Automatic Feeder Question

[silver surfer]

I have a brs dosing pump that I will be using for an automatic feeder. My goal is to use the pump for frozen foods so I can feed my purple queens 8 times per day. Ok so here is my question. What are some options for keeping the food cold in the plump line during the day. Thinking of getting a mini fridge to keep the food cold. I will drill the fridge and run my line to the food. But once it leaves the fridge I'm at the mercy of the room ac unit. Any thoughts? I know they make heat strips but do they make cold strips to wrap lines? Just asking.

I will using brine shrimp in a water solution, so the food will past through the line.

 

[gnashty]

Figure out how long it takes to get to room temp outside the line and set that as your feeding schedule. Constantly pushing the higher temp food thru the line.

Is also have a plan to export all of those nutrients. 8 feedings per day is a lot of poo.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[tangaray]

You can wrap the lines in insulation. This should help the food stay reasonably cooler than if the lines were left exposed.

 

[silver surfer]

I have a skimmer rated for 1000+ gallons also have bio-pellet reactor.

The plan is to feed 8x but in small amounts.

 

[jef4y]

One way to do it is to have a constant loop/circle of tank water that is always flowing, NEAR the fridge. Then have the tube of food dump into it, directly at the fridge so the exposure of the cold food to the warm air of the room is very minimal.

 

[silver surfer]

Would food exposed at room temp go bad after 2 hours?

 

[silver surfer]

Maybe put the doser in the fridge and have a short line coming out that dumps right in the tank. If that works I could also do phytoplankton

 

[tangaray]

JeF4y;818113 wrote: One way to do it is to have a constant loop/circle of tank water that is always flowing, NEAR the fridge. Then have the tube of food dump into it, directly at the fridge so the exposure of the cold food to the warm air of the room is very minimal.

Building off of this idea. Add a ball valve controlled T onto your supply line and run the new line to your fridge and then T back into the supply line. You can dose into the new line. Or you can even run the new line through the fridge if you like to cut down on exposure.

 

[jef4y]

I doubt that food will deterioriate significantly in 2 hrs.

 

[tangaray]

However you decide to go I would think that making sure the food stays mixed in the water column and does not settle to the bottom of its holding container would be an issue as well.

 

[jef4y]

Another thing to consider that I missed... BRINE?!? I hope you're feeding something other than brine to your fish. Brine (for a fish) has roughly the nutritional equivalent of popcorn to a human. So unless your fat tangs are looking for that "highschool skinny" body, you may want to look into something a bit better.

 

[silver surfer]

Ok, feed 6 or 8 different types of pellets,multiple types of nori and a mixture of different types of frozen food. My fish have a great diet also including different kinds of vitamins.

I don't just feed brine. This is just in the auto feeder.

 

[sewer urchin]

I think this method of feeding is popular with NPS tanks. Check out this guy's tank.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month">http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month</a>

The feeding section would apply:
[QUOTE=]. The feeding is accomplished by a refrigerated dosing system that was inspired by Steve Weast&#8217;s system which he uses to keep his coldwater tank, as well as Michael Lukaczyn&#8217;s (Aquabacs) system which is described in detail in the non-photosynthetic forum. The main return line from the sump runs through an Avanti thermo-electrically cooled mini-fridge that uses about 60 watts and keeps the temperature in the 38-40 degree range. Inside the fridge are a series of pumps, flasks and magnetic stirrers that dose food directly into the plumbed line from the return. As the food is dosed it is distributed throughout the tank with the rest of the return water flow. This way the food stays refrigerated until it enters the water column. The dosing pumps and stirrers are controlled by a Reefkeeper Lite. [/QUOTE]