- Hey guys, Randy here with BRStv guide
to mastering your Neptune Apex controller,
where it's all about using your Apex
to improve your gear's performance.
And today we're talking, feeding your fish,
feeding your corals
and how your Apex can not only handle
most of your tank's feeding workload for you,
but also in the same breath,
do so more diligently, more intelligently
and more accurately.
There's three Apex tools we're going to use today
to feed your tank smarter and easier.
First is with customized feed modes
that automatically turn off gear,
like your skimmer, return pump, powerheads and others
with a push of a button,
keeping more food in the tank
and giving your fish and corals time to capture the food.
Second is the Neptune AFS,
not just to automate daily feeding when you're not home,
but using automatic feeding
to avoid over polluting the tank,
reducing fish aggression,
broadcast feeding coral foods,
and diversify your fish's diet.
While the third we'll explore the Neptune dose
at taking over your coral and fish feeding needs for aminos,
liquid eggs, or pods and other feeding additives.
So let's kick things off
by setting up those customized feed modes,
which I have to tell you,
this is one of the main features that attracted me
to my first Apex, especially after getting fed up
with chasing cords around and unplugging gear,
like my ATO, skimmer, return pump, just to feed my fish.
Or turning off powerheads to feed my acans,
and occasionally forgetting to turn something back on.
Not only that, but it's also hard to stomach watching half
of your fish food go down the drain
and into the sump before your fish have time to grab it.
Okay. So solving this is probably one
of the most simple things to set up on your Apex
because there's only one line
that you need to add to the gear that you want to control.
I like to use feed mode A when feeding.
So just find the gear icon for your skimmer, return pump,
ATO and or powerheads and add in a line that says
if feed A 000, then off.
This will automatically turn off your equipment
for five minutes and you can walk away
knowing that everything will turn back on automatically.
Now here's a few extra tips to customizing those feed modes
for your tank's specific needs.
And the first is to make sure
that you put the feed A line
above any different lines that might be in your outlet.
For example, your skimmer and ATO,
which we set up in previous episodes,
both have a defer line that waits five minutes
for the sump level to even out before coming back on.
So my feed mode A line goes in above that.
Also if five minutes is shorter than you need
to feed your fish and corals,
you can simply adjust the length of time
using the miscellaneous icon from the dashboard
and changing the length using seconds,
like 600 seconds for 10 minutes, instead of five.
Third tip use another feed mode
for feeding different foods.
For example, I can use feed mode A for feeding fish
where I only need five minutes to shut down my return,
skimmer and ATO, but keep my powerheads on,
but use feed mode B for feeding corals,
where I shut down everything,
including my powerheads for 10 minutes.
In that case,
all you to do is adjust the runtime like we did
and add a new line to your pump, skimmer, and ATO
that says if feed B 00 then off.
And then add the feed B line to your powerheads.
The last feed mode tip is pretty cool
if you're using the Neptune core return pumps
and the Neptune wave powerheads,
where instead of just powering them completely off
during your feeding,
you can actually decrease their intensity
to a specific percentage.
So with the core 15 and the core 20
feed mode setup is built into the core task function.
So you will only need to choose your related feed mode,
but with the wave pumps,
changing feed mode intensity is super easy
by simply adding a line feed mode
that says it feed A 00 then 30,
which will turn the wave pump intensity down to 30%
when you hit your feed mode,
making it easier for your fish to grab the food
and you can change that last number
to anything from zero to 100%.
All right, let's talk about that AFS,
automatic feeding system next,
and how much it can transform your tank
and feeding habits without even lifting a finger.
There's a laundry list of issues
that the automatic feeding can resolve,
the most obvious of them being able to feed your fish
when you decide to take that long weekend away from home
or a yearly vacation.
Again, this is one of those must have Apex tools for my tank
because I was usually out on the lake on the weekends
or take it a road trip home to see my family
and hiring my friend to swing by
and feed my tank was not only expensive
and hard to coordinate, but not always an option.
However, beyond that,
setting up an AFS auto feeder has other perks,
like keeping those high energy Antheas are other fish
constantly fed to better meet their nutritional needs.
Reducing fish on fish aggression
because there's a reliable food source
with plenty to go around,
making nitrate and phosphate management much easier
with adjustable portion sizes
and frequency throughout the day.
Especially if you happen to be one
of those heavy handed feeders.
Varying up your tank's diet by using more than one AFS
with different types of food and on different schedules,
supplementing your tanks and other herbivores fish diets
using seaweed based pellets, alternatively denari,
which also keeps your hands out of the tank.
And you can even use your AFS for feeding corals
particulate food like reef chili or reef roids
or something similar automatically.
Specially if you have a tank filled to the brim with corals
that doesn't support your just morning
and evening regular feeding.
So setting up your AFS is also extremely easy to do
because there's a task function
for you that does all the work.
Just choose the AFS task, choose your AFS,
rename it if you want,
like for me, this will be my coral food AFS.
Choose the time of day
you want your first feeding to start like noon,
and then pick how many rotations for each feeding
and how many feedings per day.
Note that if you do need more than one feeding per day
in the next field
you can choose the length of time between each feeding.
And lastly, tie your AFS to a feed mode of your choice,
then hit the send button.
Now you have to do is kick back
and let the AFS take the wheel,
but there are a few tips that I've picked up
for getting your AFS dialed in
that you should take into consideration.
Ryan and I have done an entire top AFS mistakes video
with all kinds of pointers for this one.
So check that out a bit later.
But the first thing you'll want to do
after setting up your AFS
is to find the right portion size for each feeding.
We found the easiest way to do that is with a paper plate
under your feeder, then just toggle the outlet on
then back to auto to start a drum rotation,
and then adjust the portion size accordingly
using the sliding door on the AFS.
Along with adjusting portion size,
it's a good idea to monitor nitrates and phosphates
a little more closely
after first setting up your auto feeder
to help you more accurately
adjust the portion size and feeding frequency.
Basically if your nitrates and phosphates
start trending upward,
just lessen the amount of feeding times each day
or close the portion control door a little less
to feed less,
and vice versa if they're trending down.
I definitely recommend using the Apex logging tool
to keep track of your nitrates and phosphates
during this time,
which gives you an easy to read historical graph
that allows you to add comments and notes,
like changed from two times per day to three times.
Two other tips I'd keep in mind for your AFS is one,
remember triggering the AFS feed mode
is a great way to feed on demand,
but will also trigger everything else that you have tied
to that same feed mode.
It's probably not an issue for many of you
who set up your feed mode specifically for that purpose,
but if you want it to feed on demand
without triggering all the other gear,
you can simply toggle the AFS outlet to on for a few seconds
and back to auto,
which will run their feed cycle
and then resume its regular schedule.
And the last tip for your AFS
before we dive into the Neptune dose,
actively watch the amount of food in your drum
and get a good idea of when it needs to be replenished.
The last thing you want to do is take off for the weekend
and think that your tank is being fed when it's not,
which makes this a great task to add to your Apex calendar.
Like I did here
with an AFS top-off reminder every three weeks.
All right, next, we're talking about the Neptune dose
which takes over hand dosing of coral foods.
Like some of these from KZ and red sea
and amino acids like Brightwell coral amino, or KZ amino,
as well as some fish foods like doc eggs
or these liquid form concentrate foods from Nyos.
And using a doser for feeding these types of foods
will take a little more effort
and attention to not overdo it,
but set up is extremely easy to do quickly,
and you can get pretty creative
with how elaborate your dosing setup can get,
which could be as simple as sterilizing your dosing lines
and putting a dosing tube into shelf stable foods
that don't need refrigeration,
or as fancy as a small fridge in your fish room
or near your tank
that you've carefully tapped into with a dosing line
to keep your foods fresh.
I'll share a link a bit later
to Neptune's super helpful video
on how to properly set up your dose for refrigerated foods
with tips on cleaning out the lines after feeding.
So your food doesn't spoil
in either case there's only a single task function you need
to have your dose set up and ready to go.
Just find the dose additive task,
choose the left or right dosing head you have set up
rename it something easy to remember,
for me, that's coral amino.
Then choose how many mls per day
during what time of day you want to dose and hit send.
That's all there is to it.
And when you need to adjust the dose,
you can either go back
and run the task function all over again,
or just hit the gear icon on your dosing head,
choose modify interval and change the dose.
But there are a few other tips that you should know as well.
That first Neptune dose tip for using it
as an auto feeder,
prime and calibrate your dose with water
before hooking it to your food amino source.
So you know it's as accurate as possible
and you don't waste aminos.
Second, there's two dosing heads,
so why not use them both?
One for aminos, one for foods.
Third it's best practice
to clean out your dosing lines from time to time.
And here's my tip for doing that.
Click on the gear icon for your dosing head,
from the wizard dosing schedule,
choose modify interval, change the action to remove,
save it and you're ready to clean.
So in this configuration,
your dosing head will now rotate counter-clockwise
when you flip the outlet to on,
meaning it will push your food or coral amino
back into the bottle.
And once the lines are clear,
you can run some RODI water through the lines
for a few minutes to help flush them out.
Just remember to go back into the dose wizard
and change the action back to add,
before you start your dosing schedule again.
Here's one more food dosing tip,
although the dose is capable of some pretty long runs
like we showed in the master your Apex water change episode,
if you're using your dose for refrigerated foods,
try to mount everything as close to your tank as possible
to minimize the amount of foods
that remain in the dosing lines and begin to warm up.
Here's that link
to the Neptune's video to set this up properly.
If you want to try this out for yourself
along with our entire master, your Apex series playlist.
Enjoy.