I got it working with an aluminum capacitor!

this link helped a lot: http://www.iguanalabs.com/555kit.htm

It's just blinking an LED on 15 seconds, off 15 seconds. Now to find myself a 12V 300ma power adapter (for the relay).

I've only got the one 100uF aluminum capacitor. I omitted the 0.01uF capacitor which I saw in most of the other schematics. I followed the directions in the above link and it worked anyways. Know how this would affect it in the long run?

Oh, and how does one wire up a snubber? does the uF and the resistance have to be calculated?

just an update.

I got the prototype working. It's adjustable from 5 seconds to 1.5 minutes for each pump, and I have a switch that will shut off all the pumps for 3 minutes for feeding.

I tried to get the 555 to go through a JK flip flop for a 50% duty cycle, but output (O) of the JK chip doesn't actually reach 0 V/I, so it wouldn't trigger the amplifying transistor to shut off. So I only used the 555 with a resistor combo that gives as close to a 50% duty as possible.

When the final circuit board is soldered up, I'll post pics schematic diagrams. I'll have enough parts left over too in case anyone wants me to build them one or two. I'd do it for pretty cheap.