Penn Plax Daily Double Deluxe

Feeder

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Rating:

The Penn Plax Daily Double Deluxe is built for the simple aquarium, or stock which needs only a simple diet. The feeder has an airline hookup for the best system for beating humidity currently available today - forced air from an air pump. The advertising in some stores can mislead buyers, as some advertise the product as "programmable", which this feeder is not. At around $50 USD, the feeder is priced about $10 USD more than our 2009 Best Product, the Eheim 3581. However, if simplicity is your game, this could be the feeder for you.

The Daily Double Deluxe has a simple set of features. The drum has a clear cap to allow you view the drum contents, and the hatch is hinged and will open wider to dispense more food by sliding an easy to reach tab. The computer unit covers a relatively simple computer system with three preset programs based on a 24 hour clock: Rotate drum every 12 hours, rotate drum every 24 hours, and rotate drum. Thus, the owner can only set the feeder to dispense food every 12 or 24 hours, or perform a manual override. This is bad news if your an aquarium tech-junkie, but a "breakthrough" for the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" type of hobbyist. The motor unit has three red LED lights that flash while the drum quietly drops food into your aquarium. On the outer end of the motor unit, there is an available airline hookup that allows you to run an air pump to drive humidity away from the dispenser, keeping your food fresh. The feeder is powered by 2 AA batteries rather than a clunky power cord, however there is no system of warning you of low battery power. The feeder unit can rest atop your aquarium, or it can snap on to a mounting plate securely to the side of your aquarium.

The feeder looks sharp on aquariums that are larger than 10 gallons. If the feeder rests atop the aquarium, you may want to add velcro (not included as other models do) in order to secure the unit. The mounting plate holds the unit safely on the upper edge of the aquarium glass, but neat-freaks beware: the airline (if installed) juts out away from the aquarium and loops down, and can be an eyesore. You can move the unit to the back panel of your aquarium, but the controls are that much harder to use. It would have been nice if the airline hookup was to the rear of the unit to keep things looking tidy.

Cleaning the Daily Double Deluxe can be slightly troublesome. Cleaning the drum thoroughly will require some crafty work with a paper towel to clean the hinge of the dispenser. However, this is only a problem when a quick rinse followed by some time to air dry won't do. The design of the drum is definitely not geared to ease of cleaning, but it is nice to have an easy to reach tab to adjust your dispenser setting on the fly.

The feeder will hold flakes, granules, and pellets. If you are feeding pellets, you should be aware that it is difficult to set the feeder to deliver consistent portions, and near impossible for small doses of pellets. We advise to use this feeder with flakes or granules only. Feeding large amounts of pellet food is performed better by the use of an auger or wheel type feeder, since the portions are consistent and can be very large if necessary. However, when this feeder is used for flakes or granules, it can be set to deliver a very small portion consistently, which is hard to do with other drum feeders.

The Penn Plax Daily Double Deluxe is best suited for hobbyists with small aquariums with a small number of fish. Its interface is very simple to use, and will feed once or twice daily, and has the option to manually override your preset setting. This feeder is not recommended for those who need to feed at a certain time of day, or who need large portions of food per dispensing because of the smaller drum size. The feeder is not competitively priced, as it costs more than a simple drum feeder with much more advanced computer and circulation systems.

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This product was sent for testing at no charge. Read more about this here.