Neptune Systems AFS Automatic Feeding System

I have 2 of these. One feeds coral food and one feeds fish food.They are loud. Not like a chainsaw but you will hear it running from across the room. I’m not home all day most days or am asleep and so I probably only hear it once out of the 5 times it runs daily. It takes about 20 seconds so it isn’t exactly as day-altering as some may say.It feeds a consistent amount so long as the food is uniform. It also works for reef roids and other powders which is nice.Loading and unloading food does require you to be careful, and probably use a small funnel but once you get it down and the portion correct it’s much easier. I suggest setting a smaller portion and adjusting the number of drum rotations vs constantly opening and tweaking the single portion lever.Really I have no idea why this is so poorly reviewed.

I really like Neptune products and have had them for many years.However, I love programming and adding more modules and functions to my APEX, but I've sadly disappointed with this feeder.It is way and I do mean way overpriced for what you get.It will only work with Neptune Systems controllers which means if wanted to relocate the unit to a tank without an Apex, then no dice as it is proprietary.The construction is of a feel of very thin and cheap plastic and for $99.00 it could be a lot better made.To remove the lid is like many other feeders, should be done by removing the unit from the tank as the chance of it popping off and any remaining food falling in the tank is the same as other feeders with this type of lid and drum.The noise level is likened unto a kid's battery powered diesel truck for Christmas that make a huge racket.If in the room next to the unit, it'd wake up the average sleeper, I mean loud and it sounds like the gear train is very poorly meshed as the unit crunches it's way out to feed and stalls and hesitates like there is great binding.The function is by Apex sending an On/Off cycle to the unit which means it uses the OSCillate function and sometimes it feeds the correct number of programmed turns and sometimes it over or under turns due to the gearing speed being inaccurate making it sometimes miss it's timing window of operation for desired number of drum rotations.Though is integrates with the Neptune Systems Apex for set and forget functionality, the same could be programmed with on/off times of your pumps in synch with any other dry feeder being programmed for the same time frame.If this unit cost was in the $25.00 to $50.00 range, it may be barely worth it with the in accurate timing and the cheep plastic and totally being proprietary to Apex and very, very loud operation.I love Apex and the different modules but this is a great disappointment for the money and operation.I will be sending back and purchasing a programmable feeder like Ehiem and programming my feed cycles accordingly as that is we bought the Apex unit in the first place.Apex unit great, the AFS unit poorly made, noisy, ratchetie and way overpriced.

I have a 40 gal breeder rimmed tank and the mount is a pain to install. There is an inner lip that holds up the glass cover and this is in the way when you use the bracket. When I attached it, it leaned forward too much. I was afraid that the cylinder would come out and touch the water making this feeder pointless. I had to modify the bracket by cutting out the middle flexible tab and cutting notches in the outer tabs. Now it sits level and works well. It would probably work well on a rimless tank. Oh, and the noise - its not THAT loud. Online videos are not accurate. While I wish it was quiet, its still not enough noise to balk at. Another issue - I had to buy a 90 degree USB adapter since I did not have enough room on the back of the tank to accommodate the supplied USB. This is not Neptune's fault since we all have different configurations. Last issue is removing the food cup. If you try, the lid will come off and there will be food all over in the tank. You may want to remove the entire feeder from the bracket first which is also a pain to do since it feels like I'm going to break the feeder when I do this. Overall does the job while I'm out of town.

The first unit I received didn't work properly out of the box. Customer service was on point however! I shipped the defective one back and received it back repaired within a week. The 4 star review is due to the defective new unit.Now that I have one that works properly I have to say it is an amazing little thing! Setting up the virtual outlet to control everything was maybe a little complex, but once set up it is working as expected.I work in my office where the tank is located and I've had comments from people I'm on a call with about the background noise. I have had to explain it a few times. Honestly as simple as the feeder is I'm shocked at the noise it puts out. While this doesn't effect the way it works, I can see that folks would have issue with it. I like the tank because of the sounds / lights / feel it puts out. This is in contrast to that but I don't feel it deserves 3 stars due to it.