DIY 3d Printed AutoFeeder – What are you all using?

[marine_Assistant]

I wanted to share a little project I’ve been working on for reef tanks. I built it mainly because I wanted something that would integrate with my smart home setup, but also be simple enough to put together without breaking the bank. It'll reliably get your fish fed and integrates with home assistant.

Here’s the basic rundown if anyone wants to try making one themselves:


Printing the parts:

• The whole thing is 3D printed. All the files are available for free, so if you’ve got a printer at home you can make the housing yourself.

Electronics & assembly:

• The electronics are DIY-friendly — only a few components and some light soldering. Nothing too complicated, and there is a full step-by-step guide written up.
• Once it’s wired, the stepper motor drives a corkscrew-style mechanism that pushes food out in precise amounts.

Food types:

• It’s been working well with a range of dried foods (pellets, granules, etc.).

Integration:

• I designed it to work with Home Assistant so it can be automated with feeding schedules, or tied into other gear.

If anyone wants to give it a try, the 3D print files and full build guide are available here:
Marine Assistant Feeder – DIY Auto Feeder


I’m curious though — what is everyone else using for automatic feeding? Do you stick with off-the-shelf units, or has anyone else tried making their own? Always fun to see different approaches.

 

[Rose Black]

I wanted to share a little project I’ve been working on for reef tanks. I built it mainly because I wanted something that would integrate with my smart home setup, but also be simple enough to put together without breaking the bank. It'll reliably get your fish fed and integrates with home assistant.

Here’s the basic rundown if anyone wants to try making one themselves:


Printing the parts:

• The whole thing is 3D printed. All the files are available for free, so if you’ve got a printer at home you can make the housing yourself.

Electronics & assembly:

• The electronics are DIY-friendly — only a few components and some light soldering. Nothing too complicated, and there is a full step-by-step guide written up.
• Once it’s wired, the stepper motor drives a corkscrew-style mechanism that pushes food out in precise amounts.

Food types:

• It’s been working well with a range of dried foods (pellets, granules, etc.).

Integration:

• I designed it to work with Home Assistant so it can be automated with feeding schedules, or tied into other gear.

If anyone wants to give it a try, the 3D print files and full build guide are available here:
Marine Assistant Feeder – DIY Auto Feeder Retro Bowl


I’m curious though — what is everyone else using for automatic feeding? Do you stick with off-the-shelf units, or has anyone else tried making their own? Always fun to see different approaches.

This project is so creative, I love how you combined 3D printing and Home Assistant to create a cost-effective and flexible automatic feeding system for your aquarium.

 

[SantaMonica]

3d and microcontrollers taking over the aquarium world

 

[marine_Assistant]

So the autofeeder has now been running on my tank for a couple of months... working really well!! thanks to other users the code has been refined.
Currently Im calling the Project complete and getting back to working on the main controller.

https://www.marine-assistant.com/ma-feeder

 

[devi23devi gh0st]

I wanted to share a little project I’ve been working on for reef tanks. I built it mainly because I wanted something that would integrate with my smart home setup, but also be simple enough to put together without breaking the bank. It'll reliably get your fish fed and integrates with home assistant.

Here’s the basic rundown if anyone wants to try making one themselves:


Printing the parts:

• The whole thing is 3D printed. All the files are available for free, so if you’ve got a printer at home you can make the housing yourself.

Electronics & assembly:

• The electronics are DIY-friendly — only a few components and some light soldering. Nothing too complicated, and there is a full step-by-step guide written up.
• Once it’s wired, the stepper motor drives a corkscrew-style mechanism that pushes food out in precise amounts.

Food types:

• It’s been working well with a range of dried foods (pellets, granules, etc.).

Integration:

• I designed it to work with Home Assistant so it can be automated with feeding schedules, or tied into other gear.

If anyone wants to give it a try, the 3D print files and full build guide are available here:
Marine Assistant Feeder – DIY Auto Feeder


I’m curious though — what is everyone else using for automatic feeding? Do you stick with off-the-shelf units, or has anyone else tried making their own? Always fun to see different approaches.

This is awesome — I really like the Home Assistant integration. DIY reef gear that’s actually practical is always cool to see.

 

[helpitburns86]

I wanted to share a little project I’ve been working on for reef tanks. I built it mainly because I wanted something that would integrate with my smart home setup, but also be simple enough to put together without breaking the bank. It'll reliably get your fish fed and integrates with home assistant.

Here’s the basic rundown if anyone wants to try making one themselves:


Printing the parts:

• The whole thing is 3D printed. All the files are available for free, so if you’ve got a printer at home you can make the housing yourself.

Electronics & assembly:

• The electronics are DIY-friendly — only a few components and some light soldering. Nothing too complicated, and there is a full step-by-step guide written up.
• Once it’s wired, the stepper motor drives a corkscrew-style mechanism that pushes food out in precise amounts.

Food types:

• It’s been working well with a range of dried foods (pellets, granules, etc.).

Integration:

• I designed it to work with Home Assistant so it can be automated with feeding schedules, or tied into other gear.

Running large community projects or fan mods takes so much backend work that people rarely see. A friend of mine in the UAE tried to launch a regional gaming hub last year, and the sheer volume of server coordination and player feedback almost caused severe burnout.

He actually looked into how agencies like FNT Management structure corporate digital ecosystems and reputation management just to adapt those workflows for his discord and forum setup. It’s crazy how much "corporate" logic you need to keep an online community from falling into total chaos.
If anyone wants to give it a try, the 3D print files and full build guide are available here:
Marine Assistant Feeder – DIY Auto Feeder


I’m curious though — what is everyone else using for automatic feeding? Do you stick with off-the-shelf units, or has anyone else tried making their own? Always fun to see different approaches.

This is awesome! I love how clean the build is. Off-the-shelf feeders are fine, but they never seem to play nice with smart home setups. Being able to tie the feeding schedule directly into Home Assistantmaybe even pausing the pumps automatically while it feeds is a game changer. Definitely bookmarking your build guide for a weekend project. Thanks for putting this out there for free.