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melev

Automating feedings and vodka dosings

Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
15 Comments
by
melev
, 05-21-2010 at 08:44 AM (19429 Views)
When I have to go out of town, it's important to keep even these simple things cared for. Relying on someone to physically dose my tank with the proper amount daily as well as feeding my reeflings - well, you just never know if it truly was done as promised. I don't like it, but I too suffer from doubt.

So I made a little Vodka doser. It's very simple, following the idea that was released via our YouTube channel from the MAX conference last month.


I made an acrylic tray since I wanted to keep the doser and Vodka in a secure spot. If the vodka eats through the Aqualifter's diaphragm gaskets, this tray will hold the liquid.


Vodka is in this very large test tube vial. I used a 1" coupling to hold it upright, cutting out a gap to be able to read the milliliter measurements. The cap has a tiny hole drilled in it to avoid creating a vacuum, but I'm hoping evaporation will be exceedingly limited.


The restriction is this little valve that is set to drip the effluent very slowly. Without it, the Aqualifter can move 3g per hour.


A simple timer set for 20 minutes once a day will dose 7.5 ml daily for now. This timer can be set to one minute intervals. I set it to dose at 6 p.m. daily.


The tray has legs to keep itself from falling into the sump.



For feeding my livestock, I bought two Eheim Daily Feeders. These are battery powered, and have a three year warranty. After observing how they worked, I created custom-made brackets to hold them securely over the tank. The food falls into a small chimney where it has time to soak and drop down into the reef, instead of floating away and down the overflows into the sump.


This is for the 280g. I have it set to one rotation at 6pm, and then at 9:10 pm it does two rotations one minute apart. This allows the more timid fishes an opportunity to get some food even with the tangs over-actively scoring their fill. I'm feeding my reef Instand Ocean's new Marine Chips.


I had to make the bracket so that it would hug the 3/4" wide eurobracing, which you can see above. And here's what the chimney looks like. It's actually too low. I only wanted it submerged 1/2" originally.



This feeder is for the 20g angled tank. Three fish, the anemone and some LPS wait below. The feeder's motor is secured with the included velcro pads. This tank gets some tiny pellet food by Red Sea called MarineGro.


This one was almost too shallow, but holds the food just enough to let it sink after a brief period.



I'll let you know how they work out.

EDIT: Added a video of the auto feeder in action

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Updated 05-26-2010 at 04:59 AM by melev

Categories
‎ Tank Entry , ‎ Feeding , ‎ DIY projects

Comments

  1. Hat39406's Avatar
    Very cool! But I have a few question. Does ya fish swim side ways because they are drunk? ;-) j/k

    Ok, what is that pump? It looks like a regular pump but I know it can't be. Where do you het them? How much do they cost?

    Now, an even better question. Could you explain why y'all dose vodka? And, while ya at it why ya dose baking soda too?
  2. Hat39406's Avatar
    Another question, should I be dozing my tank? I put some Purple Up in my tank every other day, which is really calcium. I just follow the bottle instructions.
  3. SaraB's Avatar
    Cool Marc, I'm interested to see how the Vodka dosing works with the aqualifter pumps! I alway shy away from anything that requires daily dosing as I sometimes have to travel for work or we are gone on the weekends for some activity. I've got 2 of those aqualifter pumps just laying around unused right now! Are you also dosing any bacteria along with Vodka?
  4. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    The pump is an aqulifter pump, you can find it in most online stores and LFS.

    Dosing Vodka is not for everyone. There is a lot of research that goes into dosing Vodka.

    Dosing with Baking soda "A BiCarbonate" is use to help maintain and increase Alk. levels in our tank.

    I do have 1 question Marc. Aren't you a little woried about over dosing with the vodka on that pump? I see you are only using a small tub that looks to have about 35ml in it which would be about 5 days for you. Can your tank handle that much vodka at one time if the pump or timer were to fail?
  5. melev's Avatar
    I have been dosing 15ml daily for a long time now so if all of it went in at once it could be problematic. It is my hope that it will only add the 7.5 ml for five days. That is why I'm running the test this way.

    Vodka is thinner than water and the valve leaked a little. By watching the fluid level in the vial, I can determine if that is a issue or not. Keep in mind the power to that pump is limited to 20 minutes per day. That lowers the risk factor.

    Sara -- no not at this time.
  6. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Hat, I test my tank at least weekly for Alk and Calcium. I've found that for my system using Kalk (lime water) for top off, and dosing 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) of baking soda each day keeps those two parameters stable. When I keep Ca between 400 and 450 and Alk between 8 and 9 all my corals look happier and I seem to have less algae growth too. I'm planning to set up an auto doser like Marc just did for the baking soda.
  7. Hat39406's Avatar
    Ahhh okay, thanks for the info, looks like.a nice setup!
  8. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Marc, where did you find that little valve? All the airline valves I've found are pretty chinsy looking compared to that one.
  9. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    It looks like the one that I have. It is a drip line valve from the gardening department at Home Depot.
  10. melev's Avatar
    Correct, and it took me a while to find it in all the irrigation stuff that Home Depot carries. It was around $2.50 for a two-pack.
  11. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    Marc, how do you think the pump will hold up with having the valve on it causing back pressure on it?
  12. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    I have one that's been pushing Kalk up 2' of head for the last 2 years, it only produces a dribble with that amount of head pressure, and it's still going strong.
  13. GoinAcropoora's Avatar
    Marc, NICE bracket setup and application of this setup with vodka.

    Keep in mind that having the drip point lower than the reservoir creates a "siphoning" effect leading to the "leaking" of additive. Try to either raise the drip valve higher than the reservoir, or lower the reservoir below the drip valve. Add a $2 check valve to stop the additive from creeping back up the line (affecting the accuracy and precision of the dosing system). Though, won't be a big factor with the short length of your tubing.

    Also, a very small air-gap in the lid of your reservoir will ensure that a vacuum won't occur (which will hinder the precision/accuracy). Make it as small as possible to minimize the evaporation of alcohol.
  14. melev's Avatar
    I'm back from my trip. I was gone for three days to speak to the Delaware Valley Reef Club, and hoped everything worked as planned. There's a possibility it did drip out more due to the siphoning effect, but at that restricted drip rate, it had to be minimal. I had the vial filled to 35ml, and it was supposed to drip 7.5 ml per day. When I got in, it was down to 5ml. So 30 ml were dripped into the tank over the past two dosings, as today's wasn't set to commence until 6pm. For whatever reason, the timer says it is just after 4pm which I haven't tried to figure out at the moment since I've only been home a smattering of minutes. I'll likely raise the drip tip as suggested.

    The feeders worked as well. The main reef got their one rotation snack at 6pm, about 8 minutes before I got home and all my fish were out and about. They must have just eaten.
  15. melev's Avatar
    Added a video of the Auto Feeder dropping food into the acrylic chimney.