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uhuru · 12/19/2009, 01:03 PM

With some new NPS tanks being set up (on here and other forums) I wanted to document the 2 methods of feeding that I think work best.

I am continuing to use the syringe pump for Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast:

This is self explanatory - just spend money, plug in and enjoy!

But I have also started using a kalk reactor to dose my own variation of Danny Dame's recipe.

So this method is nothing new but here is a step by step on how easy it is to make it work.

First, you blend up a mixture of the foods (see the link above). In my recipe, I also use squid juice and oyster juice as a "smelling sauce" for the corals. I use more RO/DI water as I want this to be very dilute. Also, I use very little Ultra Pac as this has been replaced by Ultra Min D. I still use it because I have 2 bottles left and don't want to waste it.
Let the mixture sit 24 hrs and get stinky. This is what it looks like:

As you can see the problem is that gravity makes the mixture separate. If you were to use a syringe pump for this, the dose rate would have to be pretty fast or you would get a very inconsistent mixture, especially if the syringe pump is pushing the food vertically upwards. You want the consistency to be like this:

So this is where a kalk reactor is handy as it can continuously keep the mixture suspended as it is dosed into the tank. A kalk reactor that uses a small pump for mixing is better than a kalk stirrer that uses a magnetic stirrer as this is not powerful enough. The only modification I had to do was add a T and a ball valve to the inlet tube:

Now I simply draw up the food mixture into a syringe and pump it into the reactor:

I let the mixing pump run continuously. The food contains only very fine granules and it is very dilute so it doesn't cause any clogging of the pump... however I plan to clean out everything regularly.

I use a 50 ml/min dosing pump to feed the reactor tank water.

The reactor holds ~3 gal., so I set the pump to turn on for 10 min. every hour. This allows the volume of the reactor to be pumped out every 24 hrs, taking most of the food with it. Again, this is not 100% efficient and the reactor and its components must be cleaned regularly. I will say that the GEO kalk reactor is perfect for this. It has a drain at the bottom, and the pump is attached in a way that it is very easily removed for cleaning.

So far I am very happy with this method of feeding. It takes away another big chore, and allows me to feed a much larger variety of foods. I can even defrost some cyclopleeze and inject it into the reactor. I am hoping that between the syringe pump and kalk reactor I am able to provide my NPS corals the nutrition they need to thrive and grow!

12/19/2009, 01:03 PM	#1
uhuru Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Columbus Posts: 2,949	Continuous feeding NPS filter feeders With some new NPS tanks being set up (on here and other forums) I wanted to document the 2 methods of feeding that I think work best. I am continuing to use the syringe pump for Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast: This is self explanatory - just spend money, plug in and enjoy! But I have also started using a kalk reactor to dose my own variation of Danny Dame's recipe. So this method is nothing new but here is a step by step on how easy it is to make it work. First, you blend up a mixture of the foods (see the link above). In my recipe, I also use squid juice and oyster juice as a "smelling sauce" for the corals. I use more RO/DI water as I want this to be very dilute. Also, I use very little Ultra Pac as this has been replaced by Ultra Min D. I still use it because I have 2 bottles left and don't want to waste it. Let the mixture sit 24 hrs and get stinky. This is what it looks like: As you can see the problem is that gravity makes the mixture separate. If you were to use a syringe pump for this, the dose rate would have to be pretty fast or you would get a very inconsistent mixture, especially if the syringe pump is pushing the food vertically upwards. You want the consistency to be like this: So this is where a kalk reactor is handy as it can continuously keep the mixture suspended as it is dosed into the tank. A kalk reactor that uses a small pump for mixing is better than a kalk stirrer that uses a magnetic stirrer as this is not powerful enough. The only modification I had to do was add a T and a ball valve to the inlet tube: Now I simply draw up the food mixture into a syringe and pump it into the reactor: I let the mixing pump run continuously. The food contains only very fine granules and it is very dilute so it doesn't cause any clogging of the pump... however I plan to clean out everything regularly. I use a 50 ml/min dosing pump to feed the reactor tank water. The reactor holds ~3 gal., so I set the pump to turn on for 10 min. every hour. This allows the volume of the reactor to be pumped out every 24 hrs, taking most of the food with it. Again, this is not 100% efficient and the reactor and its components must be cleaned regularly. I will say that the GEO kalk reactor is perfect for this. It has a drain at the bottom, and the pump is attached in a way that it is very easily removed for cleaning. So far I am very happy with this method of feeding. It takes away another big chore, and allows me to feed a much larger variety of foods. I can even defrost some cyclopleeze and inject it into the reactor. I am hoping that between the syringe pump and kalk reactor I am able to provide my NPS corals the nutrition they need to thrive and grow!