Simple and Cheap DIY Feeder

[Terryz_]

Found this from azoox.org, Edited it a bit and post it up for the benefit of reefer who wish to explore the "dark side".

You will require the following:-

Small air pump

Timer(Preferred Digital)

DIY Pressurized container

Rigid Air tube and Air tubes

[Terryz_]

How it works?

Air is being pumped into the container which stirs up the food and it increases the pressure in the container.

With the pressure increase, it pushes the water with the food out the long tube that lead to the tank.

When the air pump stop, the food return back into the container due to gravity.

The control valve is to regulates the amount of pressure in the container that will affect the speed of the food being pumped out.

Any Timer can but used but the more precise the timer, the more accurate the dispensing quantity.

Note: Do not place the outlet in water, to prevent backflow.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Terryz_

[Terryz_]

Any question, I will try my best to answer.

Theoretically, it works but I have not tried but it is tested out by fellow reefers from overseas..

[stevenchia]

Any question, I will try my best to answer.

Theoretically, it works but I have not tried but it is tested out by fellow reefers from overseas..

what happens if it get choked, and over pressure. POM! exploded.. Whole house covered NPS food..

Then i will

Anyway my nano tank should be enough nutrient for the sea fan if i plan to keep 1. Cos i have no skimmer...

Lots of food... flowing every day.. feeding for aussie acans, duncans, suncans.. oophs.. i mean sun coral.

Plan to get 1 with 2 inch height.. or frag it .. if dun have..

[stevenchia]

what happens if it get choked, and over pressure. POM! exploded.. Whole house covered NPS food..

Then i will

Anyway my nano tank should be enough nutrient for the sea fan if i plan to keep 1. Cos i have no skimmer...

Lots of food... flowing every day.. feeding for aussie acans, duncans, suncans.. oophs.. i mean sun coral.

Plan to get 1 with 2 inch height.. or frag it .. if dun have..

I mean planning to get 1 sea fan with 2 inch, iam target feeding all my corals using a dropper with a straw extension.

[Terryz_]

what happens if it get choked, and over pressure. POM! exploded.. Whole house covered NPS food..

Then i will

Anyway my nano tank should be enough nutrient for the sea fan if i plan to keep 1. Cos i have no skimmer...

Lots of food... flowing every day.. feeding for aussie acans, duncans, suncans.. oophs.. i mean sun coral.

Plan to get 1 with 2 inch height.. or frag it .. if dun have..

It will not get choked... When you look at the consistency of the food mix, it is not thick at all so it will not have choking problem...

Another thing is that the control valve is there to make sure the air escapes, so if you are afraid that the air tube will choke or clog and the pressure building up, you can adjust the control valve so that under a certain pressure, the air will escape slowly from there and not cause your container to explode..

I know you are feeding everyday, you can try but they require feeding every hour or so...

Edited April 14, 2011 by Terryz_

[Copperband]

potential problem i see is food going bad? typically how many days worth of food will be stored in the container? also probably need a electronic timer with 1 minute intervals rather than those normal 12 min interval timer

[Terryz_]

Yup. That is the problem, but this feeder is on day to day basis replacement of the food, the food will not go bad that fast if you are talking about dried food.. also this feeder have almost 0 heat emission unlike other feeder with a circulation pump which will add up to the heat generated. I omitted the wine bottle chiller as that would be another cost if you want the feeder to be a long term one..

As for amount of food it hold, it depends on the reefer how long he want the feeder to continue feeding and the concentration of the food being supplied..

Typically a electronic timer would do the job, down to the minute setting is enough. It will take some trial and error the first time round to estimate the amount of food being pumped through the container..

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

Edited April 15, 2011 by Terryz_

[Copperband]

dried food? how is the dried food able to flow in the tubes? i all along assumed this is for liquid food?

[tunicate]

Can this be used like for tank dosing rather than food?

[Copperband]

in my personal opinion dosing of additives using this set up is a very pratical one..... vary simple concept.... way simpler to set up as compared to CR and cost much more lesser than a Dosing pump

Regards,

Omar

[tunicate]

When the air pump turns off, will liquid flow via air tube into pump?

To avoid the above, can the air tube be routed to the top of the container?

[straydum]

i was thinking about the same thing. shifting the air outlet to the top would probably work for a normal dosing but it wouldn't stir the food mixture around for feedings.

[tunicate]

I remember during my school days, teacher said air can be compressed more than liquid. Probably did some experiment to prove that too. So if the container is big enough, we me see a reduced dozing amount over time as volume of air in container increases compared to liquid. Pls. tell me if I'm wrong.

[tunicate]

...but it wouldn't stir the food mixture around for feedings.

Good point there about the stirring bro. Did not think of that design benefit.

[straydum]

i agree over time as the air to water ratio is slowly changing, more air would be needed to push the same amount of liquid as before. but then again like what terry said "this feeder is on day to day basis replacement of the food" so it wouldn't impact feeding that much as opposed to dosing.

[Terryz_]

dried food? how is the dried food able to flow in the tubes? i all along assumed this is for liquid food?

The dried food will be mixed into water first...

[Terryz_]

Can this be used like for tank dosing rather than food?

Workable but not precise enough...

[Terryz_]

When the air pump turns off, will liquid flow via air tube into pump?

To avoid the above, can the air tube be routed to the top of the container?

By right, it would back flow a bit but not to the extend of reaching the air pump as there is still air in the air tube....

[Terryz_]

I remember during my school days, teacher said air can be compressed more than liquid. Probably did some experiment to prove that too. So if the container is big enough, we me see a reduced dozing amount over time as volume of air in container increases compared to liquid. Pls. tell me if I'm wrong.

Actually I think at the end of the day, it would be a problem with this... So I would suggest a smaller container so that the reduction will not be so obvious as it would take jut a little of the air to push the food..

[Terryz_]

This is a video of it working..

[Terryz_]

Photo of the container..

[Ingwe]

Why not use a U tube and an airpump? Using the same principles as an under gravel filters/external airpowered betta box.

There won't be a risk of the container exploding then. In any case I don't think the container will explode.. from my experience air pump stops having an output after a certain depth, meaning once a certain pressure is reached air stops coming out.

[Terryz_]

Why not use a U tube and an airpump? Using the same principles as an under gravel filters/external airpowered betta box.

There won't be a risk of the container exploding then. In any case I don't think the container will explode.. from my experience air pump stops having an output after a certain depth, meaning once a certain pressure is reached air stops coming out.

Wun the output be high?

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[tunicate]

A picture speaks a thousand words.

bro