Spontaneity

[jacksonpt]

Never a good thing, right? Well, at least this time I kept it to dry goods, specifically another Energy Bar for my Apex and Neptune's autofeeder (along with some other minor, uninteresting stuff).

One of the biggest things I've learned since getting my Apex is how much my system benefits from consistency. So I'm going to give regular feedings a shot, and the only way that's going to happen regularly is with an auto feeder.

I looked at the cheaper Eheim feeder, but liked the flexibility that comes with the ability to program Neptune's AFS through my Apex Jr. Historically, feedings have always led to nutrient and algae issues, so being able to program the AFS for more periodic feedings (i.e. every other day to start) was a big selling point.

Amazon says ETA is tomorrow (saturday), so it should be a fun weekend. And with the weather cooperating, I should have no problem stay indoors to tinker with things.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I bought the AFS but I chickened out. Still sitting on my work bench. Following.

 

[Neoz]

Fun weekend for tinkering. Keep us updated along the way.

 

[erndog1001]

Darn i have one and I need to get rid of it Never really used it much

 

[jacksonpt]

The AFS and the energy bar arrived today as scheduled. I pulled apart all my old apex stuff and got all the wires untangled and laid out. I got the new mounting board cut and test fitted all the Apex gear, my vortech controllers, and a spare outlet box. Everything fit well, including the energy bars. A long as I didn't plug anything into them. *sigh* I'd forgotten what a pain in the butt this could be.

So plan B starts tomorrow... assuming I can figure out what plan B is.

 

[jacksonpt]

This is as far as I got this weekend. Basically, I spent the weekend making a mess.

• Still have to connect the breakout box
• Still have to connect the AFS
• Still have significant wire management to do
• Still have a lot of programming to do

But I did get most of the cords/wires/plugs out from under the stand.

I really wanted to do something like this under the stand, but with the electronics away from the sump... But I just don't have room.

 

[jacksonpt]

On the off chance that anyone is playing along at home...

I've had the AFS setup for testing most of the week and it's been running fine, both as programmed and on-demand as part of a feed cycle. It is definitely the loudest part of my system, but that's probably a good thing, especially early on. I'm pretty sure I can program it to run when the noise is least bothersome, so probably not a big deal in the long run.

So far, it has turned on as it should, rotated once as it should, and turned off as it should. Based on the iffy reviews I had read, I'm glad it's working properly. This weekend I'll put some flake food in it and fuss around with how much gets fed each time. Once I get that set I'll probably set it to run "live" and see how things go.

 

[pascal32]

Enjoy! The FS has been awesome for me - the only downside is the noise and getting it adjusted. Unfortunately here is nothing quiet about it.

I haven't tried flakes - pelletized food work well, I mix small and medium size.

if you know someone with a 3D printer - you can make brackets for the controls for WAY less than they cost from ecotech: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1817257

also looks like someone posted a power supply holder, I'll have to try that out, it was on my list to model one, guess I can check that off: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2169443

 

[jacksonpt]

Fussed around with the AFS most of the weekend. It's, uh, inconsistent with flake food. Yea, "inconsistent" is a good word. But I was eventually able to get it working reasonable well (had to break up the flakes into pretty small pieces, and put a larger amount in the drum than I wanted to).

The downside is that I can't fit it where I want to fit it. I want it on the rim of my sump, just above my return so the flake get pulled into the return line and quickly dispersed throughout the display. Unfortunately my return plumbing is in the way when the drum extends out.

So the fussing continues...

 

[pascal32]

How about mounting on display above mp’s and programming the mp’s to pulse during feeding to pull in the food and spread it?

 

[jacksonpt]

I was able to get things nudged around just enough to get the AFS mounted right above the intake of my return pump. I kicked on the feed cycle and the feeder worked like a charm.

The flake got ground up pretty fine going through my return (as expected)... I'll have to wait and see if that matters in the long run. But within about 20 seconds of the AFS drum completing its revolution, my fish were happily feeding throughout the tank.

I took a couple of vids, but can't seem to get them uploaded... so you'll just have to assume that it was pretty spectacular, lol.

 

[jacksonpt]

In case anyone is still interested, I've been running the AFS with flake food for about 2 weeks. It works, as in it does what it says it will do - extend out, rotate, retract back into place. It just doesn't work super great with flake food due to the nature of flake.

I'm going to try it with the included sample of whatever pellet food came with it, as my fish seem to really like it. The challenge will be getting it to sink so it gets dispersed throughout the tank and is reasonably accessible to all fish.