Automatic feeding machines

[arye.gur]

Hi all,

My name is Arye and I am living in Haifa, Israel.

I have a 300 liter fresh water corner aquarium.

My question is about automatic feeding machines. I own Ehiem and JBL machines.
In both machines I have problems with moisture that "glues" the food and covers the opening of the machines. I am using air pump with the JBL but it doesn't help.
This makes the machines untrustable to the point that no food comes out of the opening.

Do you have a solution or maybe another machine that does the job?

Thanks,
Arye

[William]

Hi and welcome to AC. We are happy to have you here!

[arye.gur]

Thanks.

Arye

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to the forum.

I've no feeding machine, so no experience with them...why must you use one?..are you away from your tank alot?

[cm12setx]

Hi and welcome.
I don't have a automatic feeder also. But what type of food are you using? Like flake, pellets, or granular. If flake you might try a pellets or granular too seriously if it is less susceptible to moisture.

[Boundava]

Can you minimize the opening to the tank so that less water sprays up to the feeders? How high is the water compared to the feeder?

You could try raising the feeder and making a funnel or chute for the food to go down into the tank that has a wider opening to help keep it clear of food buildup.

[arye.gur]

4252742528

Here are the pics.

The food is Sera vpan mixed with Sera vpangrano.

Arye

[JasonH]

Hello and welcome to AC!

[steeler58]

Welcome to the forum ;-)

[gadget228]

Welcome to the AC... :22:

[arye.gur]

Can you minimize the opening to the tank so that less water sprays up to the feeders? How high is the water compared to the feeder?

You could try raising the feeder and making a funnel or chute for the food to go down into the tank that has a wider opening to help keep it clear of food buildup.

Are there such chute to buy? This seems to be a good idea.

And thanks for all welcoming greetings thumbs2:

Arye

[Boundava]

I cannot seem to find anything to purchase specificaly. I have seen a company sell their feeder with a chute:

http://www.super-feeder.com/moisturetrap.html

Someone built their own with a 3-d printer (just for an idea)

http://www.instructables.com/id/3d-printed-funnel-system-for-my-fishtanks-automati/


I think if you can find a way to lift the feeder up and can put a funnel or a chute under the opening where it dispensed the food and channel it in to the tank that would work. Also if you can cover most of that opening on your tank to keep the water from evaporating into the feeder-it may help too. Could be as easy and using a plastic water bottle and cutting it up to fit, or acetate sheets to chute the food into the tank.

[arye.gur]

I will build a wooden box to lift the machine and if it doesn't help, I will add a chute to move the machine back of the water.

I will report, it is a good idea for many users of these kind of machines, I think.

Thanks again,
Arye

[Boundava]

Best of luck and show us when you are done.

[wgoldfarb]

Welcome to the AC! I have an Eheim automatic feeder, but mine has a small fan that turns on at every feeding to circulate air inside the food compartment, it is supposed to keep the food dry.

One idea might be to put inside the food compartment one of those little bags of silica gel to absorb the moisture? You'd have to be careful to place it so there is no possibility of the bag blocking the food in any way. I am talking about something like these (http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Moisture-Absorbing-Indicating-Contains/dp/B001UYEBNW). They sell them as small as 1 gram.