How do you feed your fish (those with a sump)?

[+KimP]

Right now I have it so my return pump, a mag 9.5, turns off about 5 min before the automatic feeder dumps some food in, then it turns back on about 10 min after. This happens once a day. I'm strongly suspecting one of my fish needs food more than once per day. My concern is the pump. Is it going to wear on it too much to have it turn off and on twice a day? How do others feed? If I put food in with the return on, the food all goes pretty much strait for the overflow, it takes a bit for it to get wet enough to sink.

[jestep]

I don't feed very often but I do basically the same thing, just manually instead of an auto-feeder. I don't think cycling the pump 2 times per day is going to cause excessive wear on a normal pump. It's when you try to pretend it's a powerhead and put it on a wavemaker that you start getting more rapid wear.

[Planeden]

Drop food in the return chamber, then when it sinks it blows into the tank.

Ok, I don't do that, but I put the food in under water so it doesnt go out right away. Clearly I'm not using an auto feeder.

[victoly]

Right now I have it so my return pump, a mag 9.5, turns off about 5 min before the automatic feeder dumps some food in, then it turns back on about 10 min after. This happens once a day. I'm strongly suspecting one of my fish needs food more than once per day. My concern is the pump. Is it going to wear on it too much to have it turn off and on twice a day? How do others feed? If I put food in with the return on, the food all goes pretty much strait for the overflow, it takes a bit for it to get wet enough to sink.

two on and offs per day shouldnt be a big deal at all. I'm jealous of that setup though with the auto feeder!

[(Bio)³]

2 on offs wont hurt at all.

If you dump into the return are and have the pump blow it up when it sinks your gonna have to clean your pump a lot more often to reduce unwanted waste

[Timfish]

i use ehiem autofeeders and set them for all 8 feedings. To keep food from going down the overflow I set the return to create some kind of eddy.

[+KimP]

i use ehiem autofeeders and set them for all 8 feedings.  To keep food from going down the overflow I set the return to create some kind of eddy.

So you have it feed 8 times per day? What do you mean by some kind of eddy?

[(Bio)³]

i use ehiem autofeeders and set them for all 8 feedings. To keep food from going down the overflow I set the return to create some kind of eddy.

So you have it feed 8 times per day? What do you mean by some kind of eddy?

I think he means his return line is right at the surface so the auto feeder dumps into the agitated surface and pushes the food under before it can go get a chance to float on the surface to the over flow. which is a brilliant idea, I used to feed flakes this way in my QT so it would broadcast feed the whole system (tried to grow algae to feed starving sea hares and gulf hermits)

[Timfish]

My prefered set up is to have the return next to the overflow pointed away from if across the back or diagaonally to the opposite corner. The autofeeder is set at the opposite end of the tank and if possible is set several inches above the surface though most of the time it's immediately above the surface. This usually creates a gentle eddy in the middle of the tank that catches most or all of the pellets.

[+KimP]

Okay great, thanks. That's how you set my return also. So do you have the feeder set to feed 8 times per day?

[+Mlaw]

I have two different autofeeders (well had, I dropped one in the tank. Not sure if it will recover) One with seaweed pellets and the other with spectrum. They drop the food right on top of the intake so the current catches the pellets and swirls them into the water column. Works most of the time.

I did have a problem when I dropped frozen cubes in because they wouldn't melt fast enough and would float into the overflow. I solved that problem by placing a small powerhead near the overflow to create the eddy that is mentioned by other posters above. That works, but the best way to keep the frozen cubes from going to the sump was to add a few more fish. The little pigs tear the cube to shreds before it has a chance to get to the sump.

[victoly]

I have two different autofeeders (well had, I dropped one in the tank. Not sure if it will recover) One with seaweed pellets and the other with spectrum. They drop the food right on top of the intake so the current catches the pellets and swirls them into the water column. Works most of the time.

I did have a problem when I dropped frozen cubes in because they wouldn't melt fast enough and would float into the overflow. I solved that problem by placing a small powerhead near the overflow to create the eddy that is mentioned by other posters above. That works, but the best way to keep the frozen cubes from going to the sump was to add a few more fish. The little pigs tear the cube to shreds before it has a chance to get to the sump.

the other option is to melt them in ro before you put them in

[jestep]

the other option is to melt them in ro before you put them in

I melt and rinse mine if they're not like rods or others where I actually want the frozen stuff in there. I could measure PO4 spikes in my 28 when I would add a straight mysis or brine shrimp cube.

[+Mlaw]

I feed rod's and mysis cubes. I would rinse but my tank has limited access because it was built into a wall by a guy that had no idea what he was doing. I had to come back later and install a piece of PVC with a cap in the window seat built over the tank so I can drop food in. Melted or wet stuff doesn't do well going down the tube.

[chippwalters]

FWIW, Here's my cycle..

I have Vortechs and in the morning and evening I just press the far left button for a few seconds and the pumps go into feed mode. Then I sprinkle pellets or flakes. I used to try mysis, but it seemed really messy and a lot didn't get eaten resulting in phosphate spikes.

When I come home from work, I turn off the return pump and ATO, then add a couple capfulls of Marine Snow, followed by a tweezer full of Coral Frenzy and another tweezerful of Golden Pearl Reef and Larvae Fish Diet, keep the Vortechs going and the whole tank tends to go a bit nuts. Most everything hungry chomps down and closes up. I set my iPhone for 10 minutes to be sure and not forget to turn on the pump and ATO. Surprisingly, I still have zero algae even though I feel I'm overfeeding. I think it has to do with reactor, UV sterilizer and cryptic sump. HTH.

[Timfish]

With frozen food I always tell people to hold it under water in your hand. Best way to train the fish seeing you equals seeing food. I've seen tanks soley feed with autofeeders where the fish are are scittish and they hide whenever someone walks up to the tank.

[offroadodge]

I turn off 2 ball valves for the drains and then switch the main pump off, the returns have check valves so all the flow (drain and return) are stopped. I then pour in the thawed frozen food and proceed to clean the glass, usually when im done so are the fish. Then I just turn everything back on.

[Neon Reefer]

I prefer to feed my fish by hand because I like the response I get as they become like puppies. Frozen food ect... I just place in the water. I do not turn anything off. I have enough turbulence in the water that all the food is suspended beneath the surface and the power heads + return just blows it everywhere. Fish grab it all in a couple of minutes and very little makes it to the overflow. But that's what the sponge is for in the sump. I clean it once a week and rarely see any remains on it. My Trates and Phates are undetectable on Red Sea Pro, therefore I am confident they are quite low even taking into consideration testing noise.

In fact I suspect my numbers are too low and am fixing to start work on raising them a bit with coral foods. I haven't needed to replace my GFO or GAC in two months now and my PSK 150 skimmer barely pulls any waste anymore since original setup. Very little plankton and near zero amounts of pest algae. I really don't get the reasoning of turning everything off to feed. Of course now I feed only high quality frozen and have no need for pellets or flakes. All my fish are meat eaters, and the frozen spreads below the surface quite well.

[+KimP]

Thanks for all the replies, this has been very interesting. I have the auto feeder as a backup for the days I get tied up with the kids or when I'm gone. I love to feed the tank myself, so I just close the little door on the auto feeder and do it myself most of the time. I tried letting it go without turning the return pump off and the pellets just don't sink fast enough, even with the return facing the feeder and both powerheads and wave maker on. Frozen food is fine just like neon reefer said. I'm glad it's no big deal to just turn the return off. The apex makes it very easy.

[(Bio)³]

Just saw this on another forum and thought of you. Someone asked the same question and a member chimed in that they use

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001EUJO2A/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_details_o07_s00_i00&tag=5336653614-20

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

[+KimP]

Just saw this on another forum and thought of you. Someone asked the same question and a member chimed in that they use

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001EUJO2A/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_details_o07_s00_i00&tag=5336653614-20

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4

That's a great idea! Thanks for the link!