DIY acrylic dry food feeder...

afboundguy

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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.

PXL_20250125_135640382.jpg
PXL_20250125_135642777.jpg
PXL_20250125_135653641.jpg
PXL_20250125_135645571.jpg
 

Biota_Marine

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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.

PXL_20250125_135640382.jpg
PXL_20250125_135642777.jpg
PXL_20250125_135653641.jpg
PXL_20250125_135645571.jpg
This is really awesome, I love the ingenuity to keep your mandarin well fed
 
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afboundguy

afboundguy

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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.
 
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afboundguy

afboundguy

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Drilled some holes in the black PVC and added suction cups.
PXL_20250203_163238379.jpg

The middle section turned out pretty decent for version 2.0.
PXL_20250203_162441130.jpg
PXL_20250203_162437117.jpg
 
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afboundguy

afboundguy

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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.

 

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