Method of feeding tank while on vacation

This weekend I have been preparing my tanks for vacation, by
setting up an auto top-off system credit for the method/idea:
http://www.athiel.com/lib12/diytopoff.htm

I usually have a friend come over every other day to feed my FOWLR tank
(a 240g with a small dog face puffer and a pair of tomato clowns) and add
water to that and the reef tank. (currently no fish in the reef)

The top off system got me thinking on how others may feed their fish
frozen foods while away. I had an idea that is likely crazy (based on the
rate of ice melting), but i figured I would toss it out there to generate
some discussion, so here goes.

Take a 3" diameter pvc pipe 12" or oolong , drill a few holes through it
spaced a few inches apart, and slide in a nylon/plastic rod to make a type
of 'rebar' support, then put a cap on the bottom to fill it. Fill with a
little water(ro/di same used for top-offs) and then some krill or other
frozen foods. let it freeze solid, and repeat until the cylinder is full.
This would give a bit of a layered effect food/ice/food/ice etc.
Once frozen the end cap would be removed. Prior to use, the plastic
cylinder would have a type of insulated jacket put on the outside to slow
the melting, and then suspended over the tank. The plastic rods that go
through the cylinder would prevent the ice block from sliding out and
splashing into the tank, and the dripping water while slowly melting and
dropping pieces of food into the tank also is a method to top off the
tank. The thermodynamics and calculations to determine the rate of melting
would be pretty complicated, but if the cylinder can be insulated enough,
the surface area exposed to the ambient room temperature is fairly small,
just a few square inches.

So did anyone follow this? does it make any sense? thoughts.....

-Rick

--
-----------
"The more general the title of a
course, the less you will learn"

Rick Wagner wrote:


So did anyone follow this? does it make any sense? thoughts.....

-Rick


I'm a newbie to this hobby, but if you could keep the feeding solution
at room temperature (I don't know if this is possible - would it go
bad?), then it would be a simple enough task (I could probably spec this
out), to make a system that dispenses a pre-measured amount of the
feeding fluid at a regularly scheduled interval.

If necessary, and as long as the feed does not have to be frozen but
mearly refrigerated, it would also be possible to have the solution
pumped out of a refrigerated storage, allowed to rest at room temp for x
number of hours, then pumped into the tank at the scheduled time. If
temparature matching was important, then you could have the fluid get to
the tank temperature by having the holding area be in the tank or sump
so that the temperatures equalize.

I'm also thinking that if there is no need to refrigerate the food, you
could experiment with an IV drip which can be purchased at a medical
supply house. You'd probably want something suitable for saline drip.

formula 1 & formula 2 pellets on any commercial fish tank auto feeder.

any fish can live with that

otherwise the frozen foods do go bad and are fairly solid in material (shrimp/squid/fish
.....).

--
Richard Reynolds