aninjaatemyshoe
New member
I'm starting this thread for anyone to post their experiences with using syringe pumps to feed their tanks.
The idea behind using a syringe pump for feeding is so that one can provide a constant steady infusion of food to the tank. The theory is that this is better than typical batch feeding, where you basically dump food into the tank a number of times a day. The reason for this is that corals and filter feeders do not eat "meals" as such and instead rely on a more or less constant supply of food in the wild. They typically cannot take in much food at any one time. So what tends to happen with batch feeding is that much of the food is unused and ends up either being filtered out or simply fouling the water. Constant feeding, on the other hand, can avoid much of this waste. In a non-photosynthetic tank, where the cost of food can get quite high, any way to make feeding more efficient can save some serious cash.
I currently am using three syringe pumps to feed my tank. One pump for shellfish diet, one for rotifeast, and one for a mixture of small frozen foods (Nutramar Ova, brine shrimp, cyclops, and some Coral Frenzy mixed in). I house the three syringe pumps in a mini fridge that I have sitting right next to the tank. I drilled holes through the side of the fridge for the tubes from the syringes. The tubing outputs at the end of a couple of Tunzes that I have sitting in the bottom corner of my tank. <I'll post pics later>
So far the syringe pumps have proven to be the most effective means of constant feeding that I've tried. Before, I've tried using a remote pump module from a LM3 and using a medical dosing pump. With both of those, you need to have a fairly dilute solution of food and water to avoid clogging. This means you need to constantly stir the food to keep it in suspension. Even with constant stirring (via an air pump), there would still be issues with clogging and getting the food to go through. In the end, this would really be a messy and inconsistent to deliver food. With a syringe pump, the food does not need to be diluted or stirred and there is little threat of clogging. The only major limitation is the volume you can dose before you need to reload. The pumps I have now can house a 50mL syringe, which is plenty for shellfish diet and rotifeast (which I dose 36mL and 12mL daily respectively). Dosing frozen food has had its limitations and I'm still working out the best method, but it still has proven to be easier to use a syringe pump for this than anything else.
As far as where to buy syringe pumps, I purchased mine off of ebay. The first one I bought was around $250 (Razel model AE-99). The nice thing about this one is that I can select the rate it pumps. The second two I purchased for about $50 for the pair (Razel model A-D). These are single speed, but luckily they operate at just about the speed I want. The nice thing about the Razel syringe pumps is that they have a rather simple design and are really easy to work with. On the single speed pumps, you can change the speed simply by swapping out the motor. Razel sells a number of different single-speed motors for $56 each (www.razelscientific.com). If you browse through their site, you'll notice that their pumps aren't cheap, especially the multi-speed ones. This is pretty much the case with all syringe pumps I've found. Luckily, you can sometimes find a good deal on ebay and lab surplus sites. Aside from ebay I've also found this:
http://www.surpluslab.com/listings.cfm?show=1&catid=1615
Here you can by a lot of 10 single speed Razel syringe pumps (sans motors) for $200. After you order the motors, that's only about $80 per pump. That is a really good price; I've had much difficulty finding ones below $250 individually.
If you wanted to splurge on a nice syringe pump, I would recommend the $275 model from syringepump.com It has a lot of nice features that you'd typically be spending more than $500 for new. If you're going to try using ebay like I did, do research on the pump before you buy it. A lot of the pumps for sale are designed for hospital use and have some very annoying features: such as automatic lockout after 2 hours of use, only being compatible with special syringes, and needing a key to operate (with the seller not providing said key). The best ones are the ones designed for laboratory use and work with just about any normal syringe.
The idea behind using a syringe pump for feeding is so that one can provide a constant steady infusion of food to the tank. The theory is that this is better than typical batch feeding, where you basically dump food into the tank a number of times a day. The reason for this is that corals and filter feeders do not eat "meals" as such and instead rely on a more or less constant supply of food in the wild. They typically cannot take in much food at any one time. So what tends to happen with batch feeding is that much of the food is unused and ends up either being filtered out or simply fouling the water. Constant feeding, on the other hand, can avoid much of this waste. In a non-photosynthetic tank, where the cost of food can get quite high, any way to make feeding more efficient can save some serious cash.
I currently am using three syringe pumps to feed my tank. One pump for shellfish diet, one for rotifeast, and one for a mixture of small frozen foods (Nutramar Ova, brine shrimp, cyclops, and some Coral Frenzy mixed in). I house the three syringe pumps in a mini fridge that I have sitting right next to the tank. I drilled holes through the side of the fridge for the tubes from the syringes. The tubing outputs at the end of a couple of Tunzes that I have sitting in the bottom corner of my tank. <I'll post pics later>
So far the syringe pumps have proven to be the most effective means of constant feeding that I've tried. Before, I've tried using a remote pump module from a LM3 and using a medical dosing pump. With both of those, you need to have a fairly dilute solution of food and water to avoid clogging. This means you need to constantly stir the food to keep it in suspension. Even with constant stirring (via an air pump), there would still be issues with clogging and getting the food to go through. In the end, this would really be a messy and inconsistent to deliver food. With a syringe pump, the food does not need to be diluted or stirred and there is little threat of clogging. The only major limitation is the volume you can dose before you need to reload. The pumps I have now can house a 50mL syringe, which is plenty for shellfish diet and rotifeast (which I dose 36mL and 12mL daily respectively). Dosing frozen food has had its limitations and I'm still working out the best method, but it still has proven to be easier to use a syringe pump for this than anything else.
As far as where to buy syringe pumps, I purchased mine off of ebay. The first one I bought was around $250 (Razel model AE-99). The nice thing about this one is that I can select the rate it pumps. The second two I purchased for about $50 for the pair (Razel model A-D). These are single speed, but luckily they operate at just about the speed I want. The nice thing about the Razel syringe pumps is that they have a rather simple design and are really easy to work with. On the single speed pumps, you can change the speed simply by swapping out the motor. Razel sells a number of different single-speed motors for $56 each (www.razelscientific.com). If you browse through their site, you'll notice that their pumps aren't cheap, especially the multi-speed ones. This is pretty much the case with all syringe pumps I've found. Luckily, you can sometimes find a good deal on ebay and lab surplus sites. Aside from ebay I've also found this:
http://www.surpluslab.com/listings.cfm?show=1&catid=1615
Here you can by a lot of 10 single speed Razel syringe pumps (sans motors) for $200. After you order the motors, that's only about $80 per pump. That is a really good price; I've had much difficulty finding ones below $250 individually.
If you wanted to splurge on a nice syringe pump, I would recommend the $275 model from syringepump.com It has a lot of nice features that you'd typically be spending more than $500 for new. If you're going to try using ebay like I did, do research on the pump before you buy it. A lot of the pumps for sale are designed for hospital use and have some very annoying features: such as automatic lockout after 2 hours of use, only being compatible with special syringes, and needing a key to operate (with the seller not providing said key). The best ones are the ones designed for laboratory use and work with just about any normal syringe.
