Feeders

[itafx]

I've done a fair amount of research on feeders. I've tried the Eheim 3581. I really like the digital mechanism and the ability to get plenty of feedings per day. But it's very poor at portion control. Every feeder i've tried has this problem. With variable sized flakes, it just doesn't do to have a hole or slot that dumps some out when the bin turns over. Does anyone know of a feeder that has good portion control as well as a high number of feedings before you have to refill bins?





Make Model Fdgs Max Fdgs / d Fast? Food Pro& Con Other
Fishmate 207 14 4 N D + Qtz timer
Eheim 3581 Feed-Air + 4+4 ~ "+ Sing or dbl portion w 1 min intvls, integ vent
- No food variety" Sale, Low batt indic
Current AquaChef + 4 Y D
Fishmate F-14 14 4 N - 14 feeding limit On sale
Pentair Lifegard + 4 Y D "+ Bins clean easier than Rondomatic
- Pgming < good than Rondomatic
- No moisture ctrl, No feed variety" "Huge optional hopper Shows indiv bins
AC 2.7W"
Eheim Liquidoser + 8 Y W "+ Precise dosing
+ Optional manual release button;LCD" Fertilizer doser for plants
Grasslin Rondomatic 400 28 5 ? D - Pricey AC power On sale

[TomK2]

Those feeders just don't seem too accurate, do they. When I set them up, I make sure they can not dump a huge amount in. Then I don't worry about them underfeeding. The way I see it, if the feeder quits after a week, my fish will still be fine when I get back at the end of week two. If I am going for just one week, I will skip the feeder or just put in 3 or 4 days worth. I want my feeder to get some food in, but I worry about overfeeding more than underfeeding.

[itafx]

I think over feeding is a big risk with these feeders too. Rondomatic would let you manually control that, but I don't know whether it's other "features" undo that goodness.

[Zagz]

Moved to General Hardware.

[fijiwigi]

Your best bet would probably be getting someone you know to stop by 1 time and feed the fish. I wonder what the better of two evils would be? excessive food creating ammonia and nitrate's or just having some really hungry fish??? hopefully they wouldn't be too agressive to eat each other if you left them to starve.

[itafx]

I'm wanting to figure a way to use feeders on a daily basis even while I'm in town. I know people recommend against that, but my situation is that I'm raising fry in multiple tanks and I want to give them small, frequent feedings. I've found they grow much quicker that way, but if they get too much, you can really fowl the tank. I want them to grow up well without me having to spend all my time on feeding rounds. Another possible solution is to use live food that is in there all the time and they can get what they want when they want, but I haven't made much progress on that idea yet.

[itafx]

Has anybody tried out the new Eheim automatic feeder: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...t=feeders&Np=1

It has 2 dumpers, but somehow the info says "up to 3 feed times in 24 hours" and "up to 9 turns per feed time". I don't know what a "turn" is, or what a "feed time" is and how they relate to 2 dump bins. I don't know if it's slow dump or fast dump. What I didn't like about the Eheim 3581 was that it had it dumped through a window which, with variable sized flakes gave wild fluxuations in the amount of food that came out. Also, In real life I feed small amounts maybe 10 or 15 times in a 15 minute period to maximize food intake for my fry while minimizing tank fouling. I couldn't approach anything near that with the 3581, but conceptually, it would be easy to build a product that would do that.