Does anyone thaw frozen food and keep a refrigerated slurry in clean water for any period of time longer than a day? I’m kicking around an idea for a DIY automatic feeder using a mini fridge and pump…
Frozen food slurry?
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I don't mix mine with water but I do keep it in the fridge for a day even 2 days sometimes. Fish don't complain and it smells about the same as when I thaw it. Currently I mix PE mysis, frozen Hikari cubes varying types and Rods original with a few drops of vitachem and selcon
Roatan Reef
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I make food for 4 days...yes...many on R2R will tell you it's a no no...but I make my saltwater food for 4 days, keep it it refrigerated. Fish, coral love it. I add dry food and reef caviar as a second feeding. I keep the caviar frozen. Never have any issues.
I mix LRS or Rods, Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef and Brine Shrimp, and a tad of food my LFS makes.
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Townes_Van_Camp
Valuable Member
I've been mixing my own for years. Mussels, clams, shrimp, from the seafood counter, chopped and mixed with PE mysis and calnis, then a little nori mixed I for good measure. Then I freeze the cubes in silicone trays with glad peel and stick as a lid. It must be completely frozen for 4 days after mixing to kill all bacteria.
David_CO
Active Member
I do this when I travel for work which is generally a couple weeks per month. I use a Way oversized kamoer peristaltic pump I had to manually wire up. I think it runs at 500ml/min or so. I had to pick one in this range because it has a larger tube diameter that doesn’t get clogged with the food. I also only use pe mysis because it’s a consistent size and doesn’t clog for the most part. I have the pump mounted on top of a mini fridge (one of the ones that holds 4-5 soda cans) and inside I have a vessel to hold the food/ro mixture and a stir plate. I generally add some citric acid to lower the ph and inhibit some bacterial growth but I don’t always do it. I have no idea if this theory has any merit, but I feel a little better about the bacteria growing in pe mysis since it’s a freshwater shrimp and *in my theory* should grow bacteria that’s less likely to be harmful to a reef aquarium than something sourced from the ocean. I’ve been using this setup for roughly a year and a half without any issues. Between uses I remove the vessel and runs bunch of hydrogen peroxide through the system. I normally turn the pump on for 5-10 seconds let it clear the line of the left over fish juices then let it sit for 20-30 mins and repeat several times.
DocMcC
New Member
Hi,
I have been working on the following ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2024-diy-frozen-food-feeder.1054288/ ) for the last few months - can feed 4 cubes every second day for 20 days.
While keeping the food just below zero I also use preservatives to keep the food fresh. Got the idea here: Automatic Frozen/refrigerated food dispenser | REEF2REEF Saltwater and Reef Aquarium Forum
I have also changed it a little, using a second small pump to back fill with salt water mixed with the preservative mix rather than using tank water. I do backwash enough tank water to rinse the tube of the main pump.
Pumps are both Atlas-scientific (probably the best dosing pumps I have found).
I have been working on the following ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2024-diy-frozen-food-feeder.1054288/ ) for the last few months - can feed 4 cubes every second day for 20 days.
While keeping the food just below zero I also use preservatives to keep the food fresh. Got the idea here: Automatic Frozen/refrigerated food dispenser | REEF2REEF Saltwater and Reef Aquarium Forum
I have also changed it a little, using a second small pump to back fill with salt water mixed with the preservative mix rather than using tank water. I do backwash enough tank water to rinse the tube of the main pump.
Pumps are both Atlas-scientific (probably the best dosing pumps I have found).
DocMcC
New Member
I backfill with RO + Red Sea Salt (to correct concentration) + preservatives (again to correct concentration) so as to keep the temp below zero degrees C. RO would freeze. Salt water freezes at -1.8 degress.
Not sure it makes a huge difference but I like the idea that it is below the freezing point of water.
Not sure it makes a huge difference but I like the idea that it is below the freezing point of water.
NaCl addict
Active Member
I do. It's a small container I fill with tank water and mix up frozen, reef roids, AB+ . I refrigerate it up to a week and feed daily
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