Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anyone use automatic fish feeders like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Fully-Programmab ... dZViewItem

While I love going out to feed and look at the fish, I work 12 hour shifts and dont get to feed the fish as often as I would like. Might also be handy if I go away on holiday. Are they reliable? Any problems?

One problem is they are too small. Question is whether the design would make it easier to make up a larger container for it or an extension or something?

hungry boards for the extra load!

Whatya mean C1?

hungry boards are the bits of tin you stick in side the edge of your trailor so you can fit more in.

We are goin on vacation for ten days in a couple of weeks. My wife bought two automatic feeders from the pet store. They are little rotating drums that hold about enough for one feeding! I think we'll have to get the neighbor to come over and feed them a couple times and refill the automatic feeders.

There is a link on here about how to build a demand feeder (bucket with a hole in it with a rod and a circular plate that the fish can bump to drop food into the water).

Automatic feeder? Tahts a new name for the kids we just tell them to throw some food and the fish while we are gone. Nice to always have someone at home.

My concern with the 'bump' feeders, is that the fish (mine anyway) would bump the rod all day long the first day, then have polluted water and nothing to eat the remaining 9 days.

I bought one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Automatic-Fish-F ... dZViewItem

lasted about a month and died. Sorry mate, we don't guarantee these

Sheez with three seperate patented items on that thing it should do the dang dishes as well. Sorry it didn't last for ya.

Expensive! Wow!

I think Les could work one up...You could make it work like a gumball machine. A cylinder with an indent. It would turn on a timer and pick up a preset amount of food. The hopper of food could be whatever size you made it. A piece of vertical PVC pipe could serve as the hopper. As the cylinder turns, it drops the food in the water. You could regulate the speed of the cylinder so it would feed more or less times a day.

Whatdayathink Les?

I've often wonderred whether the mechanism in your basic power plug timers could be used to do something like this - though I suspect they would be too weak. I agree though David that it should not be too hard to make one. Looks like the challenge has been set for you Les :-).

Do you mean something like this....

http://www.aquasonic.com.au/brochures/Fish_Feeders.pdf

or

http://www.bushfish.com/SolaFishFeeders.htm

That would work too. Nice setup. Didn't see any prices.