Auto Dosing Refrigerated Food

Schraufabagel

aka Schrauf_den
View Badges
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
Messages
2,215
Reaction score
8,620
Location
Madison, WI
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've seen a few posts of DIY solutions for auto dosing refrigerated food. I'm looking for some updated thoughts. How difficult would it be to auto dose using something like one of the Koolatron 6 can fridges? I currently feed @Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast, Arcti-Pods, and TDO. I also feed Red Sea AB+ daily.

A few other questions I have. Does the dosing head itself have to be in the fridge? How do you purge the dosing line to prevent spoilage?

Also, some questions for @Reef Nutrition. Can Apex pods and Tigger pods be mixed? What foods are best for auto dosing?
 

AlgaeBarn

Marine Aquariums Made Easy!
View Badges
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
2,416
Reaction score
3,509
Location
Denver, Colorado
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
OMO ref..png
omo ref.2.png


It's possible! We just had one of our customers share with us their recent project :)
 

afrokobe

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
1,791
Reaction score
2,470
Location
Dallas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OMO ref..png
omo ref.2.png


It's possible! We just had one of our customers share with us their recent project :)
I've been banished from the food fridge by my gf and need to find a mini fridge for all my fish stuff. I was looking at one of these beverage coolers, but the problem I found is that they only cool to a certain point below ambient temperature. i.e. if my ambient temperature is 74 and it cools 30 degrees below ambient, the cooling temp would only be 44 degrees.

is this cool enough for live phyto and other refrigerated foods?
 

AlgaeBarn

Marine Aquariums Made Easy!
View Badges
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
2,416
Reaction score
3,509
Location
Denver, Colorado
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
I've been banished from the food fridge by my gf and need to find a mini fridge for all my fish stuff. I was looking at one of these beverage coolers, but the problem I found is that they only cool to a certain point below ambient temperature. i.e. if my ambient temperature is 74 and it cools 30 degrees below ambient, the cooling temp would only be 44 degrees.

is this cool enough for live phyto and other refrigerated foods?
I don't think hat would be an issue. This particular one is rated to cool the air inside the chamber 25-30 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the ambient air temperature and the customer hasn't had any issues with their highest temp in the refrigerator being around 55.
 

afrokobe

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
1,791
Reaction score
2,470
Location
Dallas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I don't think hat would be an issue. This particular one is rated to cool the air inside the chamber 25-30 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the ambient air temperature and the customer hasn't had any issues with their highest temp in the refrigerator being around 55.
Got it, thanks for the feedback!
 

mdb_talon

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2010
Messages
4,938
Reaction score
7,753
Location
Illinois
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
A few other questions I have. Does the dosing head itself have to be in the fridge? How do you purge the dosing line to prevent spoilage?

At least in theory you could "t" the lines and hook another doser up up to rodi water. Run your food dose then dose enough rodi to push it out the line.
 

afrokobe

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2021
Messages
1,791
Reaction score
2,470
Location
Dallas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just keep in mind if you want to dose phyto, you might want to set up some kind of kalk doser. This will keep the phyto moving and not separated. Or shake it manually everyday, which kind of eliminates the point of auto dosing though....
 

Reef Nutrition

We Feed Your Reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 7, 2016
Messages
1,129
Reaction score
2,181
Location
Campbell, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've seen a few posts of DIY solutions for auto dosing refrigerated food. I'm looking for some updated thoughts. How difficult would it be to auto dose using something like one of the Koolatron 6 can fridges? I currently feed @Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast, Arcti-Pods, and TDO. I also feed Red Sea AB+ daily.

A few other questions I have. Does the dosing head itself have to be in the fridge? How do you purge the dosing line to prevent spoilage?

Also, some questions for @Reef Nutrition. Can Apex pods and Tigger pods be mixed? What foods are best for auto dosing?
Check this thread out! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/got-my-fresh-food-autofeeder-working-today.691649/

1635525628195.png


This is Scott Sweet's setup (@scottsweet). He is more than happy to discuss it further if you have any questions after checking out his thread.

Keep in mind that our phytoplankton and all of our other products are kept in suspension, so there is no need to shake or agitate, which is one of the things people love about our foods. Also, our phytoplankton blends are 20 times as concentrated as our competitor's algae products (happy to see you are using Phyto-Feast), so you are getting way more phyto for your hard-earned money. We recommend that you start off with conservative doses when feeding due to the high concentration.

Our top foods for auto-dosing are Phyto-Feast, Oyster-Feast, R.O.E. and Arcti-Pods. You can also feed our pellets TDO with an auto-feeder.

Are you asking if you can combine the live pods for culturing? If you aren't culturing them, we always recommend adding them to the system as soon as you get them in.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and, as always, thanks so much for choosing our foods. Sorry for the late response; I was in Hawaii on vacation!

Best,
Chad
 

Reef Nutrition

We Feed Your Reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 7, 2016
Messages
1,129
Reaction score
2,181
Location
Campbell, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just keep in mind if you want to dose phyto, you might want to set up some kind of kalk doser. This will keep the phyto moving and not separated. Or shake it manually everyday, which kind of eliminates the point of auto dosing though....
If you dose our Phyto-Feast, there is no need to shake the bottle manually. Our algae stays in suspension and is highly concentrated. You should check it out.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best,
Chad
 

mdb_talon

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2010
Messages
4,938
Reaction score
7,753
Location
Illinois
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Check this thread out! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/got-my-fresh-food-autofeeder-working-today.691649/

1635525628195.png


This is Scott Sweet's setup (@scottsweet). He is more than happy to discuss it further if you have any questions after checking out his thread.

Keep in mind that our phytoplankton and all of our other products are kept in suspension, so there is no need to shake or agitate, which is one of the things people love about our foods. Also, our phytoplankton blends are 20 times as concentrated as our competitor's algae products (happy to see you are using Phyto-Feast), so you are getting way more phyto for your hard-earned money. We recommend that you start off with conservative doses when feeding due to the high concentration.

Our top foods for auto-dosing are Phyto-Feast, Oyster-Feast, R.O.E. and Arcti-Pods. You can also feed our pellets TDO with an auto-feeder.

Are you asking if you can combine the live pods for culturing? If you aren't culturing them, we always recommend adding them to the system as soon as you get them in.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and, as always, thanks so much for choosing our foods. Sorry for the late response; I was in Hawaii on vacation!

Best,
Chad

Great info!
 
OP
OP
Schraufabagel

Schraufabagel

aka Schrauf_den
View Badges
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
Messages
2,215
Reaction score
8,620
Location
Madison, WI
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Check this thread out! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/got-my-fresh-food-autofeeder-working-today.691649/

1635525628195.png


This is Scott Sweet's setup (@scottsweet). He is more than happy to discuss it further if you have any questions after checking out his thread.

Keep in mind that our phytoplankton and all of our other products are kept in suspension, so there is no need to shake or agitate, which is one of the things people love about our foods. Also, our phytoplankton blends are 20 times as concentrated as our competitor's algae products (happy to see you are using Phyto-Feast), so you are getting way more phyto for your hard-earned money. We recommend that you start off with conservative doses when feeding due to the high concentration.

Our top foods for auto-dosing are Phyto-Feast, Oyster-Feast, R.O.E. and Arcti-Pods. You can also feed our pellets TDO with an auto-feeder.

Are you asking if you can combine the live pods for culturing? If you aren't culturing them, we always recommend adding them to the system as soon as you get them in.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and, as always, thanks so much for choosing our foods. Sorry for the late response; I was in Hawaii on vacation!

Best,
Chad
Just bought some Oyster Feast yesterday. I'm thinking if I choose to autodose, it would be the Arcti-pods, Oyster Feast, and Phyto Feast. The live pods question was more-so if Tigger and Apex pods could be combined and auto dosed. But it sounds like it's better to just use the whole bottle at once and replenish the tank as needed
 

radiata

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 2, 2015
Messages
1,088
Reaction score
763
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Do you really need a doser to handle this particular dosing scheme? It occurred to me that a controller and a closed state solenoid would work well with a source solution that was gravity fed from the bottom of the solution. It wouldn't be especially difficult to determine the volume passing through a solenoid per second and timing the necessary cycle with a good controller. If I were to go this way, I'd use some larger diameter tubing after the solenoid to try to prevent any foods from clogging and rotting in any smaller diameter tubing.
 

mstevenson1972

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2021
Messages
3
Reaction score
4
Location
Bakersfield,. CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've seen a few posts of DIY solutions for auto dosing refrigerated food. I'm looking for some updated thoughts. How difficult would it be to auto dose using something like one of the Koolatron 6 can fridges? I currently feed @Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast, Arcti-Pods, and TDO. I also feed Red Sea AB+ daily.

A few other questions I have. Does the dosing head itself have to be in the fridge? How do you purge the dosing line to prevent spoilage?

Also, some questions for @Reef Nutrition. Can Apex pods and Tigger pods be mixed? What foods are best for auto dosing?
I do this with AB+ and phytoplankton with air stone in each to mix, 5min before dose
 

NathanF

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2021
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Location
Orlando
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am finding feed rates that are all over the place. How much algae do you feed a 200L vessel with 3-5 pods/ml? I have seen 10ml, 1.25L, and 11L per day. So confused.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 58 50.0%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 64 55.2%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 27 23.3%
  • None.

    Votes: 28 24.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 7.8%
Back
Top