Automatic feeder

[eds]

Has anyone used or even seen [url=http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUPERFISH-AUTO-POND-F ... 0.m14#shId]one of these[/url]?

I'm after a cheap automatic feeder for my Growing on tank as I've really noticed the difference in these fish over the holidays while I've been here to feed them 4-6 times a day and want to carry this on when I go back to school! As I'll be looking it on it every day I'm hoping a cheap one like this will do but I've never seen them at any of my local fish shops and wondered if anyone had. If anyone has seen one (or the similar Velda one which seems to be the same but black and £20 more!) how big are they and do they look ok? Cheers.

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No one? Guess I might give it a go then and will let you guys know what it's like. After all it's only £30 so worth a punt I reckon.

[Louie]

Hi......

The ad tells you the measurements and also how much it holds!!

Louie

[TicToc]

Doesn't look to shabby at all Eds. Suggest you buy it first and give us some feedback
Tickers

[eds]

The ad tells you the measurements and also how much it holds!!

Oops! Missed that. Will have to go and weigh 300g of pellets!

I'll order one later and when I get it I'll let you all know if it's any good.

[GERRY5]

just seen this post got friends who are selling theres , look at swap shop sales if you want one cheap

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just seen this post got friends who are selling theres , look at swap shop sales if you want one cheap

Cheers Gerry, but I've already ordered one! Only cost me £30 though so not too much more! Should be here either tomorrow or Tuesday so I'll post when I've given it a go.

Hopefully someone else can grab a bargain!

[eds]

Well it arrived today and I've set it up.

It's pretty solidly built IMO. The only bits that are a little flimsy are the two doors either side that cover up the food container and the timer on the other side but they're shut all the time to waterproof the unit.

The stand it came with looks pretty solid too but I'm not using that as it's sitting on the shelf over the QT.

The problems I've seen so far is that it doesn't hold much food; I'm going to be filling it up every couple of days! And it doesn't dispense much food each time either. On the highest setting it's giving slightly less per feed than I would feed in one go.

Also with the timer you have a 24hr wheel that slowly rotates with pegs every 4 hours that can be slid out if you want a feed or slid in if you don't. So you're fixed at having feeds at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm and 10pm! I don't know whether koi will feed in the darkness but I've turned the 2am and 10pm feeds off for now.

However none of these will be big problems really as I can still give them a couple of feeds a day to make up for the smaller portion size and only 4 feeds. What I could possibly do is attach extra pegs onto the wheel at other times so I could have feeds every 2 hours.

Overall though I'm pretty happy with it. For £30 it will do the job I wanted, but it's not going to feed a pond full of big koi; one koi could eat the whole portion dispensed each time!

I'll update this with some pictures later to help explain how it works a little better.

[TicToc]

Thanks Ed - That was quick.

Look forward to piccies as I don't have as many Koi as you.

Cheers TicToc

[eds]

Thanks Ed - That was quick.

Look forward to piccies as I don't have as many Koi as you.

Cheers TicToc

It was quick; they're a good company and always deliver quickly IME.

Here are the pics!
First of all a side view and end view of the unit. It's about a foot square and 6" thick and the food comes out of the bottom.
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2460.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2461.jpg[/img]

Next the internals! The side flaps hinge upwards to reveal the food container. Here it is in situ and removed.
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2456.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2455.jpg[/img]

On the other side is the timer and then a close up showing the pins which slide out to dispense food.
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2457.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/eds ... 0_2459.jpg[/img]

I've had a few teething problems with the timer. It wasn't going round at first but after reading the instructions it says to turn it 360 degrees clockwise to reset the timer and it started working fine. It took a while for me to see it actually dispense food which had me worried, but it's working fine now and has dispensed the first batch of food to the fish a while ago!

My first impressions are that it is fine for a few small koi where you're going to be monitoring things regularly but it's no good for a lot of fish for a week or two. In fact it's no good for a even a couple of large fish as it won't dispense enough. I'm not sure how robust the timer mechanism is either and whether it will reliably dispense food each time, but it looks fine so far.

[TicToc]

Ed,

Sorry, have been somewhat distracted with various other issues.

Thanks for posting the update and assessment. Still trying to work out how much it dispenses... a handful or more? What will you do send it back?

Best
Tickers

[emmaandaj]

Hi Ed,

I use one of these battery feeders, picked them up for about £40. They hold about 2kgs at a guess? It uses 2 C cell batteries and can feed four times a day with the option of a double feed each time. Ive had three of these for a couple of years with no real problems. Only fault is the lid clip breaks on them but not a problem if indoors as the lids still sit on the feeder ok. I modify them by siliconing a 2inch connector to the bottom so i can add a pipe as my pond has a cover on.

Modified with 2 inch pipe to direct food

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/emma ... dd1011.jpg[/img]

Hole cut in cover for pipe

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/emma ... dd1012.jpg[/img]

One single feed

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/emma ... dd1014.jpg[/img]

One double feed

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/emma ... dd1015.jpg[/img]

Broken lid

[img]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/emma ... dd1016.jpg[/img]

Andy

[eds]

What will you do send it back?

Best
Tickers

No, it's working out fine so far. It's dispensing probably about 2/3rds of what Andy's feeder does so not too bad. I will keep this over the winter in the QT and then look at whether I need a bigger feeder once the babies are much bigger next spring!

Andy, Your feeder looks pretty smart. Was that from Ebay?

[emmaandaj]

Hi Ed,

I got one from a local dealer and the other two from the south east show. I think Ace Of Koi has them on offer at the moment.

Andy

[eds]

Thanks for that Andy. Unfortunately I may have to look at other options as this feeder has blocked twice since my initial post on its performance. The 6mm pellets I am using seem to be too big for this unit. They get trapped between the hopper which rotates and the outer case so I've either got to use smaller pellets (tough as I'm part way through my third bag of pellets from Maurice and want to use them up before/through winter and find them brilliant and the right size for the fish), cut the side of the feeder off so they can't get trapped (which may allow water into the mechanics and electronics so not ideal) or send it back as IMHO it's not fit for purpose as it will not dispense food correctly and no mention of pellet size is made in either instructions or on the box about the size of pellets, only that you can only use pellets - which I am!!!

Not really sure what to do so may send an e-mail to Superfish to see what they say.