Automatic fish feeder recommendation?

[Tyrinius]

Anyone have experience or a recommendation for dry only or all in one? We are going on vacation in two months and I wanted to get the tank completely prepared. Thanks for the help.

[MrUnderground]

I'm actually looking for an auto feeder as well. so any suggestions would rawk!

[Silencer]

I think I may jump in here too. It'd be nice to have an autofeeder to feed my anthias during the day so that I don't have to worry about it. Getting my fish to eat anything but frozen mysis is another story however...

[slavearm]

I use the aquachef. It was cheap and programmable woohoo.

[drummereef]

I've heard good things about Eheims. I don't think there are any feeders for frozen/liquid foods.

[techreef]

i'm on the market for a feeder too. one thing to note: do these things fit on tanks with a canopy installed?

[Tyrinius]

Looking around quickly I found the following:
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_fish_food_eheim_feed-air_digital_auto_feeder.asp?CartId=

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_fish_food_current_usa_aquachef_fish_feeder.asp?CartId=

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_fish_food_tom_aquatics_oscar_enterprises_feeding_station_hatch_n_feeder.asp?CartId=

There is not alot of info on how flexible they are on mounting.

[Louisb]

I am currently using the Aquachef. I works really well. A lot of flexibility with mounting options. I have an acrylic tank that has a 2 inch lip around it and I was able to mount it easily. I also have a canopy on my tank, but it is for MH, so it is higher than your typical canopy that houses PC, T5, or VHO lights.

I originally bought it just for when I went out of town, but it works so well I just decided to keep it on all the time. This way my fish get small even feedings throughout the day.

[ppurcell]

I use the Pentair Aquatics / Rainbow Lifegard Automatic Fish Feeder and find that if used without the hopper attachment, it is the best dry food feeder that I've used. It is reliable being ac powered, it has an adjustable mounting bracket (I did have to notch the rim of my 75g AGA where the food drops though) you can feed between 1-4 times per day. The biggest downside is that it doesn't have a programmable timer so you can set the time of day and the exact feeding times. But for $40, it's much better than any of the other feeders I've used except the Rondomatic400 which costs about $70 but doesn't have as good a mounting system (IMO) as the Pentair.

My recommendation is to stay away from battery powered and rotating drum based feeders.

[Paul B]

My recommendation is to stay away from battery powered and rotating drum based feeders.

I use one of these. OK so they are not the greatest but I have been using it for about a year and so far it does the job. I use it to put food into a tube which goes into a dish on the bottom for the moorish Idol. I want to feed him three times a day so he gets two meals this way when I am at work. I would imagine all automatic feeders work well you just have to look to see if it will feed at the times you want. For instance my rotating drum feeder will only feed once, twice or three times a day which is fine but the times must be equal through out the day. For instance if I want to feed twice, I must feed at twelve hour intervals, if I want to feed three times (which I would like) I can only feed every 8 hours which makes one of those feedings in the dark.
I would rather feed three or four times when the lights are on.
Paul

[MattG]

I have the Eheim and am very pleased with it. I would purchase it again.

[MrUnderground]

Paul. I would love to see a pic or a small clip of how your Moorish Idol feeding system works. The tube to the bowl concept is cool. If you wouldn't mind me asking for a pic or 2...

Thanks,
Dave S.

[techreef]

Just bought an Eheim feeder from Premium Aquatics. I'll post how it works out here once I get it.

[grochmal]

The Eheim works well, but it seems to use up the batteries pretty quickly.

[Paul B]

Paul. I would love to see a pic or a small clip of how your Moorish Idol feeding system works. The tube to the bowl concept is cool. If you wouldn't mind me asking for a pic or 2...

Dave it is very simple. It is a dish (I found it while SCUBA diving on a tugboat but any dish will work) I glued with "GOOP" a tube to the edge of it. It goes up almost to the top of the water where there is a small funnel inserted into it. The automatic feeder is positioned above the funnel. There is also a smaller tube inserted into the side of the funnel that goes to the outflow of the skimmer. This small tube supplies a small amount of water into the funnel so the water is always going down and it helps push the food pellets down.
The Idol has always eaten like this and he checks out the dish on every pass around the tank.
Paul
this is when it was new, it is now completely covered with coraline algae and you can hardly see it.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_Feeding_dish_001.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_Morish_Idol_003.jpg