"Automatic" Frozen Food Feeder

[FishDad2]

It's probably not original but my idea it put some RODI water in a bottle with some previously frozen food mixed into the water and then freeze the bottle. An old soda bottle with a plastic cap would do nicely.

Then, suspended the bottle above the water in some way with the cap removed or with a hole drilled in the cap. As the ice melts the food is released into the tank...and the water makes up for evaporation.

Just wondering what people think of the idea and looking for ideas as to how best to suspend the bottle...a solution that suspends it securely while also allowing you to easily swap an old bottle for a new one.

Thoughts?

 

[skunkmere]

i have seen some people use a wine bottle chiller and make a bag of frozen food to dose from with a persitaltic doser. kinda of a lot of work. i think feeding the tank is the fun part

 

[FishDad2]

Yeah...that's why I want to keep it simple...just freeze some food in a bottle and let melt into the tank slowly.

This wouldn't replace nightly feeding but instead would reduce how much I feed at night and spread the feeding out over the course of the day. Some fish, Anthias for example, really should be fed several times per day and I don't have time for that.

 

[thor109]

It would be hard to keep the food suspended while freezing, all the food would settle.

 

[FishDad2]

That's my concern as well but if the bottle were laid on its side when it goes into the freezer the food would settle across the length of the bottle. Some experimentation and observation would be needed.

Regardless, the method should still provide a relatively slow release of food and would represent an additional feeding.

I'm still pondering the specifics.

 

[00Warpig00]

It would be hard to keep the food suspended while freezing, all the food would settle.

That was my first thought.... Like the concept though.

Nick

 

[FishDad2]

I'm going to give this a try...any thoughts on an easy way to suspend the bottle over the water? Something that's easy to swap out bottles.

 

[FishDad2]

Here's an idea...

A bottle cozy with a zipper could be used to hold the bottle. Run some string or fishing line through the bottom of the cozy and suspend it upside down from the inside of the canopy.

SHAZAM...time delayed feeding of frozen food from a suspended water bottle The more water you freeze in the bottle the longer the delay will be before the majority of the food is released.

And to address the issue of all the food settling to the bottom one possible workaround might be to freeze a layer of water in the bottom of the bottle before adding the water/food mix, which would then freeze above that already frozen layer. This way when the food settles there will still be a layer of ice between the food and the bottom of the bottle.

A cozy is cheap so no biggie if it has to be replaced periodically and the setup should allow for relatively easy swapping out of the bottles. And the bottles themselves can be rinsed out or replaced/recycled after each use...we generate plenty of empty water bottles in my house.

Sounds like a low cost experiment in the making...about the only thing I don't have on hand is the zippered cozy, but we have several liquor stores nearby so that shouldn't present a challenge.

Hhhhhmmm...I think I might be on to something.

Thoughts...suggestions?

 

[garbled]

My current line of thought is a screw apparatus, like on those vending machines. inside the screws, you place frozen cubes. Use some kind of very slow motor or stepper motor to turn the screw. Put the whole thing inside a piece of aluminum square tube, and cover the outside of the aluminum with peltier coolers. In theory, with thick enough aluminum, and maybe some kind of flapper door on the end to keep it semi-closed, you could keep the cubes frozen.

 

[Chrisrush]

Definitely interested in this as well. I'd like to suspend it above my return pump instead of a canopy (since I don't have a canopy). I have some anthias that I'd like to keep alive and feeding all at once per day is tough.

 

[garbled]

I currently feed my anthias via a normal autofeeder suspended above a surge tank. It's actually effective. If you float flake food on the surface, or pour it in, the anthias will ignore it. But if you blast it into the water stream so it is flying around the tank rapidly, regardless of what it is, they will eat it. I think the chase is more of a key to them than the content. A side benefit of this, is that all the fish stay out more, because they check out the surge device every time it goes off, which is every 3 minutes.

 

[saltysailor2329]

I'm liking this thread and where it is going as I'm trying to figure a way to feed frozen throughout the day. What if you used a bike bottle holder to suspend the bottle...should be easy change out as well.

 

[FishDad2]

I was thinking about the return pump too but I have a strainer on it and undoubtedly food would catch in it over time. Not sure I want the food churning through the pump either and mucking up the insides over time. But if it's the only/best place to hang something like this then it might be worth the extra maintenance on the pump.

 

[garbled]

I might just mailorder a few peltier coolers this week, and maybe hookup some monster heatsinks to them, and see what kind of cooling effect I can get on a tiny area. I'm thinking hold 5-7 cubes.

My other idea, was one of those tiny mini-fridges (holds 1-2 cans of coke) with a bottle full of water/frozen food. Use an air pump or something to keep the food moving, and drill a hole right out the side of the thing to allow you to feed via an aqualifter. In theory if you can keep the food at 40 or so, it should last awhile. This is similar to the frozen bottle idea actually. I would actually use an aqualifter as the air pump, so you could draw cool air from inside the fridge for the water motion, to avoid fighting the fridge.

 

[skunkmere]

What if you have a frozen bottle and insulate it with one of those beer can foam things to keep it from thawing to quickly. it would dose slower.

 

[FishDad2]

Yes, that's my idea above...the "bottle cozy".

 

[skunkmere]

Time to try it out. keep us posted.

 

[fengxzhang]

These ideas are great! I would like to see pictures of it when you are done or even in the experimental stages. I would def feed my fish for a day, may be two while I'm on vacation. =)

 

[bad inferno]

Really like the idea... For smaller tanks what about using test tubes. You could freeze them on their side so the food is at least distributed down the length. Also a test tube maybe easy to clip into a mount. if the tube was below the water line the food might not get sucked into the wier, although also may not come out of the tube as it would probably create a vacuum. The thawed food may just float down & out of the tube ?

 

[FishDad2]

Once I get to the implementation stage I will be sure to post pics. It wasn't going to be for a while as I have a few other priorities to attend to in the tank but it may be sooner than I planned as I've been volunteered to help Jamie Dimon recover a tiny portion of the $2B he lost by giving up my pay checks. Looks like I'll soon have some extra time to work on the tank...lol

As for test tubes, that might be a good vessel for a nano tank. I'd be a bit concerned with rapid melt though given the lack of volume but it could work. I think you'd want to put some sort of insulation around it to keep the contents frozen as long as possible.

As for putting the mouth of the test tube under water I think that could be problematic in that the water will transfer considerable heat to the glass and increase the rate of melt. I'm just speculating here but I again think that the small volume of the test tube would be prone to rapid melting and so you'll want to avoid a setup that increases the rate of melt.

Another thought along the lines of a test tube which might help depending on the needs your setup is to use PVC pipe to create a test tube like vessel. PVC comes in all different sizes so creating something long and narrow, like a test tube, would be easy and likewise if you'd be better off with something short and wide that would work too. As well, PVC will provide better insulation than a glass test tube and therein keep the mix frozen longer.