The HydroSpreader™ Sub-Surface Feeder is designed as a complete self-contained subsurface feeding system for direct placement on any suitable sized floating structure, barge or vessel deck. Designed with a low center of gravity, and available with a split hopper, the bulk bag loaded HydroSpreader™ will accommodate the dispensing of two different pellet sizes.
IAS offers two feed-entrainment methods to rapidly move a specifically proportioned feed/water slurry mixture from the feed storage hopper down through submerged feed delivery hoses to any practical depth required for the subsurface feeding of caged fish. The entire process is calculated to minimize feed/water residence time in the entrainment and pumping process and through the process of moving feed through the delivery system with the end goal being full feed pellet integrity in the submerged cage for optimum feed conversion rates.
The marine grade aluminum hopper is part of the design process taken to best manage equipment weight, load capacities, and center of gravity considerations for safe vessel operation. The positioning of safety grates at the feed hopper outlet and the incorporation of a bulk bag support frame positioned over the hopper lids reduce the chance of operator injury during loading. A large two-panel hopper lid design offers a large opening for easy bulk feed bag loading in all weather with the inner split hopper bulkhead reducing the opportunity for loaded feed to shift in poor site operating conditions.
The HydroSpreader™ Sub-Surface Feder may be operated with a self-contained gas or diesel drive assembly or connected to a suitably sized on-board hydraulic power plant using two quick connect hydraulic hose couplers. This power is used to operate both a feeder mounted self-priming pump as well as the feed hopper’s feed metering system. In either self-contained or quick-connect hydraulic configurations the HydroSpreader™ is designed to be crane lifted on and off the feed vessel to quickly free up deck space when required.
Feed dispensing is managed from a 12 volt DC powered FeedMaster™ Controller, a simple to access control interface used to monitor the operations of either a center-less auger or rotary valve assembly. Metered feed is introduced into a medium pressure water flow and pushed to depth through an operator selected feed delivery hose directed to each underwater cage. Hydraulic pump speed and rotary valve/auger speed controls are conveniently mounted to the side of the HydroSpreader™ along with the easy to program FeedMaster™ Controller. For permanent feeder installations these mechanical control and PLC feed management systems may be remotely mounted on a command bridge beside SeeMate™ Underwater Feed Monitoring Cameras that provide real time feed delivery and fish monitoring information during feeder operation.
The process behind the HydroSpreader™ method of feed delivery and the ‘building blocks’ available lends itself to many product design and operating configurations. As a result the information provided and the image shown here are general in scope and represent just one of many product approaches available. For example a feed system that incorporate AeroSpreader™ (air-driven feed broadcasting) and HydroSpreader™ (water entrainment and pumping of feed pellets) together into one dedicated feed vessel has been successfully designed and manufactured. This systems-approach addresses both submerged cage feeding as well as surface feeding whenever a cage is brought to the surface. Please contact us with your site operating requirements…