Long weekend feeder options for salt water?
 

I have an 8g bio-cube set up at my work, The bissell centre. There is 1 clownfish, 1 green clown goby, 1 hectars goby a peppermint shrimp and a cuc. We are closed for 4 days over the long weekend. I do not have the code for the alarm (I will be asking for it, so I can go in and feed the fish) but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to have it.

I know there are those white cubes of food for fresh water fish to pick at if your gone away for awhile but I don't know if there is anything like that for saltwater fish. The repashy food (the uneaten portion) rots after 2 days so that won't work and since it's a bio-cube I can't think of a spot I could put a fish food timer on. Any ideas?

Laurie the fish should be good for that long I wouldn't worry about it

absolutely, 4 days is nothing , they could go 2 weeks i bet if needed.

I wouldn't worry about 4 days either.

However, I've found some awesome fish feeders recently. Fish Mate F14 feeders. It stores 14 meals for 1 feeding per day for 14 days, or it will feed up to 5 feedings per day. You can feed 1 pellet per day if you want or up to about 1 tsp per meal. It is very versatile and very simple. It also has an airline hook up if you need it. Drs Foster & Smith used to carry them for $25 (sale for $18-20), but they don't carry them anymore. Amazon.ca has them for $37 I think it is.

These are what I use, it allows for different foods in the same feeder if you wish.
I find them through amazon.com and they only ship to U.S. addresses (correct me if I'm wrong) and wish they were avail through Canadian suppliers.

I will also add to the '4 days is OK' crew. I now use an EHEIM auto feeder but prior to getting it my fish would often go for 3-4 days without feeding during long weekends or short vacations. Once my fish even went 7 days without food when my auto-feeder broke. It fell into the tank while I was on vacation and I instructed my tank sitter not to bother feeding because I didn't want them to OVER feed the tank.

They will ship to Canadian addresses, but you can also order through www.amazon.ca which is the Canadian version of www.amazon.com. :)

www.amazon.com is $27.54 plus about $9 shipping.
www.amazon.ca is $35 or $37 with free shipping. I don't see anyone offering the feeder on amazon.ca right now though.

My problem with fish feeders, is that I can't lower my pump speed at the same time as the auto feedings. As a result, the food gets whipped around so much the fish have a hard time catching it.

Would be nice to be able to connect a feeder to my Apex.

don't most feeders have timed feeding? I'm not familiar with any other feeders other than the EHEIM that I use, but mine is set by the time. Because of this I can program my controller for a 5 min feed pause to sync with the auto-feeder's set time(s).

Yes, but the timer is stand alone, and can't connect to anything else. So you have to ensure the time is in sync with your controller. And if you have a power outage while you are gone on vacation, for sure you will be out of sync.

In my specific case, even that is a moot point, as my pumps aren't connected to my Apex anyway.

This is true, both clocks are independent but the EHEIM is battery operated so no power outage worries there. The controllers have battery backups for their clocks. The two clocks do tend do drift over time but for me that's in a matter of 8-10 months before they are completely out of sync. My feed pause runs for 5 minutes which is a huge feed pause since the food is mostly gone within 1 minute. That gives me a 4 minute margin for error for drift.

Actually, you're right. Had a bit of a brain fart when I wrote that... So I guess if you set both to the same times, and give your pumps some extra time, you should be OK.

But again in my case, because my pumps are not connected to my Apex, it still bugs me that I can't slow my pumps when my feeder comes on.

That's interesting, I actually prefer my pumps to stay on when my feeder dumps in so that all fish have a fighting chance to get food. Otherwise there are a 2, maybe 3 champions that would eat it all and the rest would go hungry.

On to the original question, Laurie there are a couple different inexpensive autofeeders you can get. Too bad we're so far away I have a handful I keep on hand for this sort of thing, I'd totally lend you one. But I can't be the only packrat who keeps a surplus of autofeeders, maybe someone closer by can lend you one for the weekend?

Only thing is I would suggest you set it up well in advance so you have a chance to dial it in so you don't have any surprises when you get back on Monday.

No, with my tank, it is the other way around. The fast fish are better at catching the food in the currents, and it disappears before the slower more timid fish get it.

With the pumps on feed mode, the food spreads around more, and everyone gets a chance to get their share. My top feeders get more before it falls and gets eaten by the mid and bottom feeders.

I have 95x turnover in my 90-gallon, and the fish catch the food just fine. In the wild, the waves don't abate when a piece of food comes near a fish. Just sayin'... :mrgreen:

Well, maybe I spoiled mine...:smile:

Thanks Myka.:biggrin:
I've been looking for one like this. I'll keep an eye on Amazon.ca


Yeah. I have "slow" fish too. :redface: Maybe there some sort of remedial feeding class...

feeders on both ends maybe =)

Like she said in the OP.... This is a biocube so there is no real good way to put an autofeeder on the tank..... I say feed twice on Thursday and when you get back in on Monday morning

longest ive gone for over a holiday was 10 days without feeding , all the fish were fine and where very happy to see me when i got back , i fed more on the week leading up and the week after the vacation and had no problems so i wouldent worry about 4 days.

Good info to know (I also think AI and Big Al's sell them) but unfortunately (as Doug said below) it is a bio-cube and there isn't anywhere to hang an auto feeder.

Thanks hun for pointing that out, and thanks everyone for all the info. I guess I won't worry to much if I can't get a code. I've never gone more then 2 days without feeding so 4 days seems super long to me. Good to know they should be ok.