DIY acrylic dry food feeder...

[afboundguy]

In my quest to keep my @Biota_Marine mandarinfish fat and healthy I purchased an automatic pellet feeder. Only issue was it would get sucked into the overflow before the pellets sank. I then tried one of those tube rings but the pellets weren't getting to the sandbed.

I did some research and saw they sell acrylic feeding setups with a pipe and a dish at the bottom. My tank is only 20" high but most of the ones I found didn't go that high so I decided to make my own.

I wanted to include a spot in the middle so the other fish would eat out of there and not steal the pellets that would be for the mandarin on the sandbed. He's already smart and can tell when I put the BBS in the feeder dish system I have and I am assuming he'll figure out this eventually as well. Idea would be put the pellet feeder above it so the food drops down and some makes it right to the sandbed for the mandarin.

I bought two 1/4" black PVC tubes and designed a connector with a dish and an angled piece so some of the sinking pellets would come out there. Version one will need some tweaking but it does work as some comes out the bottom and some makes it midway. I need to adjust the angle a bit but happy with version two. I might try and 3d print a better funnel on top but I used a cheap foldable funnel.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is a really clever idea! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Biota_Marine Verified Sponsor]

In my quest to keep my @Biota_Marine mandarinfish fat and healthy I purchased an automatic pellet feeder. Only issue was it would get sucked into the overflow before the pellets sank. I then tried one of those tube rings but the pellets weren't getting to the sandbed.

I did some research and saw they sell acrylic feeding setups with a pipe and a dish at the bottom. My tank is only 20" high but most of the ones I found didn't go that high so I decided to make my own.

I wanted to include a spot in the middle so the other fish would eat out of there and not steal the pellets that would be for the mandarin on the sandbed. He's already smart and can tell when I put the BBS in the feeder dish system I have and I am assuming he'll figure out this eventually as well. Idea would be put the pellet feeder above it so the food drops down and some makes it right to the sandbed for the mandarin.

I bought two 1/4" black PVC tubes and designed a connector with a dish and an angled piece so some of the sinking pellets would come out there. Version one will need some tweaking but it does work as some comes out the bottom and some makes it midway. I need to adjust the angle a bit but happy with version two. I might try and 3d print a better funnel on top but I used a cheap foldable funnel.

This is really awesome, I love the ingenuity to keep your mandarin well fed

 

[afboundguy]

This is really awesome, I love the ingenuity to keep your mandarin well fed

Thanks! He's 3-4 times as large as when I got him and super fat and healthy! Eats all sorts of pellet and frozen food!

 

[afboundguy]

This is a really clever idea! Thanks for sharing!

No problem. Already working on re-design and think I'll ditch the center dish and just do sort of like a "slide" in the middle and maybe split it in 2-3 sections so that it goes more sporadically in the tank.

 

[afboundguy]

Designed and printed a funnel for the top for version 2.0!

 

[afboundguy]

Redesigned the middle section without a disk and it's printing right now!

 

[afboundguy]

Drilled some holes in the black PVC and added suction cups.

The middle section turned out pretty decent for version 2.0.

 

[afboundguy]

Few shots of completed version 2.0

 

[afboundguy]

However version 2.0 didn't work very well. It took about 20-25 seconds before the TDO started to sink but none of it made it to the sandbed. I didn't try any other pellets and I just dropped them in by hand. I'll have to test it with the actual pellet feeder that will have several different types of pellet food mixed together. I am guessing I'll need to redesign the middle section and shrink the opening and cut back the angled piece so more pellets make it to the sandbed.