottle based on the amount of days it took for the bottle to be finished.
I did an experimental trial with just RO/DI water in all bottles and it took about 5 days if i didn't mess with the tank too much.
If you know how much food and/or 2-part you need to add DAILY, then what you need to add to a reservoir for 5 days is 5 times that amount.
-The one exception is the food because the larger particles are fed first.
The 3 way gangway valve was cheap from PETCO actually. It is a flowmeter and a checkvalve with 3 different outlets and 2 inlets (1 is plugged)
The white container by the skimmer is my return-box-thing. A 99 cent 2-part tupperware that i drilled to be a carbon chamber in the top and a small, removable filter pad area down bottom for fine particulates. It sits anchored by rock rubble and handles most of the flow from the tank. I got tired of dealing with nasty filter socks. I just throw out a small strip of filter pad and cut another from a big sheet.
About 1/4 of the overflow goes directly into the refugium area of the sump without any filtration.
Sorry for the long post and let me know if there are more questions.
Last edited:
BlAcK_PeRcUlA
Premium Member
Edit: in the 5g reservoir it is supposed to read RO/DI with Calcium Acetate
wastememphis
New member
Thats an awesome idea...
I figure you could hook an airpump to a controller to turn on x times aday and also turn off the pumps when that happens for y amount of time. I might have to try that when I set up a seahorse tank for feeding! Hmmmmm....
Did you have to seal the holes you drilled in the caps around the tube?
I figure you could hook an airpump to a controller to turn on x times aday and also turn off the pumps when that happens for y amount of time. I might have to try that when I set up a seahorse tank for feeding! Hmmmmm....
Did you have to seal the holes you drilled in the caps around the tube?
BlAcK_PeRcUlA
Premium Member
Nope, I made sure to drill holes a bit smaller than the airline hose itself and I cut the hose with a tapered end to make it easier to pull through. The sharp end of the hose may help with pulling the last bit of dose out of the bottom of the bottle by allowing it to touch the bottom without blocking intake but I'm not sure.
dtaylor123
New member
there is a lot of info on this type of feeding in the Non-Photo forum. I believe this will ultimately be the key in keeping the Dendronephtya, non-photo Gorgonians, etc ... I have always been a proponent of feeding our corals and a steady feeding would be the best. When we feed like that the big concern is pollution, it's a fine line. The mini fridge has been done and I believe with success. The ideal pump would be the syringe pump, but they are pricey. The syringe pump is able to slowly inject the food slurry without clogging, maybe as time goes, someone will make them just for our hobby. I see a day when we are able to keep all corals with the proper feeding, we are getting closer. The Non-Photo forum is a great place to start, there is tons of info there.
I have been thinking of tapping into my PVC return line with a syringe pump or another kind of pump.
Keep in mind that when you feed your fish, the fish only use up 15-20% of the foods energy (calorie) so the fish waste then is able to feed your corals, so with that knowledge, by feeding your fish using coral food and not just fish food, will help immensely.
Dan
Last edited:
pompeyjohn
New member
I am experimenting with aquavitro fuel in a kalk stirrer. It has only been a week or so now, but so far so good.
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