Duna_
New member
Hi everyone, 
I would like to share with you the little idea I've had, an inexpensive feeding ring, with no glue, and which works perfectly as a floating dock.
First excuse me if my English is not perfect, I'll try my best to explain and find the right words.
The problem I had is that I usually fed pellets and flakes, and as I have a great surface flow, the food quickly disappeared into my overflow, and so, was wasted.
Also, my fish preferred to pick the flakes in mid water, not from the surface (though some of them did), and so, the food went quickly out of their reach. I didn't want to turn off the pump every time I fed them, so the obvious solution was a feeding ring.
I looked for a brand name, but it was overpriced, and connected to a strip, which worked more like a buoy, and I didn't want that because I intended to use also an automatic feeder, and that ring could easily move out of the feeding area below.
So I put the brain to work, and got these little unexpensive things:
- For the ring, we can use the top of a plastic cup, in this case it is a 1l giant yoghourt cup. There are some similar for dogs' biscuits, but you can use whatever you like, as long as the top has a chance to float. Cut it leaving half inch or so below.
- A 1 ml plastic syringe, from which we'll use the plunger.
- A plastic zip/cable tie.
- A suction cup, the typical Eheim suction cup fits perfectly.
You make two holes in the suction cup (with a hot soldering iron, i.e.), to fit tightly the plunger, so it doesn't move.
Then you make a large hole or two holes and pass the cable tie, and fix it so that it moves comfortably through the plunger, but does not get out of it, because it's stopped by the round, flat end of the plunger.
You pass the plunger through the ring, and then into the suction cup, and as you can see, the feeding ring can move up and down perfectly, like a floating dock, and from side to side, but doesn't come off.
All materials are reef safe, and every part is easily removable for cleaning. I have two rings, and when one gets dirty, I put the other new and soak the dirty one in tap water with a little bleach.
This is how it looks in the tank. I have bought an automatic feeder (Grasslin Rondomatic 400) that can serve just the food dose you want. But obviously you can use the ring without the automatic feeder, just throw the food you want inside, and wait:
So I've solved all the problems I had before: now the food doesn't go down through the overflow, no food is wasted, and you can throw in the ring a great quantity of flakes and see how it doses slowly for several minutes. Thanks to the movement of the pumps the moistened flakes and pellets get fast in mid water, calling the attention of the fish, which just run behind them, more quickly than before. Every piece of flake is eaten, and you just enjoy watching them for a while.
In fact, some fish are even smarter, and serve directly under the ring: the filefish, the starry and the white blenny.
It's cheap, easy and works very well. It can move from side to side, up and down and still be in the right place when you need it. You can change the suction cup when needed and replace any part.
Hope it can help someone with the same problems I had. :thumbsup:
I would like to share with you the little idea I've had, an inexpensive feeding ring, with no glue, and which works perfectly as a floating dock.
First excuse me if my English is not perfect, I'll try my best to explain and find the right words.
The problem I had is that I usually fed pellets and flakes, and as I have a great surface flow, the food quickly disappeared into my overflow, and so, was wasted.
Also, my fish preferred to pick the flakes in mid water, not from the surface (though some of them did), and so, the food went quickly out of their reach. I didn't want to turn off the pump every time I fed them, so the obvious solution was a feeding ring.
I looked for a brand name, but it was overpriced, and connected to a strip, which worked more like a buoy, and I didn't want that because I intended to use also an automatic feeder, and that ring could easily move out of the feeding area below.
So I put the brain to work, and got these little unexpensive things:
- For the ring, we can use the top of a plastic cup, in this case it is a 1l giant yoghourt cup. There are some similar for dogs' biscuits, but you can use whatever you like, as long as the top has a chance to float. Cut it leaving half inch or so below.
- A 1 ml plastic syringe, from which we'll use the plunger.
- A plastic zip/cable tie.
- A suction cup, the typical Eheim suction cup fits perfectly.
You make two holes in the suction cup (with a hot soldering iron, i.e.), to fit tightly the plunger, so it doesn't move.
Then you make a large hole or two holes and pass the cable tie, and fix it so that it moves comfortably through the plunger, but does not get out of it, because it's stopped by the round, flat end of the plunger.
You pass the plunger through the ring, and then into the suction cup, and as you can see, the feeding ring can move up and down perfectly, like a floating dock, and from side to side, but doesn't come off.
All materials are reef safe, and every part is easily removable for cleaning. I have two rings, and when one gets dirty, I put the other new and soak the dirty one in tap water with a little bleach.
This is how it looks in the tank. I have bought an automatic feeder (Grasslin Rondomatic 400) that can serve just the food dose you want. But obviously you can use the ring without the automatic feeder, just throw the food you want inside, and wait:
So I've solved all the problems I had before: now the food doesn't go down through the overflow, no food is wasted, and you can throw in the ring a great quantity of flakes and see how it doses slowly for several minutes. Thanks to the movement of the pumps the moistened flakes and pellets get fast in mid water, calling the attention of the fish, which just run behind them, more quickly than before. Every piece of flake is eaten, and you just enjoy watching them for a while.
In fact, some fish are even smarter, and serve directly under the ring: the filefish, the starry and the white blenny.
It's cheap, easy and works very well. It can move from side to side, up and down and still be in the right place when you need it. You can change the suction cup when needed and replace any part.
Hope it can help someone with the same problems I had. :thumbsup:
