Automatic Feeders & Glass tops

[Kizmar]

Part 1:
Looking at getting an automatic fish feeder to drop very small portions of pellets in the morning while I'm at work. In the evenings they'll be fed mysis and other frozen/cold foods.

After looking online I've decided that I'd ask here, because there are a ton of them and I don't want to buy a POS.

I have a canopy and glass hoods on my tank, so I'm limited to a feeder that will work by sitting on top of the hood. I would love to hear suggestions if you guys have used auto-feeders that worked well and dispense accurately measured portions.

Why I want to do this...
I'm pretty sure my Coral Beauty is picking at a couple of my corals, and it only seems to happen while I'm at work. I'm guessing it's because she's getting too hungry and too impatient to wait for me to get home from work. She doesn't mess with anything on the weekend or days I work from home, because I feed them shortly after the lights turn on.

Part 2:
Now that it's heating up in Michigan, I've been reading through the "overheating" threads on here. Lots of great advice... which leads me to wonder if I should be working towards replacing my glass covers with screen covers of some sort.

My question here is... assuming my tank ISN'T overheating, is it still a generally good idea to get rid of the glass covers for any reason? Do they have any negative impacts if they're not causing overheating?

 

[little_fish]

You should absolutely get rid of the glass hood. It restricts gas exchange in the tank and you can basically suffocate your fish and corals because there isnt enough oxygen in the water. It also really cuts down on the light for the corals.

Also I wouldnt suggest using an automatic feeder, they have been known to drop all the food at once or non at all. But you can try it, but im not sure it will solve your coral issues. Once a coral eater, they tend to always be a coral eater.

 

[sen5241b]

Test test test auto feeders. Watch them and leave them alone only after you are sure they are working right. The good ones, if set up right, will work well.

Fans and your A/C will be cheaper than a chiller.

 

[Kizmar]

Maybe I'll forego the auto-feeder for now... here's another question: Would it hurt anything to drop some food in the tank in the morning even though the lights are off and the fish are still in their beds? It's bound to be eaten up as soon as they wake up.

Also, I'll start making some screen covers for my tank. I saw a guide on this somewhere but can't find it now. Is there a good resource on where to get screen material that won't be overly affected by the saltwater and lights?

 

[little_fish]

I would order the screen material from BRS, but if you get it from the hardware store make sure its not mildew resistant. That will cause bad things to happen in the tank.

And the fish wont eat the food, the crabs and snails will get it. Can you just turn the lights on earlier?

 

[Kizmar]

I could, but that would mean they're only on for a short period of time when I get home from work. I have more time to enjoy the tank in the evening then in the morning.

 

[little_fish]

You could turn them on just for little bit so you can feed them in the morning, and then turn them off again

 

[Kizmar]

That won't screw with the fish's tiny little brains? :D:question:

 

[little_fish]

It might ;) but its so much more fun being a little crazy

 

[FishyReef]

In terms of autofeeding, what about culturing some pods or brine shrimp in a refugium so that some would end up in the water column and give your fish some live food to pick on while you're away?

And screen tops are easy to do - you can pick up a few long pieces of frame, corners, a roller, and spline at home depot or lowes for pretty cheap, and then order the clear screen from BRS that Hannah mentioned. Smitty recently posted pics of his DIY screen in his tank thread - check it out! I re-screened a window last summer - easiest home repair project ever - and have bought everything to make a screen top for my 90 to keep my future jumpers in the tank :) Definitely an easy DIY upgrade for your tank!

 

[snyderju]

I made a cover for our tank out of eggcrate. It is easy to cut and fit and is pretty sturdy as well. I'll try to post some pics of it.

 

[snyderju]

Reef Update - YouTube

This is a link to a video update of my 29 gallon. You can see the top I made out of eggcrate pretty well. You can also see the piece of acrylic that I cut for it to guard our light. It works great and is really easy to install on just about any tank. Plus, I've read some articles about screen blocking a lot of light and people were getting considerably lower PAR readings towards the bottom of their tanks. I haven't tested it myself but with the eggcrate you can easily cut out the center where the light sits and the lid remains sturdy. This allows all the light to make it into the tank. It is what I did but I also installed an acrylic splash guard for our LEDs.

 

[BL1]

The only problem with using egg crate as a top is that smaller fish like firefish and smaller wrasses can fit through the holes in the top. And you make that an even bigger problem when you cut a huge hole in the top for your light.
The people having problem with PAR loss may be using standard door screen material which has very small holes and is black which absorbs light. The kind BRS sells has larger holes and is transleucent to allow more light through. I've used the BRS screen before and if it blocks any light at all, the effect is minimal at best.

 

[snyderju]

The thing I like about eggcrate is that it molds so easily to my tank. I have a lot of things that hang on the back of my tank such as the refugium and my in tank protein skimmer. It makes it a lot easier. The hole for my light is covered with acrylic so I don't have to worry about fish jumping through it.

 

[Kizmar]

Well, a few days ago I finally got around to hanging my LED UFO lights and took the glass tops off the tank. It dropped almost 2 degrees just from that!

It's amazing how much more water evaporates now that the tops are off.