Is a Frozen food auto feeder a thing?

[littlefoxx]

Hey all, got into a spat with my BF, he doesnt want to take 60 seconds to dump a cup of defrosted and ready to go frozen food from the fridge and poor it into the tank. Like okay whatever, so my question is are there any auto feeders out there that I could put a helping of frozen food into and have it release around their normal feeding time? (11-1230 usually). Got some tangs he doesnt even want to put nori on a clip for and have two triggers planned (male and female blue jaw) and want them to get their food they need. All I see are pellet auto feeders. I guess I can make this a snack if need be between their two meals of frozen food if I need to but worried about the triggers getting cranky because they are hungry

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Hey all, got into a spat with my BF, he doesnt want to take 60 seconds to dump a cup of defrosted and ready to go frozen food from the fridge and poor it into the tank. Like okay whatever, so my question is are there any auto feeders out there that I could put a helping of frozen food into and have it release around their normal feeding time? (11-1230 usually). Got some tangs he doesnt even want to put nori on a clip for and have two triggers planned (male and female blue jaw) and want them to get their food they need. All I see are pellet auto feeders. I guess I can make this a snack if need be between their two meals of frozen food if I need to but worried about the triggers getting cranky because they are hungry

no idea about an automatic frozen food feeder, I've seen people here build them.
It looks like a pretty big job and I'm lazy, I would rather take my defrosting frozen food in ro water to the aquarium and be done with it lol

 

[littlefoxx]

no idea about an automatic frozen food feeder, I've seen people here build them.
It looks like a pretty big job and I'm lazy, I would rather take my defrosting frozen food in ro water to the aquarium and be done with it lol

Yep and thats what I cant get him to do before he leaves for work for whatever dumb reason so they miss one of three meals that way and a hungry trigger is a nasty trigger!

 

[LgTas]

There was one that was almost at the stage of taking orders but they pulled the plug as I think the prototype they received didn't meet expectations.

the aF4, the world's first and only frozen fish food feeder.

Explore true aquarium innovation at inD Aquatics, the pioneer in automated frozen fish food feeding. Creator of the aF4, the world's first and only automated frozen fish food feeder. Perfect for reef aquariums and fresh water aquariums. A smarter way to feed your fish.

www.indaquatics.com

 

[littlefoxx]

There was one that was almost at the stage of taking orders but they pulled the plug as I think the prototype they received didn't meet expectations.

the aF4, the world's first and only frozen fish food feeder.

Explore true aquarium innovation at inD Aquatics, the pioneer in automated frozen fish food feeding. Creator of the aF4, the world's first and only automated frozen fish food feeder. Perfect for reef aquariums and fresh water aquariums. A smarter way to feed your fish.

www.indaquatics.com

Awe dang that would have been cool! Ill look into mixing a good carnivore pellet with a good veggie pellet for them to have a snack before I feed them dinner

 

[JonoH]

Would freeze dried shrimp work as an alternative?

You could do that then with a normal auto feeder.

 

[LgTas]

Hey all, got into a spat with my BF, he doesnt want to take 60 seconds to dump a cup of defrosted and ready to go frozen food from the fridge and poor it into the tank. Like okay whatever, so my question is are there any auto feeders out there that I could put a helping of frozen food into and have it release around their normal feeding time? (11-1230 usually). Got some tangs he doesnt even want to put nori on a clip for and have two triggers planned (male and female blue jaw) and want them to get their food they need. All I see are pellet auto feeders. I guess I can make this a snack if need be between their two meals of frozen food if I need to but worried about the triggers getting cranky because they are hungry

I'd be reconsidering the BF status if such a simple task is too much to ask

 

[argiBK]

Awe dang that would have been cool! Ill look into mixing a good carnivore pellet with a good veggie pellet for them to have a snack before I feed them dinner

They just sent an email the other day announcing to expect an announcement later this year, so looks like they still have something in the works.

Otherwise, there are a couple folks on YouTube who have made some DIY thawed feeders using a small portable fridge and a pump such as a DOS. These are far from perfect, but might be worth investigating — i.e. it’s thawed food, so will spoil sooner; also, food will spoil unless the pump can be programmed to return unfed food (in the tubing) to the container in the fridge.

 

[thecodingart]

This is a pretty sweet thread.

My wife knows that I’m 100% automation obsessed and orient most of my stuff around it (I’d rather spend my time doing more important things or enjoying it with her).

I came across this guy: https://smarterreefs.com/products/reefsicle-starter-pack

Curious what other people have done or explored myself.

 

[thecodingart]

I totally gave up on the kickstarter and built this guy.

 

[Dannyboy402]

I totally gave up on the kickstarter and built this guy.

How's it working for ya?

 

[Stevorino]

I'm hoping the inD aquatics one above comes out soon and works well, I'd be a day-one purchaser

For now, I have a mini fridge under the tank that uses Apex DOS's to dose Reef Nutrition products throughout the day. Works well but Fish don't love it as much as frozen.

 

[shakacuz]

I totally gave up on the kickstarter and built this guy.

build log/thread?

 

[thecodingart]

I'm hoping the inD aquatics one above comes out soon and works well, I'd be a day-one purchaser

For now, I have a mini fridge under the tank that uses Apex DOS's to dose Reef Nutrition products throughout the day. Works well but Fish don't love it as much as frozen.

I'd love to see your setup and I'm guessing my setup has some of the same issues as yours.

 

[AquaLogic]

It would likely be much easier to find a better boyfriend than an auto frozen fish feeder. Plenty of sweeter guys out there Good luck!

 

[thecodingart]

How's it working for ya?

It's doing what I want, but not as well as I want it to. I've been looking for an alternative Fridge/Freezer/Cooler that's < 1 cubic feet (I love this 4 liter form factor) that can do < 32 degrees. That's my number one challenge right now.

I have a hanna magnetic stir-er underneath the fridge which penetrates just fine to ensure everything does settle on the bottom. But over the course of 3+ days the food starts turning to moosh. For 2-3 days, everything is great.

I need a colder fridge/freezer in a smaller form factor to make this thing work for the period of time I'd like (7 days or 1 week).

 

[thecodingart]

It would likely be much easier to find a better boyfriend than an auto frozen fish feeder. Plenty of sweeter guys out there Good luck!

One already built, yeah. But frankly -- the concept is stupid simple. The hardest part for me has been finding something that can temperature regulate in the range I want in a small form factor

I'll probably end up getting a 1.1 cubic Freezer and I have to see if I can put that on a smart outlet (if only I could find a small "smart" freezer/fridge combo where I could change it's temp via BLE or some automation mechanism that isn't just a plug on/off situation).

 

[Stevorino]

I'd love to see your setup and I'm guessing my setup has some of the same issues as yours.

I do a high level breakdown of it in my Tank Thread here

The only thing I would change at this point is that the food gets disbursed ~40ft of piping before it hits the display. In retrospect, I wish I put this right under the tank. The food oftentimes looks pretty pulverized by the time it makes it to the display lol

 

[thecodingart]

I do a high level breakdown of it in my Tank Thread here

The only thing I would change at this point is that the food gets disbursed ~40ft of piping before it hits the display. In retrospect, I wish I put this right under the tank. The food oftentimes looks pretty pulverized by the time it makes it to the display lol

Yup, this would have the same problems (and the food sitting in the tubing, at least you have reverse options for the DOSer's where you can pull the food back after an automation run -- unlike the Vortechs).

It also looks like you cutout holes for the power supply (something I'm not going to do but given how loud the DOSers are -- yeah I get that.

On the top, are you using any bulkheads for the RODI tubes? I'm using the pretty standard ones and slightly wish someone made a longer version of it (I glued and caulked them in to close up the insulation holes).

 

[Stevorino]

Yup, this would have the same problems (and the food sitting in the tubing, at least you have reverse options for the DOSer's where you can pull the food back after an automation run -- unlike the Vortechs).

I don't worry about the food in the tubing, as it is all in the fridge up until it is fed into the main return plumbing (this is my main reason for having DOS pumps in the fridge).

Once it is in the return pump plumbing it, the food is in the display in ~10 seconds.

On the top, are you using any bulkheads for the RODI tubes? I'm using the pretty standard ones and slightly wish someone made a longer version of it (I glued and caulked them in to close up the insulation holes).

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this question, but the tubing from the DOS connects to my return pump plumbing using one of these bad boys

I used wadded up paper towels to clog the hole for weeks until I saw it work consistently well and then I used some of that insulation-in-a-spraycan to truly seal it.