Automatic Feeders

[ToeKnee]

Greetings all....

As the world turns, so do the days of our lives... and this year I
find that I will be away from home for the last two weeks of the year.

I don't have any neighbors who I feel comfortable asking to come over
and feed the 5 tanks daily. As such, I find that I am now in need of
an automated feeder.

I've been surfing the various stores online and have come to a general
idea of what I think sounds good, and what I would like to have. I
feed a variety of flakes, pellets, sinking discs, fresh, and freeze
dried. I know the fresh is out <shrug>, they will survive for 2
weeks. I intend to leave the freeze dried off the menu for this
period too. I am not worried about power going out for extended
periods, we have power outages, but it never lasts too long.

Prior to taking this plunge, I would like to know what ya'll have
used, liked, and didn't like. I hope to hear the good, the bad and
the ugly.

TIA!

Tony


--Tony

[Cheryl Rogers]

I have The Daily Double by Penn-Plax. It consists of a drum that rotates
and dispenses a user-set amount of food down a chute every 12 hours. It
works best with medium flakes and small pellets. If you use fine flakes, a
LOT of food will come out, even on the lowest setting. Large tabs may get
stuck in the chute, but you could break them up.

I recommend you set it up a week ahead of time and make a point to be there
when the food comes out.

It is battery powered. I got it at Wal-Mart for about $10.

The only time I ever had trouble was when I stupidly set it over the
airstone and the moisture clogged it up. The fish survived anyway. I did
have to reset my light timers to be on for slightly more than 12 hours.

There's nothing fancy about it--cheap plastic. But it worked!

Cheryl

ToeKnee wrote:

> Greetings all....
>
> As the world turns, so do the days of our lives... and this year I
> find that I will be away from home for the last two weeks of the year.
>
> I don't have any neighbors who I feel comfortable asking to come over
> and feed the 5 tanks daily. As such, I find that I am now in need of
> an automated feeder.
>
> I've been surfing the various stores online and have come to a general
> idea of what I think sounds good, and what I would like to have. I
> feed a variety of flakes, pellets, sinking discs, fresh, and freeze
> dried. I know the fresh is out <shrug>, they will survive for 2
> weeks. I intend to leave the freeze dried off the menu for this
> period too. I am not worried about power going out for extended
> periods, we have power outages, but it never lasts too long.
>
> Prior to taking this plunge, I would like to know what ya'll have
> used, liked, and didn't like. I hope to hear the good, the bad and
> the ugly.
>
> TIA!
>
> Tony
>
>
> --Tony

[steve]

ToeKnee > wrote in message

> I don't have any neighbors who I feel comfortable asking to come over
> and feed the 5 tanks daily. As such, I find that I am now in need of
> an automated feeder.

snipperooni...

> Prior to taking this plunge, I would like to know what ya'll have
> used, liked, and didn't like. I hope to hear the good, the bad and
> the ugly.
>
> --Tony

Tony, I'm now using a cheapo battery operated auto feeder. It
dispenses an adjustable portion at 12 hour intervals.

PROs
It is easily adjustable, dispensing a measured amount of crushed
flakes.
It is reliable, battery operated.
It is simple.
Low cost, about $15.

CONs
It only feeds on 12 hour intervals. I had to adjust my lights to come
on 1/2 hour before, and go off one half hour after the feedings to
make sure the fish could/would eat when it was light.
Flakes only, no variety. (could crush up some other dehydrated food as
long as it didn't ball up and clog)

I want to try a more sophisticated auto feeder in the future. Anybody
have experience?

steve

[Billy]

"steve" > wrote in message
om...
|
| Tony, I'm now using a cheapo battery operated auto feeder. It
| dispenses an adjustable portion at 12 hour intervals.


I have had the same experience with mine, sounds like we've got
similar models. I'm looking into the electronic ones that can be
programmed.

[ToeKnee]

On 29 Nov 2004 07:51:39 -0800, (steve) wrote:

>ToeKnee > wrote in message

Lots of snipping

>
>snipperooni...
>
>Tony, I'm now using a cheapo battery operated auto feeder. It
>dispenses an adjustable portion at 12 hour intervals.
>
>PROs
>It is easily adjustable, dispensing a measured amount of crushed
>flakes.
>It is reliable, battery operated.
>It is simple.
>Low cost, about $15.
>
>CONs
>It only feeds on 12 hour intervals. I had to adjust my lights to come
>on 1/2 hour before, and go off one half hour after the feedings to
>make sure the fish could/would eat when it was light.
>Flakes only, no variety. (could crush up some other dehydrated food as
>long as it didn't ball up and clog)

Steve,

sounds a lot like the PennPlax Daily Double that Cheryl described.
Doy you still have brand/model for it?

TIA

Tony


--Tony

[Michael Wilcox]

ToeKnee wrote:
> I've been surfing the various stores online and have come to a general
> idea of what I think sounds good, and what I would like to have. I
> feed a variety of flakes, pellets, sinking discs, fresh, and freeze
> dried.

As all of your food will be dry, could you pre-measure it all into paper
cups, label them, then have neighbors come in and drop in the day's
contents?

Since you have five tanks, I would suggest cutting the feeding down to
every two or three days.

I tried this plan when I was in the hospital and it worked great.
--
Michael Wilcox, http://dataportalen.com/mike/

[Billy]

"ToeKnee" > wrote in message
...
|
| sounds a lot like the PennPlax Daily Double
| Doy you still have brand/model for it?
|


"Penn-Plax" is the brand. "Daily Double II" is the model. I have the
same one.