Extended time experience with Ehiem Auto Feeder?

[camellia]

I've set the Ehiem AF within seconds of my Apex clock and have it feeding pellets once a day. It appears that the time gets out of whack by up to a minute after a few days.

Has anyone used this method of feeding for several weeks at a time with the clocks matching up correctly? If not, how much does it appear to differ within a week?

I'm deferring the feeder by 3 minutes currently and I'm sure that will work fine. It's not like I'll be at the Great Barrier Reef for months but may look at purchasing the Apex AF if this is a common problem!

Thanks

 

[jennm]

Are the batteries in the feeder fresh?

I'm not sure that the feeder's clock is intended to be precise to the second. In most applications a variance of a few minutes won't matter.

Do you have the Apex set to cut off powerheads or something during feeding? Or else why would it matter about it being a couple of minutes off?

I've had people use those feeders all the time (not home/they forget to feed fish so the feeder is a babysitter)... no issues.

Jenn

 

[camellia]

Yes exactly!
Yes, fresh bats.

I've got Apex cutting off power on the return pump, skimmer, MP's and slowing other power heads. 3 minutes afterwards (just to be sure) Ehiem makes 3 spins ((3 x a day).
Ten minutes later MP's cut back on, 5 more minutes the return cuts back on, 3 minutes after that the skimmer cuts back on...
It's working ok, I'll just check the minutes (it's off) next week making sure I don't need to reprogram.
Love my Apex

 

[axio]

The Ehiem AF is our go to feeder for most our service accounts. For it's intended use it works great. I do agree with Jen though... You won't get exact precise timing out of a battery power feeder. If you want true sync with your pumps and apex the Apex AF is probably best for that situation. I haven't used the Apex feeders personally but some of my technicians have said they can be a bit noisy when they kick on... but a little bit of noise during just feeding shouldn't be too bad. The Ehiem "Twin" feeder is a little bit more accurate but I don't think it will keep sync long term with an apex.

Jakub