Tuesday Tech Tips - Aquarium Auto Feeders
Adding an automatic feeder to your aquarium is a simple and cost effective upgrade that comes with many benefits. Auto feeders allow you to control how much food is fed and when it is fed. This is important because over feeding often results in unwanted algae growth problems and generally contributes to poor water quality. Automatic aquarium feeders also allow you to make sure your fish, inverts and corals are being fed properly while you are away on vacation or traveling for work.
There are several models of automatic aquarium feeders available on the market from the simple such as the cost effective Hydor Ekomixo. Perhaps the most reliable auto feeder are the Eheim feeders. They come in two different models, a single food chamber feeder, and a dual food chamber feeder. This allows you to either mix all the food into one feed chamber, or separate the different foods into two chambers (ie; one chamber for fish foods and another for coral foods). All aquarium feeders can be programmed to feed a preset amount of food at different times throughout the day.
There is also a variety of flake, pellet and fine particle food for not only fish, but also corals! Flake food for fish should include color enhancing pigments, spirulina, and a variety of sea weeds. Over the past few years, coral pellets and fine particle foods have been developed specifically for use in auto feeders. Neptune Systems in conjunction with Reef Nutrition, has developed the Crossover Diet pellets, Brightwell Aquatics has introduced the Reef Blizzard products, three fine particle foods for various corals and invertebrates, and Two Little Fishies has a fantastic line of coral food including zooplankton, phytoplankton and a dry food product specially designed for Goniopora corals.
Setting up an aquarium auto feeder is a great idea whether you are going to be out of town, or staying at home. It is simple and inexpensive, and you will benefit from the piece of mind in knowing that your fish, invertebrates and corals are being fed the right type of food, in the right amount, at the right times.