I am feeding Optimal from my Texas Hunter twice in the morning(8:00am, 8:05am) and twice in the evening(8:00pm, 8:05pm) for 6 seconds per feeding. The fish clean up each feeding in 2 minutes.

Factors to consider:

It's 100 degrees in Texas this time of year
I am feeding in 14 feet of water
My usable DO only goes down to 5 feet
Don't know what the water temp is(lost my thermometer) nor do I know PH.
Some of my brim are a very light color(almost white) if that matters


How do I balance between how fast they clean up the feed and the hot temperatures?

I do not know the answer to your question because I am dealing with the same thing. I just bought a TH feeder to replace one of my three Sweeney's. I generally feed the Sweeney's for three seconds. The TH throws far less food, I would guess about one fifth. Therefore I am feeding through TH for 15 seconds, and I am not sure that throws about the same as the Sweeney's. I just need to keep testing.

Those who've measured say that the TH feeders throw 1 pound of Optimal BG food in 12 seconds.

If your fish clean it all up in 2 minutes, maybe you don't need to reduce feeding at all. Despite higher temps, my fish seem just as enthused now as they were two months ago.

Lance, I wish I could help you out but I have CRS and I need to wright down how much my TH feeders throw. I am throwing 12 seconds per day per feeder right now and all my fish are aggressive at the feeders, cnbg, hsb and lmb feeding on the bg. And the water is hot or in the high 80's from top to bottom.

I have my TH feeder on the pier and it is set for 10 seconds, they actually rush out from under the pier like piranhas to the food and consume it within 10-15 seconds and are looking for more.

Tbar, I've read that others here like to feed their BG in 4-5 hour intervals instead of more food 2 times per day. If that is true, perhaps you could run it at 7:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM and 7 or 8 PM. You may have to do a little diffing on the forum to find one of those topics here.

Cody @ TX Hunter HQ told me that my TH LM135 would throw 6 ounces of Aquamax MVP every 4 seconds. I have had my new feeder running the last 2 months based on that calculation. However, I don't believe that is correct. My 50 lb. bag is lasting a lot longer than it should.

When this bag of chow is finished running through the feeder I am going to experiment with some measured doses of Aquamax to see just how much is thrown in 10 seconds. I need an accurate number so I can get my daily feeding quantity correct.

The calc I have been using says my TH feeder should throw a pound of feed about every 11 seconds....that is not what appears to be happening...it takes meaningfully longer. I will know more soon. BM61.

Yes but that would be feeding when the outside temperature is even hotter.

I am trying to decide how much to feed in the hot summer months. Am I in the zone or do I need to make some changes?

Judging by their light color it looks like they could be stressed but you couldn't tell by the way they clean up feed.

When in doubt back down.... I only feed twice a day in the summer and our heat here is about like yours that's for sure! I feed only for 3 seconds in the morning once and 2 seconds in the evening once. Even though they seem to be eating it all I am not sure that's not something to be careful with as much as you are throwing out there. My thing is yeah they are eating it but in this warm water mine is like bath water first coupe feet can they digest it as well are they throwing it back up?? I mean I can feed my dog bacon till he passes out that doesn't mean it's a good thing... right This question has "It depends Written all over it" lol

RC

Haven't been to my place in about 10 days but am going this weekend. In this heat, I'm not sure why. The last time I was there, I did a 2 second test throw and very few fish, no large ones, came to feed. Why? I've been doing 3 seconds, three times a day with Optimal. I figure with warmer(hot) weather metabolisms would be up. I need to see what happens when it goes off early in the morning and maybe adjust feed rates.

Who else is seeing this?

Dave, I've seen the same before where the larger ones did not show up. I believe it is when the bg are off spawning. They always came back to the feeder in 10 to 15 days. Others here suggested during their spawn they would come up missing at the feeders, and I think that has been true. And if I understand it all, the fish will be pretty active if the water temps are in the 80's. So maybe the bg were spawning??

Dave, I watch my feeder daily. Water temp is low 90s, and feeding is still very active. I stopped the middle of the day feeding, but still feeding 4 spins 4 seconds/spin morning, and 5 spins 4 seconds/spin afternoon.

I do have a question though, if DO is lowest at night wouldn't the morning be worse for feeding in low DO even more than the heat of the middle of the day?

Guess that would depend on what part of the morning. I don't feed till 8:30. So my D.O. levels are on the rise already. Plus I run air all night.


Dave I have seen this over and over in my pond this time of year. My fish flat just quit feeding at least the bigger ones do. If I have any action it would be morning time. In the evening it may take several seconds till any of my bigger fish come up to feed. So you know they are down low as they can get in that cooler water and it's anything but a frenzy like normal. It's more like ho-hum do I wanna eat or not.. I guess so. lol

RC

Another thing I found out on accident was I have some very large fish off the front of my dock that I didn't even know where there? About 40 feet from my fish feeder and about 12 feet out from the dock. Only reason I figured that out was one day I had some feed in cup and my kid threw it out forward in front of the dock instead of at the feeder where we normally throw it and BAM, BOOM, SPLASH,,,, I couldn't believe it. I have no cover out there so not really sure why they are hanging out right there?? I need a gopro!! lol

RC

One thing you guys need to check is how far down the spin plate is from the bottom of the "funnel" part on the TH feeders. Factory setting is supposed to be 3/8" inch.

It ain't easy to measure. The way I do it is to take a piece of wood that I cut to 3/8" thick by 1" long and about 3/4" wide. Get a 1/2" diameter dowel rod and (using pilot holes) screw the piece of wood using a flat head screw to the end of the dowel rod. When the feeder is empty, put it on top of the spin plate and see if you can get it to slide under the edge of the feeder "funnel". If you can barely fit it in there, you're good. If there is a lot of slop, move the spin plate up. A gap bigger than 3/8" will allow more food per second to flow, less gap = less food.

I'd avoid middle of the day in the Texas summer. Hottest water, and brightest sun.

I go with morning feed at 8:45 to 9am, when light levels are still not maximized but O2 levels have come back from early morning lows. Evening feed 7:30 to 7:45pm. Of course, these are summer settings and will change when it cools a bit.

Does anyone else see greener water around their feeder? I have one feeder that seems to support greener water over the rest of the pond. I am thinking there must be something growing green on the pond bottom in that area but with 18" visibility I can not see down to the bottom. Maybe FA on bottom but greener water there for sure. Water depth is 3 dropping to 12' pretty fast there.