New possible way to feed your tank

[Jose Berry]

Hey y’all so I am currently deployed over seas and at some point and time while I was on tower an idea hit me and I let it rest until now.

we all have different methods of feeding it’s easier in smaller tanks but larger tanks in my opinion 400 and up I think are harder to feed. Because everything is spaced out and you do have a lot of mouths to feed.

I came up with an idea and need opinions to see if I should proceed with prototypes.

some tanks have manifolds for there closed loop systems if they are running more then one exit point. This item would be fixed before the manifold and would be on a by pass system. so all you would need is an open close ball valve.

from the start here’s the process, water enters the return line and gets pushed through pump. After pump you have a T-Port 3way ball valve. The main setting will allow water to go straight to the manifold and keep the closed loop going. On the other hand when you close the main line water goes to an acrylic box with open lid that comes with a cover that has a gasket. You put what ever foods you desire in said box before you change the valve, if it be live food or frozen foods what have you. Once you change the valve if there isn’t any water in the box the box fills up with water from the return line. Pushing all the food through your return lines. Once all the food has been pushed through you switch the valve line back and the acrylic box can be emptied via syphon or a small drain outlet that would be built on.

I know lots of reading you had to do but please let me know what y’all think. I can have something drawn up quickly as I have the idea in my head.

 

[Silent]

Most people have lots of flow from powerheads. drop food anywhere in the tank and it will quickly be all over.
I see your point, but too much work for me.

 

[Jose Berry]

Most people have lots of flow from powerheads. drop food anywhere in the tank and it will quickly be all over.
I see your point, but too much work for me.

Thanks for your input. And I see where you mean it is a lot of added work vs just drop it in and let it take.

 

[Silent]

If your system was automated that would be a different story. There are electronic ball valves pretty inexpensive on amazon that can be controlled by any controller. If you were able to somehow automate the dumping of the food and sealing of the "box" you might be onto something if you could do it with refrigerated or frozen food. I wouldn't be surprised if you could utilize a check valve and create a siphon like technique to pull food into the return instead of pushing it through. Might not need to even have the "box" sealed. Just food for thought.

 

[Jose Berry]

I think I have it, a tray like box where you would be able to keep food designated for days. This system would simply be on a timer dump the food into a chamber this chamber would be timed to open and close allowing it to syphon it’s self into the main lines feeding your fish based off of a time indicated by you.

 

[elysics]

Rather than having a chamber that opens and closes you could use a bell siphon system that has two water levels, one in it's idle state, where you dump the food in in some way, and then when it is feeding time you just pump in water from the sump for a predetermined amount of time until the second water level is reached which automatically starts the siphon and sucks all the food-laden water back into the sump until the idle water level is reached again.

Less prone to failure since there are no moving parts apart from the pump.

 

[Larry L]

Sounds like a good idea - in fact I think @Thales was doing something similar with the big reef tank at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

 

[ZoWhat]

Fish enemas

 

[Thales]

We stopped doing it. It gets gross fast with frozen food and the benefits are minimal when compared to adding food to different areas of the tank from the top. There are people that do it at home, but mostly for reasons like 'it is hard to get into the top of the tank, so we feed from the sump' maintenance accounts.

If you are gonna try it, you can get filter basket housings already plumed and have a removable lid for addingthe food. Easier than building something.