inD Aquatics aF4 frozen feeder

[braaap]

Any idea when the next shipment will be? Have been missing out a few times already.

They only order a dozen or so at a time. And it seems like they come every month. I would think they would have another batch in the next week or so.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I was going to give one a try, but I don't think I like the timing part of it. If anything, I would end up building my own controller for it, and if I am going to do that I am just going to build my own feeder. I do hope it is working out for the rest of you.

 

[braaap]

I was going to give one a try, but I don't think I like the timing part of it. If anything, I would end up building my own controller for it, and if I am going to do that I am just going to build my own feeder. I do hope it is working out for the rest of you.

That is one of the main reasons I'm not getting one. The scheduling/control is awful for a $500 device. Could have easily build a cheap app/webserver to be able to program this thing easily. But right now you can't really fine tune it to my knowledge unless you have a controller.

And with my Hydros I'm so limited because their utilization of 0-10v is pathetic. I have 3 of their controllers. Only one has a 0-10v IN! Not even an out. UGH

 

[Chenko]

Waiting to get one (since missing it in October) ... earlier in the week, their web site said Next drop is in Q1. Today it says, Spring 2025 :(

 

[Raul-7]

Will they ever have considerable stock?

 

[braaap]

Will they ever have considerable stock?

No because they buy 20 at a time. They don’t have funding and don’t have enough capital to buy a significant portion. If they could buy more the price per unit would come down for them. Their best option would be to offer preorders.

 

[Raul-7]

No because they buy 20 at a time. They don’t have funding and don’t have enough capital to buy a significant portion. If they could buy more the price per unit would come down for them. Their best option would be to offer preorders.

Agreed; now that they have their product out in user's hands and with positive reviews. More people would be willing to pre-order assuming they can deliver.

 

[2Flash1]

500 bucks for something that takes 1-5 mins a day? I don’t understand.

 

[Raul-7]

500 bucks for something that takes 1-5 mins a day? I don’t understand.

You can apply that same logic to many items we pay for in this hobby? Feeders, AWC, ATO, filter rollers, automatic dosers, etc.

It can hold enough frozen food for 20 days and automates something important; it's been something the hobby has been looking for a long time. I'd much rather feed frozen than dry.

 

[Mattiejay6]

500 bucks for something that takes 1-5 mins a day? I don’t understand.

kind of a moot point because the odds of being able to even buy one at the rate they have them is slim to none..

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

@ind.aquatics
So I might be the first to break my AF4. I have a very busy hectic life style. I heavily rely on my AF4 to feed my tank. About 6-8 times a day. I feed 50ml per feeding.
Here are a few things I noticed in my last 4 months of use. You have to have the food well watered down in order for the unit to work. I normally fill the container with 25-30% of slushy frozen foods like mysis and brine mix. Remaining I fill with saltwater.
I noticed if I was to just simply use frozen foods, units does not feed the lines properly. So a lot of water has to be in the container with the food mix.
Anyways today I noticed the unit came on to feed the tank but i didnt see any food come out of the tubing. So i manually ran a feed setion. Still no food.
I thought maybe its clogged. So I took the tubing out and took out the container and fed the tank manually and discarded the rest of the food and cleaned everything with hot water. Then I ran some worm to hot water throught the entire system, water came out with some gunk and crap. I decided to do a clean up as per their website. Using a cleaning tablet and running all tubes into the container.
After all that I still couldnt get anything to come from the container out the tubing.
Apparently black tube sucks the tank water in and mixes with the food thats held in the container and gets mixed via white tubing. Both the white and black tubing goto a solenoid that opens and closes according to time and what part of the cycle the system is running.
After opening the unit, I was able to locate the solenoid and tap on it. More gunk came out on this feed setion.
I undid the tubing to the solenoid and cleaned all tubing with running hot water through it and push/blow air in the solenoid and also used the provided brush to see if i can unclog the solenoid with very little success.
Eventually I was able to get some gunk out by just keep tapping with a back of screwdriver on the solenoid where enough water started passing through.
Now I can get the white tubing to suck just straight water out of the container but not food. I have come to conclution that the solenoid might be bad or pretty gunked up or stuck with debris that i cant get to unless i open the solenoid itself.
Its fuctioning, its keeping water/food cold but its not sucking food. it only sucks water alone.
I wanted to share that to see if anyone else has the same issue?

 

[Mickey]

I actually had a similar problem recently and contacted their technical support because food was not being dispensed properly. Apparently they discovered an issue with some of the solenoids. They had me send the unit in for repair which I did and they installed a new version of the solenoid. I had it back within a week. Works fine now. The new solenoid assembly does not add water to the food container at all which I think is better. My only comment is that it now makes more clicking noises when it is getting started, though after the clicking the noise is a little quieter than before.

Talk with John in their technical support area ([email protected]). He's great and I'm sure he can help you out. Since you've already taken your unit apart he may even be willing to send you the new one and talk you through replacing it.

I still love my unit.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I was told I am on the list for units shipping in January. Looking forward to trying this.

 

[Gudhjem]

@ind.aquatics
So I might be the first to break my AF4. I have a very busy hectic life style. I heavily rely on my AF4 to feed my tank. About 6-8 times a day. I feed 50ml per feeding.
Here are a few things I noticed in my last 4 months of use. You have to have the food well watered down in order for the unit to work. I normally fill the container with 25-30% of slushy frozen foods like mysis and brine mix. Remaining I fill with saltwater.
I noticed if I was to just simply use frozen foods, units does not feed the lines properly. So a lot of water has to be in the container with the food mix.
Anyways today I noticed the unit came on to feed the tank but i didnt see any food come out of the tubing. So i manually ran a feed setion. Still no food.
I thought maybe its clogged. So I took the tubing out and took out the container and fed the tank manually and discarded the rest of the food and cleaned everything with hot water. Then I ran some worm to hot water throught the entire system, water came out with some gunk and crap. I decided to do a clean up as per their website. Using a cleaning tablet and running all tubes into the container.
After all that I still couldnt get anything to come from the container out the tubing.
Apparently black tube sucks the tank water in and mixes with the food thats held in the container and gets mixed via white tubing. Both the white and black tubing goto a solenoid that opens and closes according to time and what part of the cycle the system is running.
After opening the unit, I was able to locate the solenoid and tap on it. More gunk came out on this feed setion.
I undid the tubing to the solenoid and cleaned all tubing with running hot water through it and push/blow air in the solenoid and also used the provided brush to see if i can unclog the solenoid with very little success.
Eventually I was able to get some gunk out by just keep tapping with a back of screwdriver on the solenoid where enough water started passing through.
Now I can get the white tubing to suck just straight water out of the container but not food. I have come to conclution that the solenoid might be bad or pretty gunked up or stuck with debris that i cant get to unless i open the solenoid itself.
Its fuctioning, its keeping water/food cold but its not sucking food. it only sucks water alone.
I wanted to share that to see if anyone else has the same issue?

I've had a similar issue. Unit pulls the water out of the food slurry, leaving behind a soggy block of food in the container too think to get pulled into the hose. I get a couple feeding each fill before it wont pull food. inD responded quickly and sent me a new solenoid, but that didn't solve the problem. I don't have a solution to offer.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

So InD did email me back and we exchanged the issue and they told me to send the unit back in for repairs. New firmware and new solenoid to be installed. Mine is one of the early units produced so firmware was also old which cannot be updated remotely.
I told them to just ship the solenoid and I can replace it myself but due to firmware being old as well I had no choice but to ship the unit back in. It reached them today Friday Jan 17,2025. I'll let you guys know once it's back.
Although in all I am very happy with the unit and product as it saves my a lot of headache to feed my fish multiple times a day.
There are a few suggestions I would like to make to @ind.aquatics

1. There should be a better way to mix food with water. Like a mixing chamber. Food remains frozen and drops into a mixing chamber where water from tank gets mixed in and then flushed back out. Rather than having a slurry in chamber.

2. Have a USB or micro sd card or wifi or Bluetooth built in so units don't need to be shipped into InD for firmware upgrades. Saving you costs of shipping back and forth. (InD pays for shipping)

3. Have internal parts available on your website for purchases if someone wants to switch parts or solenoid or fan etc on their own after warranty expires.

4. Incorporate a cleaning cycle once a week or bi weekly in the system itself automatically that cleans and clears all lines running and circulating tank water through the system.

This would only be possible if food remained frozen in a separate section/container and rest (mixing chamber) and lines and easily can be flushed through quite regularly.

 

[Raul-7]

That is solid advice!

@Dr. Reef Wouldn't the last point need sensors to detect when the reservoir is empty to avoid circulating a whole bunch of food all over the aquarium?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

That is solid advice!

@Dr. Reef Wouldn't the last point need sensors to detect when the reservoir is empty to avoid circulating a whole bunch of food all over the aquarium?

Good point. Yes it likely will need a sensor or timer to know when last food was dumped.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

@ind.aquatics
So I might be the first to break my AF4. I have a very busy hectic life style. I heavily rely on my AF4 to feed my tank. About 6-8 times a day. I feed 50ml per feeding.
Here are a few things I noticed in my last 4 months of use. You have to have the food well watered down in order for the unit to work. I normally fill the container with 25-30% of slushy frozen foods like mysis and brine mix. Remaining I fill with saltwater.
I noticed if I was to just simply use frozen foods, units does not feed the lines properly. So a lot of water has to be in the container with the food mix.
Anyways today I noticed the unit came on to feed the tank but i didnt see any food come out of the tubing. So i manually ran a feed setion. Still no food.
I thought maybe its clogged. So I took the tubing out and took out the container and fed the tank manually and discarded the rest of the food and cleaned everything with hot water. Then I ran some worm to hot water throught the entire system, water came out with some gunk and crap. I decided to do a clean up as per their website. Using a cleaning tablet and running all tubes into the container.
After all that I still couldnt get anything to come from the container out the tubing.
Apparently black tube sucks the tank water in and mixes with the food thats held in the container and gets mixed via white tubing. Both the white and black tubing goto a solenoid that opens and closes according to time and what part of the cycle the system is running.
After opening the unit, I was able to locate the solenoid and tap on it. More gunk came out on this feed setion.
I undid the tubing to the solenoid and cleaned all tubing with running hot water through it and push/blow air in the solenoid and also used the provided brush to see if i can unclog the solenoid with very little success.
Eventually I was able to get some gunk out by just keep tapping with a back of screwdriver on the solenoid where enough water started passing through.
Now I can get the white tubing to suck just straight water out of the container but not food. I have come to conclution that the solenoid might be bad or pretty gunked up or stuck with debris that i cant get to unless i open the solenoid itself.
Its fuctioning, its keeping water/food cold but its not sucking food. it only sucks water alone.
I wanted to share that to see if anyone else has the same issue?

I literally have had the same thing happen to me. I’m about to take my unit apart. I have tried about 20 times to use the clean function. Only once did water start to come out of the white tube with some gunk. Reading your story is word for word my situation. I go out of town in 36 hours for 11 days. I’m a little frustrated at the moment. Perhaps it was my fault as I put 3/4 of a bag of rods cut up really fine with 20ml of water. I think I should have used more fluids and jammed it up.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I literally have had the same thing happen to me. I’m about to take my unit apart. I have tried about 20 times to use the clean function. Only once did water start to come out of the white tube with some gunk. Reading your story is word for word my situation. I go out of town in 36 hours for 11 days. I’m a little frustrated at the moment. Perhaps it was my fault as I put 3/4 of a bag of rods cut up really fine with 20ml of water. I think I should have used more fluids and jammed it up.

In fact my food tray is filling up with water when I try to rinse it at 30 and 50. It’s pushing water in from the black but obviously the grey is blocked up. I’m going in. Scalpel please…

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

So a little update. I sent the unit in for repairs, They put new firmware and new solenoid in the unit and it works just fine now. You might wanna contact them,