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i want to set up a tank at my summer/ weekend house , will a auto feeder owrk for a 29 gallon for regular use, i will be there on weekens and during summer, jsut not during the week

Hi,
The short answer is, yes. The automatic feeder would
work for you. The technicial problem is that these things
rotate and dump a given amount of food into the tank all
at once at each interval. As long as the hopper is full
the same amount is dumped.
The problem "I" would have is the quantity of food vs the
number and size of the fish. With these devices, over
feeding is generally the rule rather than the exception,
and one returns to find a cloudy, miserable mess, instead
of a crystal clear tank filled with contented fish.

Examine the your choices and find one that will drop the
correct, or slightly less than correct, amount of food
each time. Then you will have success.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I wouldnt trust an automatic feeder, i have one, and even if i finely ground the food, sometimes it gets jammed or stuck. and then theres that chance the batteries malfunction.. in short, i really wouldnt trust anything you can at least see everyday.

with my fishtanks, i like to look at the fish to make sure they're okay..

oh.. and another bad thing, automatic feeders can easily make a tank really dirty with nitrates and whatnot.....

*Chelle*
_______________________________________________
I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

I used to use an Auto feeder when we went on holidays, on arrival home it was common to find the opening had blocked up a little bit due to the moisture. It was a very good one not an cheap unit.

Also if they work on a timer which they must and the power goes off what happens then. This will effect the whole tank not just the feeder.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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I wouldn't leave a tank alone on that kind of schedule, personally. There is far too many things that could go awry, especially in a death tank such as a 29.

Plastic fish are cool too

Id concur there, I bought the funky eheim one, and despite the groovy variable settings, the reliability and its fan it still suffered from humidity issues. Id never rely on one outside of some sort of natural disaster or something.

Better than feeding blocks though. They really suck. Totally useless.

Better than feeding blocks though. They really suck. Totally useless.

Wonderful for feeding snails and a few other bottom dwellers especially those slow to find the food. Provided you don't have so soft of water that the block changes your parameters. I feed them out as treats all the time and what is suppose to last several days is usually gone overnight. I think they can be quite useful and provide much needed calcium to applesnails.

I wouldn't leave a tank alone on that kind of schedule, personally.

I agree with fallout. Not just the feeding thing that worries me. If you have a death or illness you are not going to discover it for a few days. I would feel worried that if there was a prob with the filter it may be pumping water all over the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

You could always get one of those tanks that has the little glass fish in it. They are so easy to take care of. All you have to do is replace some of the water occasionally.

If something were to happen while you are gone during the week and all your fish died because you didn't know about it, wouldnt you be upset? I was gone for liek 3 days and I was so worried that my fish were okay. Luckily they were fine. The only thing that happened was a case of brown algae has started because I left in a hurry and didn't get a chance to turn off the lights. 3 days straight with the lights on, you can imagine.


Christina

Dead fish/snails really smell. So does sodden carpet/flooring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I'd have to setup a web cam to monitor the tank and a moisture sensor under it.

Ive done the webcam thing too, how sad are we?
Actually I quite like looking at people tanks on webcam.

and OK sham, I know someone would find a use for those holiday blocks, but that isnt a holiday related use, its the whole " massively overfeeding your tank in a single day with a whole weeks worth of food " issue that I worry about. Im sure the snails cope fine without them, and I wouldnt risk all my fish with one just to feed my snails while I was on holiday. Easy enough just to drop some tablet foods in the auto feeder if you must.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 29-Nov-2005 03:42

Eheim 3581 "Feed-Air" Digital Automatic Feeder.

Web cam now there's an idea. Why not set up the webcam on your existing tank so you can enjoy it while you are at the other place. Then you won't be leaving a set up unattended. You can tell I am worried about leaving it unattened. What a chicken!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

My feeder is an eheim 3581, and I too was lured in by its impressive technical details, however despite the fan it still suffered humidity issues the same as all the others. Something to do with the feeding slot remaining open, and the fan only kicking in when it rotates methinks.

I've seen the newer battery powered ones with airtube inlets too. Does anyone have experience with these types?