My "Elliot Automatic Frozen Fish Food Feeder"
- Thread starter dotcommer
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dotcommer
Active member
It is controlled via my APEX controller to turn on for 45 minutes twice a day. 45 minutes is the time it take to move from one tube over the dispensing hole to the next tube over the dispensing hole. Then the blow dryer turns on for 60 seconds to make sure the cube drops down into the main tube.
Thanx. That makes sense now.
So, I've been building one of these, and am now struggling to get it plumbed into my system (I should have probably thought this through). I may have to run the output through two pumps to get it back to my main system (up a floor, sump is in the basement). Just wondering - how chewed up is the food when it hits your main tank? If you could share some details on your return pump, I'd really appreciate it.
dotcommer
Active member
Same as Elliot, I am not noticing and mangling of food.
I am going through my 1 return pump which is a PanWorld 150ps. The one thing I noticed is that with the panworld pump it is 1100 Gallons per hour, and I have it running approx 15 feet of pipe, going partially through my UV (which is off during any feeding times) and coming out on each side of my tank and the food comes out slowly over several minutes. It is usually eaten up by my smaller fish which hang out next the return lines. So most of my larger fish aren't noticing it too much. But then again, I am not usually around when the feeder goes off so maybe the larger fish are waiting around as well.
I still feed my large fish Nori and Frozen once or twice a day on top of the auto feeder which runs twice a day and dispenses two cubes each time.
I have a lot of fish in my tank that love to eat and are very fat, so I feed them extra.
I love the system and it has been working great after I worked through a few issues.
I am going through my 1 return pump which is a PanWorld 150ps. The one thing I noticed is that with the panworld pump it is 1100 Gallons per hour, and I have it running approx 15 feet of pipe, going partially through my UV (which is off during any feeding times) and coming out on each side of my tank and the food comes out slowly over several minutes. It is usually eaten up by my smaller fish which hang out next the return lines. So most of my larger fish aren't noticing it too much. But then again, I am not usually around when the feeder goes off so maybe the larger fish are waiting around as well.
I still feed my large fish Nori and Frozen once or twice a day on top of the auto feeder which runs twice a day and dispenses two cubes each time.
I have a lot of fish in my tank that love to eat and are very fat, so I feed them extra.
I love the system and it has been working great after I worked through a few issues.
dotcommer
Active member
Yes, it is plexiglass. it's drilled. I ran into an issue when doing the garbage can tops like Elliotts. Come to find out it was my blow dryer that was too powerful. The tops were getting warped and causing it to not work consistently. When I spoke with Elliot , I found out that his blow dryer was only 900 Watts, The blow dryer I was using was approximately 1700 Watts. If was difficult finding a 900 W blow dryer, I found one finally on the Internet.
standard pool timer: http://www.lowes.com/pd_609710-251-T104M_0__?k_clickID=b2353e85-268c-4ee9-a40d-7bc1290b1b8d&store_code=792&productId=50277945&selectedLocalStoreBeanArray=%5Bcom.lowes.commerce.storelocator.beans.LocatorStoreBean%402d802d8%5D&storeNumber=0792&kpid=50277945&kpid=50277945&cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-RoughPlumbingElectrical-_-TimersAndSurgeProtectors-_-50277945%3AIntermatic&CAWELAID=&CAWELAID=320011480004234270
grey Brut trash can lids for material: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-Commercial-Products-BRUTE-20-Gal-Gray-Round-Trash-Can-Lid-FG261960GRAY/204656686?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CBase&gclid=COn41Per5scCFUeBfgodUFwBmw&gclsrc=aw.ds
things I would do differently:
1. install the bottom T (sump) on valved true unions on each side, for easy removal and cleaning
2. although 4" T and pipe is sufficient I'd possibly go 5 or 6" if I had room for a little more dwell time and pooling
other than that it's been very reliable
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
Thanks for the reply Elliot, I really appreciate it and the links.
So, two brute trash can lids.
Outer ring is cut off, and bottom one is fixed, (non rotating) to the pool timer body/frame/enclosure with a single hole cut out at 9 oclock, (assuming the back of the refrigerator is 12 oclock).
Second lid is mounted to the timer face and rotates with it. Holes are cut through it at regular intervals with PVC pipe sections mounted above the holes. Frozen food goes into the PVC sections, and when the holes in the bottom of the PVC sections line up with the single hole in the bottom lid, the frozen food drops down to the "sump" section of the refrigerator.
A low wattage hair drier kicks on for a minute or so to ensure the frozen food doesnt get hung up in the "downspout/standpipe" between the freezer and the sump in the refrigerator.
Is the sump plumbed directly into your return line or do you have a separate pump running that?
I've been trying to figure out a way to reliably feed frozen food at least once per day when I'm not home. And every way I've come up with seems to be close in cost to what this will end up being , (assuming I buy the refrigerator/freezer from Craigslist locally and save money).
I'm very much considering trying to make one of these.
Thank you.
yes, that's an accurate summary, but it's around 7 o'clock position on mine (towards the front where I can see it), not 9
the fridge is plumbed between your sump and the return pump, so it flows passively through the fridge then to the return pump, which goes back to the display
make sure the holes for the feeding stations are equal distance from each other, otherwise the timed rotations will not remain in proper sequence
also make sure that the diameter of the holes are the same as the internal diameter of the PVC pipe used for the feeding stations
good luck!
ShaunMonahan
Clam nut
That's SO very cool!!!
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
Thank you for the heads up on the plumbing from the sump, to the return pump.
This now complicates things for me, since my sump is not drilled.
Is it possible to run this on it's own pump?
IE, siphon from display to the sump in the fridge, and to a pump which returns to the tank? Or will there be a pressure problem, (overflowing and flooding)?
Yes you can, however I would plumb as follows:
Overflow (not siphon) from display tank to a separate sump (big enough to hold run off in the event of a power failure), then to fridge sump, then to return pump and back to display tank
Make sure the height of the fridge sump (T riser) is TALLER than the height of the separate sump, so the separate sump will overflow before the fridge sump
I would also raise the bottom of the separate sump around 3-4", relative to the fridge sump, which will in essence raise the pooling water level in the fridge sump
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
Elliot,
Because of my system set up and it's location, I'm somewhat limited in employing your DIY frozen fish food feeder/Franken-Feeder.
So I've opted to modify it somewhat to fit my needs and limitations.
The Food Magazine in the freezer will stay the same, as well as the down spout to the refrigerator below. However, it will differ some after that.
Rather than drilling through the side of the fridge and my sump to build the "Fridge Sump", I'm going to be using a Cole Parmer peristaltic pump to pull food from a container in refrigerator.
The magazine will drop the food from the freezer, down the down spout to the container below. The container is fed by another smaller peristaltic pump a few minutes before the magazine drops the food. The food is allowed to thaw for several minutes, and then gravity pulls it to the bottom of the container.
When the Cole Parmer pump kicks on, it will pull from the bottom first, thereby sucking out all of the food, and following with the rest of the tank water remaining in the container. This allows the tubing to be "flushed" with tank water to prevent food from spoiling in the tubing.
At least, that's the plan assuming Murphy cooperates with me. We'll see how it all works out in time. This way has more moving parts, (more potential points for failure), but it does allow me to feed frozen food to my fish while I'm gone without completely redesigning my sump. I'm not saving much money going about it this way either, since I just spent about $250 plus shipping on a used CP pump, head, and tubing. But doing it like yours would require a new sump which after plumbing, drilling etc would cost about $350 or more depending on how crazy I decided to go.
Thanks again Elliot and dotcommer for posting your information and suggestions in this thread.
Because of my system set up and it's location, I'm somewhat limited in employing your DIY frozen fish food feeder/Franken-Feeder.
So I've opted to modify it somewhat to fit my needs and limitations.
The Food Magazine in the freezer will stay the same, as well as the down spout to the refrigerator below. However, it will differ some after that.
Rather than drilling through the side of the fridge and my sump to build the "Fridge Sump", I'm going to be using a Cole Parmer peristaltic pump to pull food from a container in refrigerator.
The magazine will drop the food from the freezer, down the down spout to the container below. The container is fed by another smaller peristaltic pump a few minutes before the magazine drops the food. The food is allowed to thaw for several minutes, and then gravity pulls it to the bottom of the container.
When the Cole Parmer pump kicks on, it will pull from the bottom first, thereby sucking out all of the food, and following with the rest of the tank water remaining in the container. This allows the tubing to be "flushed" with tank water to prevent food from spoiling in the tubing.
At least, that's the plan assuming Murphy cooperates with me. We'll see how it all works out in time. This way has more moving parts, (more potential points for failure), but it does allow me to feed frozen food to my fish while I'm gone without completely redesigning my sump. I'm not saving much money going about it this way either, since I just spent about $250 plus shipping on a used CP pump, head, and tubing. But doing it like yours would require a new sump which after plumbing, drilling etc would cost about $350 or more depending on how crazy I decided to go.
Thanks again Elliot and dotcommer for posting your information and suggestions in this thread.
sounds good, let us know how it works out :thumbsup:
will you be pumping tank water to the mixing container in the fridge? it must be warm enough and somewhat agitated to dissolve the frozen food
because the sump method has continuous water flow it remains warm and turbulent enough to dissolve the frozen food
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
Yes, that's the plan.
Obviously it will require some fine tuning as to the timing involved, but I dont think it will too tough to get tank water pumped into the container in such a way as to melt the food so it can be pumped into the tank.
I do see the way your design is more effecient at mixing and delivering the food, but doing that would require alot more retro fitting in my case.
Of course, this may fail horribly and I may end up going your way...
We'll see!
Obviously it will require some fine tuning as to the timing involved, but I dont think it will too tough to get tank water pumped into the container in such a way as to melt the food so it can be pumped into the tank.
I do see the way your design is more effecient at mixing and delivering the food, but doing that would require alot more retro fitting in my case.
Of course, this may fail horribly and I may end up going your way...
We'll see!
Thanks for sharing.
I am trying to do the same with my altum tank.
I got a pool timer from amazon, but it did not come with any cord.
So, where do you get the power cord?
Another question is: did you use the box coming with the timer and just bending the edge to firm the bottom round table?
Thanks.
I am trying to do the same with my altum tank.
I got a pool timer from amazon, but it did not come with any cord.
So, where do you get the power cord?
Another question is: did you use the box coming with the timer and just bending the edge to firm the bottom round table?
Thanks.
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