Automatic Continuous Feeder - DIY

[SantaMonica]

I went 5 weeks once and the bad food killed two fish. They would primarily eat from the tube. But I left the top of the cooler open to the air too.

The exposed tubing is probably not as bad if you use a higher flow, which you will if you water down the food. But if you do the all-in-the-fridge type, it will all be cold. I've seen micro-fridges on ebay.

[Leon1972]

Do you think with the mini fridge if I kept the temp just above freezing it will last four weeks?

[SantaMonica]

Yes

[Leon1972]

Am I being overly paranoid about my food leftover in the tube going bad if there is only one feeding a day?

[SantaMonica]

Actually more feedings are better, because it sits in the tube less time. Best would be a continuous flow.

[Leon1972]

There are two reasons I do not want to do the hourly feedings .
One I am starting with only two fish so that seems quite frequent to me.
But the main reason is since I have an all in one system and my wife doesnt want all kind of extras hanging about (Hence the all in one) then I cannot do what you did with the algae scrubber so I will only have the natural means of filtration. Just talking as I think with this one but what about a ball of chaeto in the sump? Would that be a good enough replacement to the algae scrubber for hourly feedings?

[SantaMonica]

Not sure what you mean. An upflow will fit right in.

[Leon1972]

Not sure what you mean. An upflow will fit right in.

Yeah I actually literally just noticed they make em for tanks now. when i was previously in the hobby they were diy. can u recomend one for a sump?

[SantaMonica]

If you mean to buy, they are at santa-monica.cc

[SantaMonica]

[Does the auto feeder work for both fish and corals? Me getting a new tank hinges on me finding an auto feeder for when on vacation. When using this auto feeder what mix did you feed everything with? I will be feeding a large variety of fish and coral eventually. Instead of the bag I am envisioning just putting a bottle of the food in the chiller and putting the tubing in the bottle while mixing in some shrimp or whatever I need to feed.

I stopped using the bag in the chiller, and just poured the food in the metal compartment after sealing it with silicone.

The size fish you can feed will be based on how big of food particle you can get through the food pump.