Continuous feeding NPS filter feeders

[vmvm60]

Have you checked the GeoSapper?
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...nftt/index.php

[MarcoBO]

Hi

Just wanted to show you my automated device to feed artemia naupliae to my azoo tank. I wanted to have a setup that can be cleaned within 3 minutes each day. Reason behind that was, that if there is not very regular cleaning and desinfection, bacteria will start to develop and degrade the quality of the food and furthermore may harm the animals in the tank.
The device is pretty easy and is built of:
- one plastic bottle 0.75l bottom cut off
- one magnetic valve (plastic) with at least 4mm diameter and closed without power
- one timer with minimum on/off of 1 second
- an air pump
- some fittings and tube

For details see picture

The brine shrimps are hatched in a seperate location and after removing the shells filled daily with aprox. 300ml live phytoplankton into the device. The content is enough for 24h and is applied every our managed by the timer to the DT. The device is placed over the DT and the outlet is directed to my MP10. The bubbler is very important. The density of Artemia in the bottle and therefore respiration rate is very high. Without aeration, the Artemia would die within two hours.
I have Dendrophyllias, Tubastreas, azoox Gorgonians and a Chili coral. The Tubastreas and Dendrophyllias love it but also the large polyp Gorgonians (Diodogorgia and Menella) significantly improved since I started the feeding. One drawback are Aiptasia, they love it too !

It's probably not the most elaborate device but it works and most important, it can be cleaned very fast.

Marco

[SantaMonica]

Ah... I thought I had seen something like the Sapper before; forgot all about it. And Marco's looks good too.

Now to just find a "purchase" button and get one sent to me.

[MarcoBO]

Originally Posted by SantaMonica

Now to just find a "purchase" button and get one sent to me.

That's just a question of pricing ;-)

[s2nhle]

tagging along. very interesting.

[Mazzy]

Wanting to continuous-feed (or really just automate 3-4 feedings per day) my gorg. Honestly I don't have the inclination or the technical/mechanical skills to do one of these elaborate frig-feeder deals everyone seems to be trying here. Wondering if anyone feeds dry foods instead (I've just ordered some NYOS reef pepper for this purpose) so that they don't have to refrigerate, and how you automated it?

Thanks!!

[slapshot]

http://www.super-feed.com/product.html You need a lamp timer or Apex etc.

[vmvm60]

I am really happy with :
http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Mate-F14-...words=fishmate

By default can feed 4x / day, but one can easily hack it for doubling the frequency.

I use it with:
ReefPearls
ReefPepper
ReefRoids
Microbe lift coral food plus

It drops one portion of food over the water surface - however, having it dissolve properly and sink is a different matter . I would happily take some advice here...

[Mazzy]

vmvm60 - How big is the opening? I can't find a product pic of the actual opening where the food drops. Would it be possible to insert (or at least attach/glue) a small tube that you could cut long enough to be placed into the water itself so that when the dry goods drop they are dropping down below the surface? I have a Koralia blowing at my gorg, and it would be awesome if I could rig up a tube that ended right where that flow is so that it would drop, probably sit on the surface for a tiny bit before dropping the rest of the way into the tube but eventually drop all the way, hit the flow, and blow towards to gorg? Or is that a pipe dream? lol

[slapshot]

The Super Feeder comes with a plastic funnel (for lack of a better description) that can sit in the water doing just what you describe. The food drops, sits in the funnel until it absorbs water and sinks.

[slapshot]

Additionally the roller that does the feeding is completely adjustable and has nubs that prevent moisture:/food from clogging. Here is the description they have: http://www.super-feed.com/fun.html

[vmvm60]

The opening is exactly the size and shape of a food compartment. Probably a half inch(interior) pipe will do. However, the coral food being so dry and light, I'm afraid will float for a while inside the pipe. I'll try it over the week-end and post here the findings.

[slapshot]

It would float for awhile but in the case of NPS that is a positive. Even if it took an hour to finally sink that just adds to the continuous feeding. Check out super feeders article.

[Mazzy]

Yeah, I was thinking the food would sit in the tube for a bit but eventually get saturated enough that it should fall. the only drawback I see would be if the food got the tube all goopy and stopped up right at the water level causing it to clog up.

I did look at the super feeder too but there is very little real info on it on the website. Instead it's a bunch of colorful graphics constantly redirecting you to supposedly more info without then actually providing more info. I didn't like that so I scrapped looking into it further.

[Mazzy]

I think the food floating on the surface is only a positive (in terms of simulating a constant feeding) if you have a dedicated NPS tank. For me, I have one Gorg so if the food is floating on the top and then decides to sink in a completely different area, who knows if it'll ever make it's way over to the Gorg. I figured I'd put my return on a timer to turn off when the auto-feeder turns on, but I don't want to leave the return off for hours on end. I want it off for maybe 1/2 hour max so that it can start to pick up all the extra nutrients I'll be dumping into the tank with this continuous (really 'controlled') feeding.

I hope VMVM got a chance to try a hose this weekend, but even if not, I think I'm gonna go with that feeder since the foods listed that he feeds in it are pretty much spot on with what I'm planning on feeding so I know it'll work for those powdered foods.

I like the idea of modifying with some tubing (if possible) because then the tubing could be down in the water far enough to catch the flow source hitting your Gorgs (or other NPS) when the food decides to sink.

[SantaMonica]

I personally love the floating food trick. I toss in enough chopped up nori to float for 6 hours; the tangs come up and get it when they want. Would work somewhat for corals too. Never gets caught in filters because there are no filters.

[vmvm60]

I'm still trying to design properly for a suitable funnel...probably some plastic pipe(2") is the way I'll go for now. As the feeder is placed directly on the tank cover net, I'll probably hang the pipe on the same net using a couple of drilled holes in the pipe.

In my case, if food is left floating there's a chance some of it will drain down the drain comb, which is skimming the surface(maybe not a great idea in an NPS tank).
Also stopping the return temporarily ins not an option for me, as will raise my sump level , overflowing the internal skimmer.

[Mazzy]

vmvm - I had another idea...

I don't know what your tank design is like so you may or may not be able to do this, and I have a BioCube so I may or may not be able to either, for that matter, but I'm thinking I could try to clip this auto feeder in a spot where, instead of feeding the tank directly, it dumps into the return.

My thought is #1 - that the return pump may suck it down into the water faster than it would saturate on it's own, and #2 - that I could T the output with locline to have at lest one outflow thing pointing directly toward the coral I'm trying to feed. The powdered food is so small that it *should* go right through the return pump and out - in theory.

I also searched for hours last night for different fine particle coral foods (when I say "fine" I mean finer than 100microns because I actually believe, after researching a bit further, that the Roids and some others are actually too big for the smaller polyped NPS). The ReefPepper is only 5-20microns so that would be ideal - IF they'd ever get it back in the States!! - and I also found another, called H2Ocean Reef Paste that you just roll into a little ball and either stick on the tank wall or, in this case, I was thinking also just throw in the return chamber, and it breaks down slowly for a slow-release feeding. Both of these foods seems about impossible to actually acquire in the States but I have found a UK site that ships internationally that has all kinds of foods I've never seen before but would love to try, each by dumping straight into the return.

Anyone see a problem with feeding the return instead of the coral directly? I personally am trying to feed a gorg and just make it a LOT easier on myself to do so.

[vmvm60]

@Mazzy,

Still didn't get a chance to hack the pipe, but I'm attaching here a few images from today, showing my dried foods, setup and NPS tank:



[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

[Mazzy]

Nice. Everything looks pretty happy and healthy. I jsut bought some of that Nutri/cell stuff today because that's what my LFS had and I seriously can't find another powdered food (of the size microns I want) anywhere that isn't sold out!!

Question for you though, are you in the States? Because I see you have what I REALLY want, the H2Ocean Reef Paste and I can't get it here. I emailed D-D and they said there is no availability in the States. Wondering if you might be in the US but have a reputable international distributor online that is good? I emailed the only one I found and their website is a little glitchy AND their email (that is supposed to provide an international shipping quote) is also glitchy so I didn't feel confident ordering from them.

[Miguelh1302]

What's the name of the red looking gorgonian tree on the left side? Do they really only open at night? Really nice tank btw



[/URL][/QUOTE]

[vmvm60]

Originally Posted by Mazzy

Nice. Everything looks pretty happy and healthy. I jsut bought some of that Nutri/cell stuff today because that's what my LFS had and I seriously can't find another powdered food (of the size microns I want) anywhere that isn't sold out!!

Looks like NPS is getting popular again?
I've also tried in the past ReefPepper and Ocean Nutrition Coral food, as well as the Fauna Marin dendro and gorgonian recipes.

However, for the moment my champ is ReefPearls, followed by a combination ReefRoids/CoralFood+. All Tubastreas are fed exclusively by 1 measure Reefpearls every 6h (see photo with feeder for a hint of the amount) + each evening manually 1 frozen cube RedPlancton+1 frozen cube Rotifers. I've NEVER target fed them mysis, etc!(it's actually quite challenging to target feed the ones on the walls). The black Tubastrea has lost a lot of tissue, but it's opening wide every night( I got it more than 1 year ago ).

Question for you though, are you in the States?

No, I'm located in Europe, in Romania.

Because I see you have what I REALLY want, the H2Ocean Reef Paste and I can't get it here. I emailed D-D and they said there is no availability in the States. Wondering if you might be in the US but have a reputable international distributor online that is good? I emailed the only one I found and their website is a little glitchy AND their email (that is supposed to provide an international shipping quote) is also glitchy so I didn't feel confident ordering from them.

Reefpaste is not easy to get in Europe, either(but not impossible . I buy it indirectly from a seller in the Netherlands.
I found ReefPaste useful in a few cases:
1.It's the only dry food my Chelmon eats(ok, not his favorite, but still...)
2.the powder seems to trigger indeed a feeding response in my Tubastreas

However, seems to be a heavy polluter - glass gets greenish faster when I use it compared to the other foods.

[vmvm60]

@Miguelh1302

The leftmost reddish coral is a Nephtyigorgia. It usually opens at night, but sometimes in the afternoon as well. Early morning is always deflated.

To its right side and a bit behind it's a Pterogorgia, and in the middle an Acabaria. In the right-hand back corner there's a struggling Guaiagorgia.

[Miguelh1302]

Originally Posted by vmvm60

@Miguelh1302

The leftmost reddish coral is a Nephtyigorgia. It usually opens at night, but sometimes in the afternoon as well. Early morning is always deflated.

To its right side and a bit behind it's a Pterogorgia, and in the middle an Acabaria. In the right-hand back corner there's a struggling Guaiagorgia.

Thanks, that's why I didn't get it this weekend, I want something neat for the morning, Your tank is neat mate I like it

[vmvm60]

Thanks Miguel!