auto feeder

[imacleod]

Hey everyone,

I have a 120 gallon freshwater cichlid tank with a variety of cichlids (say, maybe between 20 and 30).  I'm looking for an automatic feeder for when I'm away on vacation in August.  I have a couple of those cheap twice a day walmart turning ones for other tropical tanks but they are spotty and don't seem to have a setting that reliably gives the fish enough food (flake).  Not really wanting to risk my fish turning on eachother while I'm away for 2 weeks (will have someone come check up part of the way through)...

Any of you have experience with a decent auto-feeder that can reliably feed this large an aquarium?  Even if I could borrow one briefly to try it out? 

Any advice would be swell.

Thanks all,
Ian

[Saltcreep]

I use the Eheim auto-feeder on a 75 gallon freshwater and a 75 gallon FOWLR (for now). If I remember correctly, you can program up to four feeding times per 24 hours and they can deliver one or two doses of food at each feeding. The amount of feed per dose is set with a mechanical slide thingy. Battery operated (last a long time) so no issues with power outages. I use mine in conjunction with a programmable timer from Noma which turns off the main pumps for ten minutes and then back on again. About two minutes after the pumps go off, the feeder does its thing. The fish then have about eight minutes to eat before any floating excess is sucked into the overflow when the pumps come back on. I chose the Noma timer because it has a battery backup so the timer and feeder are always in sync. With summer here, I'm away from my tanks for four or five days at a time and this system has worked flawlessly for me for at least 7 or 8 months. The Eheim feeders are a bit more expensive than the Wal Mart cheapies (about the $100.00 level, I think) but you can't beat Eheim. I have one of the twice-a-day ones too, (from Wal Mart) and have had no issues with it. One important note when using any auto feeder, is to make sure it doesn't get even damp, because the damp food will cause them to clog up. They will feed any dry food that is small enough to be dispensed, like flake, small pellets or some freeze-dried foods.


Hope that helps.