Hello Paul, would you mind describing the automation part of your project when it comes to adding the eggs twice a day? I am thinking about something like that in order to be able to automate things a bit more for my dwarf seahorses when I am away.
Tank Thread Tank reached 38 years old...in 2009!
- Thread starter Paul B
- Start date
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
There is a thread about it here http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/168690-auto-brine-shrimp-hatchery-feeder.html
It started out with a different design and morphed into that.
It started out with a different design and morphed into that.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I am loving this new feeder but not as much as the pipefish and mandarins. They think they died and went to fish heaven. They sit on the thing all day and never leave it except for bathroom breaks. The multi banded pipe and dragon face pipe seem to be a couple and apparently don't realize they are from different sides of the tracks. They always hang out together and stare into each other's eyes. It makes me icky all over.
I may have to use this auto feeder forever as I don't know how to get it out of the tank without disturbing them as they even sleep on the thing. I think the mandarins annoy them.
I can design it so that I can flush out the shrimp shells but I have not determined if I want to hatch the eggs in there all the time as some shells do escape. I will have to work on this.
I may have to use this auto feeder forever as I don't know how to get it out of the tank without disturbing them as they even sleep on the thing. I think the mandarins annoy them.
I can design it so that I can flush out the shrimp shells but I have not determined if I want to hatch the eggs in there all the time as some shells do escape. I will have to work on this.
- Location
- Bellmore, NY
I want one 
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
Buy about 2 dollars worth of materials and build one in 10 minutes. :biggrin:
Yesterday I noticed that my tank was getting dimmer. At first I thought I was getting cataracts, but it was definately the tank. I have perfect vision and can spot a Supermodel a few football fields away.
I raised my DIY LED lighting and noticed that about 8 LEDs were out. So much for them lasting 30 years. I soldered in new ones and now the fish are all applying Coppertone sun screen as it made a big difference.
I think, if I get time, maybe this winter I will build a new fixture. The aluminum one I have is getting corroded looking and the solder joints get crusted in schmutz. I think I will design a plastic fixture because aluminum is just a lousy metal to have over a tank.
Aluminum lights work well over a Lady GaGa concert because you don't notice the white, crusty aluminum flakes that come off them as the people that go to Lady GaGa concerts are a little weird anyway and wouldn't notice if hermit crabs were slithering up their noses.
Yesterday I noticed that my tank was getting dimmer. At first I thought I was getting cataracts, but it was definately the tank. I have perfect vision and can spot a Supermodel a few football fields away.
I raised my DIY LED lighting and noticed that about 8 LEDs were out. So much for them lasting 30 years. I soldered in new ones and now the fish are all applying Coppertone sun screen as it made a big difference.
I think, if I get time, maybe this winter I will build a new fixture. The aluminum one I have is getting corroded looking and the solder joints get crusted in schmutz. I think I will design a plastic fixture because aluminum is just a lousy metal to have over a tank.
Aluminum lights work well over a Lady GaGa concert because you don't notice the white, crusty aluminum flakes that come off them as the people that go to Lady GaGa concerts are a little weird anyway and wouldn't notice if hermit crabs were slithering up their noses.
- Location
- Bellmore, NY
I knew you'd say something like that. Can you provide more details on I how you made the lid and attached the stocking? Does the stocking clog up at all?
- Location
- staten island
+1 I would love to know how to make one of these.
You should sell them though the design is brilliant.
You should sell them though the design is brilliant.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
The "box" is a small piece of PVC Home Depot fence post but any plastic box will work. I use that fence stuff for everything except fences. You can also buy PVC end caps for the fence posts. I put one on the bottom with 2 stainless steel screws. I took another PVC fence post and cut off everything except the sides. So I just lay a wet piece of stocking across the top and slip on the square "ring" that is left over from the fence post cap after I cut out the middle.
Tupperware will work, just take the cover and cut it all out except the sides so you can slip that over the stocking to hold it in place. My normal feeder is a plastic container electrical tape comes in and I cut out the middle of the top so it fits over the tape container. I don't know how to make it any simpler. Just don't stretch the stocking to much as that opens the mesh and the eggs will come out. Loosely lay the stocking over the top and slip on the "ring" that holds it.
ENB thank you for thinking the design is brilliant but I have used this design many times over the years. When I kept Moorish Idols I also had an auto feeder over a funnel connected to a tube that led down to a dish. The Moorish Idol would pass the dish every 5 minutes looking for fish oil soaked pellets. That Moorish Idol lived for 5 years which stinks but for a Moorish Idol, that is practically a record. I killed him in an accident.
I have been using mesh to target fish for many years. I invented and patented a seahorse feeder once and sold 6,000 of them. http://breedersregistry.org/maquaculture/a-new-feeding-strategy-for-hippocampus-sp-and-other-fishes/
Tupperware will work, just take the cover and cut it all out except the sides so you can slip that over the stocking to hold it in place. My normal feeder is a plastic container electrical tape comes in and I cut out the middle of the top so it fits over the tape container. I don't know how to make it any simpler. Just don't stretch the stocking to much as that opens the mesh and the eggs will come out. Loosely lay the stocking over the top and slip on the "ring" that holds it.
ENB thank you for thinking the design is brilliant but I have used this design many times over the years. When I kept Moorish Idols I also had an auto feeder over a funnel connected to a tube that led down to a dish. The Moorish Idol would pass the dish every 5 minutes looking for fish oil soaked pellets. That Moorish Idol lived for 5 years which stinks but for a Moorish Idol, that is practically a record. I killed him in an accident.
I have been using mesh to target fish for many years. I invented and patented a seahorse feeder once and sold 6,000 of them. http://breedersregistry.org/maquaculture/a-new-feeding-strategy-for-hippocampus-sp-and-other-fishes/
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- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
This is my vacation feeder, (almost) When I go on vacation I get a girl to fish sit. I don't want her to hatch shrimp, deal with worms or cut clams so I freeze individual, daily portions of food in old film containers. Film was like Scotch tape but pictures stick to it. Any small containers will work. Ask your Grand Mother for the cup she puts her teeth into.
Anyway, my fish sitter just takes one of the pre packaged food containers and dumps it into this device that thaws it and disperses it to all parts of the tank. It is just a tiny powerhead that pumps into a small plastic container that has holes in it. The food thaws and goes out the holes to the tank. If I didn't do this, the copperband would eat all the food or it would just go under a rock. I have always done this but I figured it may be interesting for anyone that lives under a rock
Anyway, my fish sitter just takes one of the pre packaged food containers and dumps it into this device that thaws it and disperses it to all parts of the tank. It is just a tiny powerhead that pumps into a small plastic container that has holes in it. The food thaws and goes out the holes to the tank. If I didn't do this, the copperband would eat all the food or it would just go under a rock. I have always done this but I figured it may be interesting for anyone that lives under a rock
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
We just came back from a week out in the east end of Long Island in Amaganset which is about 75 miles from my house. We had sole access to a beach house on the Atlantic that someone we know owns but was in Colorado Our Daughter, Son N Law and two or our Grand Kids also came. I did find a fairly large snake just behind me in that first picture. I tried to catch it but it got away in the scrub brush. I didn't collect water because I didn't have room in the car but I go there often so the next time I go, I will get some. My fish are fine and I think they do better without me. I had a fish sitter and a different pipefish sitter to monitor my new automatic brine shrimp hatchery and feeder which worked flawlessly. The pipefish are smiling from gill to gill.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I know this looks like me but it is not. This is my closest friend and SCUBA and boat Captain partner. We have known each other for most of our lives which is probably why we look alike. I had a girl come over to the house every day to feed the fish, but Richie came over to check the auto brine shrimp hatchery and feeder to make sure it was doing what it was supposed to do so the pipefish didn't croak. It worked perfectly and I am glad my friend checked on it just to make sure as I had never used it before for an entire week. Now that I am home I will remove the thing as it is only a vacation feeder and is growing some algae that would inhibit the shrimp from exiting the device.
My other contraption that defrosted the food and dispensed it throughout the tank also worked perfectly so all is well.
My other contraption that defrosted the food and dispensed it throughout the tank also worked perfectly so all is well.
- Location
- Staten Island
Really good to see your tank still here, Hope that wooden shoulder is doing well also,lol
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I am going to therapy for the shoulder. I really don't care about the therapy one way or the other but a Supermodel massages it after the therapy so it is worth every minute. I do need another knee operation though. I forget how many that is but I hope they also have a Supermodel nurse when I get that done. You got to have priorities.
Today (like most days) I went to my collection tide pool and I noticed something that I forgot about. The starfish are all gone. The Long Island Sound used to be full of starfish. Billions of them. When I used to come up from SCUBA diving they were all over me. Now, you can't even find one. Where did they go? I don't know but I hear they got a disease. A starfish disease. That in itself is amazing because those things are so hard to kill. I wanted to get a shrimp, what do you call those shrimp that eat starfish?
I am having an old people moment. You know those shrimp, what are they called?
Ug, It will come to me in a minute. But anyway, I won't get one because the billions of starfish that are usually covering everything are gone. Disappeared off the face of the earth. I am sure the clams and mussels are thrilled to death.
But the waters are filled with bunker, or menhaden as they are correctly called.
They are about a foot long and fill the waters here. You can't catch them on a hook like a normal fish. You snag them with a treble hook which is really simple. As a matter of fact, you can't not catch them. That's how many they are. They are a nasty little fish that filter feed like a whale. They swim around in circles and jump out of the water in mass when bluefish attack them as they do constantly. Bunker are very oily and you can't eat them. You can probably run your car on them, but you can't eat them. They would be like eating a can of Vasiline. They squeeze them for the oil that they make cosmetics out of. So for the ladies, the next time you apply lipstick, think of it as a smelly, oil filled fish. You can probably just smear the fish on your face instead of buying pricy Prince Matchabelli lipstick. I am not sure if he is still alive, or if he as ever alive.
Today (like most days) I went to my collection tide pool and I noticed something that I forgot about. The starfish are all gone. The Long Island Sound used to be full of starfish. Billions of them. When I used to come up from SCUBA diving they were all over me. Now, you can't even find one. Where did they go? I don't know but I hear they got a disease. A starfish disease. That in itself is amazing because those things are so hard to kill. I wanted to get a shrimp, what do you call those shrimp that eat starfish?
I am having an old people moment. You know those shrimp, what are they called?
Ug, It will come to me in a minute. But anyway, I won't get one because the billions of starfish that are usually covering everything are gone. Disappeared off the face of the earth. I am sure the clams and mussels are thrilled to death.
But the waters are filled with bunker, or menhaden as they are correctly called.
They are about a foot long and fill the waters here. You can't catch them on a hook like a normal fish. You snag them with a treble hook which is really simple. As a matter of fact, you can't not catch them. That's how many they are. They are a nasty little fish that filter feed like a whale. They swim around in circles and jump out of the water in mass when bluefish attack them as they do constantly. Bunker are very oily and you can't eat them. You can probably run your car on them, but you can't eat them. They would be like eating a can of Vasiline. They squeeze them for the oil that they make cosmetics out of. So for the ladies, the next time you apply lipstick, think of it as a smelly, oil filled fish. You can probably just smear the fish on your face instead of buying pricy Prince Matchabelli lipstick. I am not sure if he is still alive, or if he as ever alive.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
I used to have them when I could collect starfish by the hundreds. Now there are no starfish so I won't get a harlequin until I can again get starfish.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
As for my tank, Dam the thing looks healthy. I don't know why and I can't remember the last time I changed water but I will have to get to that soon just so people don't start yelling at me. I hate when they do that. I can't stop my mandarins from spawning and I think the rest of the fish just feel left out so they all spawn. My copperband is so jealous that he doesn't have a mate and he spits at me every chance he gets. The algae trough doesn't have any algae in it for some odd reason but it is teeming with tube worms. So many that they can't even stay in the water and are slowly climbing up the wall. The latest batch of amphipods I collected and added formed a Glee club and are practicing DooWops. I am taking my Grand Daughter to my collection tide pool tomorrow and hopefully have her "help" me collect amphipods. With any luck, we may get "one". She loves the tide pool.
My pistol shrimp are still building mountains and I think they are spawning, but it is hard to tell because the female doesn't come out much. She is shy but I can see her antenna so I know she is fine.
The possum wrasse is venturing out in the open more and I think the multibanded pipefish is goading him to do it. That pipefish is a show off as is the shier dragon face pipe. But they are very cool and I am still looking for more multi stripe pipes as they have a high coolness factor. I don't like angelfish or tangs as they are just to yesterday. Occasionally I see a fish in there that I have no idea where it came from and must have gotten into the tank through osmosis.
I have a bio pellet reactor, empty of course because I think they are only for Girly Men. I keep the thing in there because it seems to be a disco for brittle stars. There are loads of them in there. I am not sure what they are doing as brittle stars are by design, lousy dancers as they have 4 left feet.
OK, time to go and get Greta. Now the fun starts.
My pistol shrimp are still building mountains and I think they are spawning, but it is hard to tell because the female doesn't come out much. She is shy but I can see her antenna so I know she is fine.
The possum wrasse is venturing out in the open more and I think the multibanded pipefish is goading him to do it. That pipefish is a show off as is the shier dragon face pipe. But they are very cool and I am still looking for more multi stripe pipes as they have a high coolness factor. I don't like angelfish or tangs as they are just to yesterday. Occasionally I see a fish in there that I have no idea where it came from and must have gotten into the tank through osmosis.
I have a bio pellet reactor, empty of course because I think they are only for Girly Men. I keep the thing in there because it seems to be a disco for brittle stars. There are loads of them in there. I am not sure what they are doing as brittle stars are by design, lousy dancers as they have 4 left feet.
OK, time to go and get Greta. Now the fun starts.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
Today I had to rescue a little girl. Not that she was in danger of her life or anything but I still had to rescue her. I am watching my Grand Daughter and I took her to the playground. There was a couple of young Mother's there and they were calling for me to help them. I thought maybe the kid got hurt or they recognized me as having an old reef tank and wanted my autograph. (yeah right) :smash:
She was stuck in a baby swing. Yep, a baby swing. For some reason her Mother put her in a baby swing which is like a bucket with a place for your legs, but those things are made for two year olds. This kid was about 5 and a little chubby. The Mother's could not get her out and they were about to call the police. It wasn't that big a deal as all I had to do was lift the kid with the swing and the Mother pried her out of the swing. I had to hold her up for a while and of course as I am going to a physical therapy place for a screwed up shoulder, I screwed it up again. But the Mother was happy and the little girl seem relieved, if not embarassed to get stuck. :lol2:
She was stuck in a baby swing. Yep, a baby swing. For some reason her Mother put her in a baby swing which is like a bucket with a place for your legs, but those things are made for two year olds. This kid was about 5 and a little chubby. The Mother's could not get her out and they were about to call the police. It wasn't that big a deal as all I had to do was lift the kid with the swing and the Mother pried her out of the swing. I had to hold her up for a while and of course as I am going to a physical therapy place for a screwed up shoulder, I screwed it up again. But the Mother was happy and the little girl seem relieved, if not embarassed to get stuck. :lol2:
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
Today my wife and I picked to start our fall cleaning. I do the finished basement where my reef is. I wash all the walls, baseboards, floors. Remove anything on the walls and clean that. take everything out of the closets and clean them, remove ceiling light diffusers and clean those etc. Anyway I was cleaning the rim of my tank and my heart dropped. On the bottom edge of the paneling where the tank is, I saw my prized pipefish. OH NO. Not Betsy. Part of a mated pair that took me so long to find and finally buy. How could this happen? Not the bluestripe pipefish that I am so proud of. Not the little girl that greets me every morning as I squirt in new born brine shrimp and she gives me that little smile. Not her!
So I gently picked up her stiff body and caressed it.
I looked close to see the expression on her face, to see if she died in pain or just passed away from a broken heart.
As I stared at her little face I thought. Wait a minute, that isn't a face. That isn't even a pipefish. It's a blue piece of wire insulation. I looked up at the tank and there she was.
Betsy was laughing at me like a hyena. If she had knees she would be slapping them. Now I know why I need reading glasses. :smash:
So I gently picked up her stiff body and caressed it.
I looked close to see the expression on her face, to see if she died in pain or just passed away from a broken heart.
As I stared at her little face I thought. Wait a minute, that isn't a face. That isn't even a pipefish. It's a blue piece of wire insulation. I looked up at the tank and there she was.
Betsy was laughing at me like a hyena. If she had knees she would be slapping them. Now I know why I need reading glasses. :smash:
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- Location
- Dutchess County, NY
That cracked me up!! Glad your wire-imitating pipefish is ok.
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