Plank feeder dumps food???

[FernBluffReef]

I ordered a plank feeder based on reputation for precise amounts of food, general reputation and to put in my sump so I don’t have to see it :-)

Replacing an Ehiem auto feeder. The Ehiem currently feeds pellets. 4 spins a day which when I measured is just under 1/4 teaspoon TOTAL. My Tank is 112 gallon display. 3 tangs, 4 anthis, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, Pygmy angel, dottiback and half a dozen smaller gobies, blennies, mandrians.

I have to dose about 1ml neonitro a day and continuously add phosphate remover pellets. I just purchased some lanthium today and am planning on dosing small quantities daily vs constantly changing phosphate media. Oh yeah, I also feed 2-3 cubes of spirulina mysis. daily.

Now back to the plank. Was setting up and figuring out how long to run. Man this is a big feeder. I loaded with food and tested. First 5-10 seconds and a tiny amount of food came out GReat. BUT then the next couple seconds and the plank dumps around 1/2 teaspoons- about 2 days of food at once.

I see the plank in use on much smaller tanks then mine. I see many say they use for pellets. Was planning on adding some reef jerky after I get used to things.

Is this plank thing just meant for massive tanks. The feeder looks like it will hold many months worth of food for my tank which isn’t large but isn’t small either. 112 is a good sized tank and I have a good number of fish.

 

[edsbeaker]

I ordered a plank feeder based on reputation for precise amounts of food, general reputation and to put in my sump so I don’t have to see it :-)

Replacing an Ehiem auto feeder. The Ehiem currently feeds pellets. 4 spins a day which when I measured is just under 1/4 teaspoon TOTAL. My Tank is 112 gallon display. 3 tangs, 4 anthis, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, Pygmy angel, dottiback and half a dozen smaller gobies, blennies, mandrians.

I have to dose about 1ml neonitro a day and continuously add phosphate remover pellets. I just purchased some lanthium today and am planning on dosing small quantities daily vs constantly changing phosphate media. Oh yeah, I also feed 2-3 cubes of spirulina mysis. daily.

Now back to the plank. Was setting up and figuring out how long to run. Man this is a big feeder. I loaded with food and tested. First 5-10 seconds and a tiny amount of food came out GReat. BUT then the next couple seconds and the plank dumps around 1/2 teaspoons- about 2 days of food at once.

I see the plank in use on much smaller tanks then mine. I see many say they use for pellets. Was planning on adding some reef jerky after I get used to things.

Is this plank thing just meant for massive tanks. The feeder looks like it will hold many months worth of food for my tank which isn’t large but isn’t small either. 112 is a good sized tank and I have a good number of fish.

Is this the first time you tested it out?
The food comes out very slowly at first during the first use. That auger has to get food into it before it is being pushed out, but is very consistent after that.
If set up correctly, it is capable of dosing small quantities.
Are you using it with a controller?

 

[KStatefan]

How long are you running the auger? I have two of them in use feeding a diy mix of freeze dried and pellets. One on my 100 gallon display and one n my 20long

 

[JPTFish]

Hello, I have a plank on my tank which is a Red Sea XL200. I run it via my hydros controller for timing. My fish adore the tube and can’t wait for it to power up and dispense. Mine runs for 20 seconds two times per day. I have not had any issues with mine. Check the spacing of the little zip ties internally and make sure they are distributed evenly. I do use reef jerky but I also mix in Dr. Bassleer’s pellets and freeze dried mysis shrimp. I’ve had zero issues.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I use a plank and it works flawlessly and delivers a consistent tiny amount as desired.

I would caution you against the Lanthanum Chloride. It can be deadly for tangs.

 

[JPTFish]

I’ll also caution you that if you have snails they like to clean the inside of the feeding tube. I recommend turning the pump off a short time following completion of food dispensing. If you leave the pump running all the time and a snail “cleans” the inside of the tube, the water backs up and will dump on the floor.

 

[FernBluffReef]

I ordered a plank feeder based on reputation for precise amounts of food, general reputation and to put in my sump so I don’t have to see it :-)

Replacing an Ehiem auto feeder. The Ehiem currently feeds pellets. 4 spins a day which when I measured is just under 1/4 teaspoon TOTAL. My Tank is 112 gallon display. 3 tangs, 4 anthis, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, Pygmy angel, dottiback and half a dozen smaller gobies, blennies, mandrians.

I have to dose about 1ml neonitro a day and continuously add phosphate remover pellets. I just purchased some lanthium today and am planning on dosing small quantities daily vs constantly changing phosphate media. Oh yeah, I also feed 2-3 cubes of spirulina mysis. daily.

Now back to the plank. Was setting up and figuring out how long to run. Man this is a big feeder. I loaded with food and tested. First 5-10 seconds and a tiny amount of food came out GReat. BUT then the next couple seconds and the plank dumps around 1/2 teaspoons- about 2 days of food at once.

I see the plank in use on much smaller tanks then mine. I see many say they use for pellets. Was planning on adding some reef jerky after I get used to things.

Is this plank thing just meant for massive tanks. The feeder looks like it will hold many months worth of food for my tank which isn’t large but isn’t small either. 112 is a good sized tank and I have a good number of fish.

Is this the first time you tested it out?
The food comes out very slowly at first during the first use. That auger has to get food into it before it is being pushed out, but is very consistent after that.
If set up correctly, it is capable of dosing small quantities.
Are you using it with a controller?

Controller wise, I was testing at this point to figure out how long to run to get the amount of food I need, before hooking the feeder up to a timer.

I got a nearpow timer that Avast recommends which allows you to turn on X number of minutes/seconds per hour and off X number of minutes/ seconds. So for a 10 hour day time it would cycle 10 times.

The problem I ran into is within 30 seconds the feeder dumps over a tablespoon of food - just way too much. It seems to go in surges. 5-10 seconds with small amounts and then a massive dump. Then 5-10 seconds with small amounts and then A massive dump as the auger turns. So figuring out how long to run is …….

 

[FernBluffReef]

How long are you running the auger? I have two of them in use feeding a diy mix of freeze dried and pellets. One on my 100 gallon display and one n my 20long

In 30 seconds it dispenses a tablespoon of food. Way too much,but the bigger issue is it drops a huge amount at once and then nothing for a bit and then another huge amount

 

[FernBluffReef]

I use a plank and it works flawlessly and delivers a consistent tiny amount as desired.

I would caution you against the Lanthanum Chloride. It can be deadly for tangs.

Duly noted on Lanthanum. To tell you the truth, I forgot all about the concerns for tangs - so appreciate the reminder. Level of caution / care further increased as a look to that direction.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Hello, I have a plank on my tank which is a Red Sea XL200. I run it via my hydros controller for timing. My fish adore the tube and can’t wait for it to power up and dispense. Mine runs for 20 seconds two times per day. I have not had any issues with mine. Check the spacing of the little zip ties internally and make sure they are distributed evenly. I do use reef jerky but I also mix in Dr. Bassleer’s pellets and freeze dried mysis shrimp. I’ve had zero issues.

I see four cut off zip ties. They are fitted in slots so can’t be adjusted but yes are evenly spaced.

My tank is a RS525 so quite a bit larger. The auger on this feeder seems humongous. Well the feeder in general is large but I knew that going in. It’s going in the sump so I don’t have to see a feeder and so the food gets spread all over the tank.

With such a large auger, I’m not seeing how the feeder can dispense small quantities unless there is a cover or something missing at the end of the auger? In my initial testing it dumped a table spoon of pellets in 30 seconds.

I wonder if the pellets I have are too small, but based on the size of the auger I would not think larger pellets would make much difference

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a plank and have nothing but issues. I bought the reef jerky and find it’s incredibly inconsistent with dispensing food. Sometimes the auger spins and nothing comes out. Sometimes a little. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes it gets jammed up at the exit hole, and then as it pushes more forward, a ton comes out. I have not tried other foods. Only the reef jerky. Not sure if the issue is the jerky or the plank. Had high hopes. Never use the thing anymore.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I will take it off your hands :)

 

[VintageReefer]

I will take it off your hands :)

Maybe

 

[FernBluffReef]

Found this post from @jfm3 that sounds exactly like what I’m seeing.

“I feed Probiotix Regular Sinking Pellets and some ReefRoids to feed both fish and corals 3x/day for 2 sec/feed (You’ll need an auto timer that can be controlled down to the second.) Actually needed the ReefRoids to keep the pellets from pouring into the tank when the auger stopped on that sweet spot that allowed the small pellets to just pour out”

My pellets just randomly pour out. I was planning on starting with the pellets I have been using, esp since some are algae for the tangs, at least until they are used up and likely adding jerky, etc over time

I guess I’m going to mix jerky in and see if that solves the issue of the plank just randomly dumping large amounts of pellets. In the end I figured I’d get there eventually. Disappointed this feeder appears to require special foods / mixes of foods in order to work.

I also have a question out to Avast and will see what they have to say. If the above is the case they should call out

Thanks all for your inputs.

 

[Tcook]

I use tdo small and the plank feeds evenly. Feed times are about 10 seconds 4x/day controlled by my Apex. I leave the Plank pump on 24/7. This is for a 120 gallon. I found that mixing in the reef jerky made it clumpy and raised my PO4 like Reef Roids.

 

[FernBluffReef]

I use tdo small and the plank feeds evenly. Feed times are about 10 seconds 4x/day controlled by my Apex. I leave the Plank pump on 24/7. This is for a 120 gallon. I found that mixing in the reef jerky made it clumpy and raised my PO4 like Reef Roids.

Interesting. I have been using three different pellets mixed equally. TDO small, Seaweed Extreme and New Life Spectrum Marine. That mix just pours out.

I just mixed with some of the sample jerky that came with the feeder and that appears to have resolved l. Just set the timer and placed in tank to see what the critters think of it.

 

[Tcook]

Could the opening of the hopper be defective? Too large? If you continue to have issues see if you can rma it back to them. Maybe send Avast a short video

 

[JPTFish]

Here is what mine looks like. It’s different internally than yours but I’ve had mine at least 3 years. My zip ties are adjustable. Agree with other folks suggestions to reach out to Avast. I actually have two on these feeders. I run the second on my freshwater native fish tank. It’s ideal for precision prepared food customization. I also drop my home made frozen food cubes in it. It thaws and sends them out perfectly.

 

[FernBluffReef]

Avasts reply. In short the plank was designed for Reef Jerky only and nothing else.

They say that they and the partners are very careful to call this out and that any information about compatibility with any other foods is basically mis-information.

Anyway thanks everyone for your insights about this feeder. I have a decision to make at this point if to keep it and feed what they prescribe or send it back and try something that has broader compatibility