Automatic dosing of phyto or zooplankton or suspension foods...

[troiusmaximus]

I really wanted to get some anthias but I definitely don't have a schedule that allows me to feed them 3-4 times a day. Plus eventually I do have vacations. I guess my other fish would appreciate getting fed more often too.

I don't like the option of an auto-feeder sitting over my tank blocking light to my corals or having a gap for my jumping fish to go carpet surfing.

So here is my idea...I have a jaebo DP-4 dosing pump. I'd like to use Brightwell Aquatics Zooplanktos-M and possibly one of the Reef Nutrition foods in suspension sitting in a single bottle wine cooler to keep it cold. In order to avoid having the line full of food that would break down or potentially spoil, I would hook up the pumps that feed the food in series with my pump that is used for auto top-off. So I would suck up the food only enough to draw it into the line and my auto top off would trigger shortly after that to flush the food from the line into my tank.

Wondering if this would work. Any issues to consider? How should I plumb this to make sure things don't get clogged?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

This will work beautifully with our product(s). I do this same thing with my copepod culture. Make sure that the feed lines get purged appropriately to avoid spoilage. Our R.O.E. (fish eggs) would be the best for the anthias, as well as other fish and inverts. Use the most narrow diameter, flexible tubing you can find and use a rigid air line section to put into the bottle itself. Make sure that the dose enters the tank in an area of high flow so that the eggs, or whatever else you decide to feed, gets dispersed properly throughout the tank.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Following...

 

[troiusmaximus]

Had to go with the low tech solution of getting a tank sitter for this go around, but when I get some spare cash maybe I will set this up. God willing.

 

[Brett S]

I just got some anthias and I'm playing around with ideas to automate their feeding. Two days ago I added a Neptune AFS auto feeder with BRS reef chili powder to my sump. The auto feeder is positioned over the baffles before my return chamber and when it triggers it dumps the dry powder into the high current area of the baffles, which pulls it down into the water column very quickly where it is pumped up to the DT by the return pumps. About 10 to 15 seconds after the auto feeder triggers I can see my anthias and other small fish darting around and feeding.

Right now I have the auto feeder set to trigger every 4 hours around the clock. It is set on the second lowest setting and dumps slightly more than one spoonful (of the dosing spoon that came with the reef chili). I also have my apex configured to turn off the skimmer for 30 minutes after each feeding in the hopes that the fish and corals can consume most of the food before the skimmer restarts and pulls it out of the water column.

Like I said, I'm feeding 24 hours a day, which allows for two feedings after lights out... one at midnight and one at 4AM. I don't think the anthias will feed at night, but I believe that some corals feed at night and I'm hoping that they will get some benefit from this as well.

I've only had this set up for 2 days, so I can't speak for long term success, but so far I'm very happy with it, and it's considerably cheaper and less complicated than a dosing pump/refrigerator solution.

 

[Epicreefster]

I have an auto feeder setup just how you have yours, positioned over the baffles just before the return pump. Mine is only set for one feeding a day but because I travel about one week a month I need an auto feeder. My lighting hood is very compact so there is no place for feeder up top. Right now it's a lifeguard feeder but the same design as an apex feeder, minus the apex interface. It's been working for a year no problem.

I'm going to be building a mini fridge feeder from a cheap mini fridge and peristaltic pump off amazon to feed oyster feast as well. Maybe on my next big tank I'll use this setup for anthias as well.

 

[AlexG]

I am thinking of a similar automatic phytoplankton and zooplankton feeder for my system. I want mine to function as a drip system though using the main system water to supply it. I know contamination is an issue that needs to be addressed. I am thinking that water is drawn through a pump with mechanical filtration and slowly run through a UV sterilizer to make sure it kills everything then dripping into the phytoplankton culture which then drips into the main system and a zooplankton culture. I have seen a reactor like this before but I am not sure if it was fed using system water of fresh saltwater but I am interested to see if it would function.

 

[reefwiser]

You might want to look at this. The GHL doser will run in reverse and clean your line out so you don't get spoiled food in your line.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

You might want to look at this. The GHL doser will run in reverse and clean your line out so you don't get spoiled food in your line.

This is great. I am using the same chiller to feed out algae to my copepods. I love it.

 

[troiusmaximus]

For those of us with no Neptune controller or DOS pumping system or even the cash to shell out for a GHL doser , I was wondering if a regular two or four pump doser like a Jaebo could approximate the function of reverse pumping by using one pump (1) to extract food from the container and a second pump (2) to pump water from the display. I would have a junction close to the output of the feeding tube so that the suction of water from the tank would back flush food back into the container. I could have a sealed lid on my food container so it wouldn't fill beyond capacity. The output of (2) might go into the sump?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I just got some anthias and I'm playing around with ideas to automate their feeding. Two days ago I added a Neptune AFS auto feeder with BRS reef chili powder to my sump. The auto feeder is positioned over the baffles before my return chamber and when it triggers it dumps the dry powder into the high current area of the baffles, which pulls it down into the water column very quickly where it is pumped up to the DT by the return pumps. About 10 to 15 seconds after the auto feeder triggers I can see my anthias and other small fish darting around and feeding.

Right now I have the auto feeder set to trigger every 4 hours around the clock. It is set on the second lowest setting and dumps slightly more than one spoonful (of the dosing spoon that came with the reef chili). I also have my apex configured to turn off the skimmer for 30 minutes after each feeding in the hopes that the fish and corals can consume most of the food before the skimmer restarts and pulls it out of the water column.

Like I said, I'm feeding 24 hours a day, which allows for two feedings after lights out... one at midnight and one at 4AM. I don't think the anthias will feed at night, but I believe that some corals feed at night and I'm hoping that they will get some benefit from this as well.

I've only had this set up for 2 days, so I can't speak for long term success, but so far I'm very happy with it, and it's considerably cheaper and less complicated than a dosing pump/refrigerator solution.

Cool idea! How fast do you go through food at that rate?

 

[Skydvr]

would have a junction close to the output of the feeding tube so that the suction of water from the tank would back flush food back into the container. I could have a sealed lid on my food container so it wouldn't fill beyond capacity.

I see a couple of issues with this, the first being spoilage due to bacteria and heat. Bacteria from the tank water will contaminate the food, the heat from the tank water will speed up the process in addition to what is already in the food (the reason for keeping it cold). If the cap doesn't hold up to the pressure, you will have a (hopefully) small flood on your hands. You will also be continuously dosing less and less food every feeding as the container will be diluted with each backflush.

The concept of using a multi pump device could work with a couple of check valves and a y-fitting, although I would backflush with RO-DI.
I've had two ideas for this kicking around in my head for a bit, but no pump yet, so I can't check which would be the more ideal solution. The first setup would allow the pump to sit outside of the refrigerator, but requires somewhat precice timing of both pumps. Setup 2 would require the pumpheads to be in the refrigerated location to prevent food spoilage in the line, but may be the more ideal setup due to how the device operates. It would also require some high quality checkvalves as I'm sure the standard plastic airline ones wouldn't hold up for long.

Setup 1
Food container -> checkvalve directly to y-fitting -> pump 1 -> tank
RO-DI container -> pump 2 -> checkvalve directly to remaining port on y-fitting.
Pump 1 runs long enough to pump desired quantity of food plus purge cycle, pump 2 kicks on after pump 1 has run long enough to add desired quantity of food, both shut down simultaniously or pump 2 shuts down .5-1 second after pump 1 to ensure no food gets drawn into the line, but this would slightly pressurize the line. The y-fitting would sit in the refrigerator, so no food is unrefrigerated. If the pump lacks fine control for start/stop times or if the pump heads are driven at drastically different rates, there could be issues. I also don't know how they behave with one pump feeding another.


Setup 2
Food container -> pump 1 -> checkvalve directly to y-fitting -> tank
RO-DI container -> pump 2 -> checkvalve directly to remaining port on y-fitting
Pump 1 runs long enough to deliver desired amount ot food. Pump 2 then runs long enough to flush line.
With this setup, food sits in the pump head, so you either deal with some spoilage (unless it runs frequently enough to not really be a concern), or you need to locate the pump heads/motors inside the fridge.

 

[leahfiish]

Skip to about 13:35 and there's 2 great ideas for how to dose refrigerated foods.

 

[reefwiser]

For those of us with no Neptune controller or DOS pumping system or even the cash to shell out for a GHL doser , I was wondering if a regular two or four pump doser like a Jaebo could approximate the function of reverse pumping by using one pump (1) to extract food from the container and a second pump (2) to pump water from the display. I would have a junction close to the output of the feeding tube so that the suction of water from the tank would back flush food back into the container. I could have a sealed lid on my food container so it wouldn't fill beyond capacity. The output of (2) might go into the sump?

GHL and Neptune dosers use use stepper motors instead of plain dc motors. The stepper more allows you to reverse the direction of the pump. By reversing the direction of the pump you are clearing the line of food so as to not spoil the food in the line. A standard Jaebo doesn't work this way. The point is clearing the dosing pumps line of food not to pump tank water into the container.

 

[Skydvr]

Skip to about 13:35 and there's 2 great ideas for how to dose refrigerated foods.

And miss all the NPS talk and photos?!!

I hadn't comsidered the option of running part of the return through the fridge and pumping the food directly into the return line. I'd consider sealing the fridge walls better around the pipe, although that could pose some noise transfer issues if not done properly. I'd probably also use some pipe wrap to reduce the heat transfer.

I'm planning on setting up a NPS tank after I move, so I may end up implementing this. Although I am planning on mostly dosing live foods.