Online viewing: Do you have a web camera for your aquarium?

[ShadowMan]

I've recently upgraded to a TP-Link household mesh, so decided to stay with the same eco-system and have ordered a TP-Link Tapo - at £19 I figured it's worth a shot!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

I used to be gone for work for long periods. I "invested" in a broadcast quality web cam. Mine is an Axis V5915 with full PTZ, auto white balance, and a 20x optical zoom. I used it to enjoy my tank while I was away from home.

With it's built in web-server I put it on the web to share my tank with anyone interested. You can check it out at o2manyfish.com --- Tank lights aren't on till 4pm PST.

It's neat to check the camera logs and see people logging in from around the world. We avg about 100 people a day and that number doubles on the weekends. If I do a good youtube update on the tank then the daily views can hit 1000.

I then took the web-cams feed and integrated it into our security camera system. In our theater, living room, kitchen, master bedroom we have 32" monitors showing the security cameras, and one of those feeds is the reef tank.

Now that I am retired and don't travel for work anymore I get to enjoy my tank from more rooms in the house than just the room the tank is viewable.

For when things go wrong, the PTZ has been invaluable. We were on an Alaskan cruise when there was an 8hr power outage. Fish loss was over 100 fish. Using the camera we were able to guide the house sitter to a majority of the bodies to remove them from the tank.

In addition to the Axis camera on the main 750g tank, I have 5 standard 4mp security cameras on the outdoor frag tanks and the outdoor filter wall so I can keep track of everything, whether at home or away.

The Axis is probably outside of most people's budgets for a webcam, but it's an amazing camera and for me has been well worth the investment.

Dave B

Love your feed! Do you have to pay a subscription fee for the live web hosting?

Looks like the V5915 can be had fairly cheap now (I mean relatively) that the V5925 is out. I can’t seem to figure out what the difference is.

 

[All_talk]

I'm away from my tank 5 days a week for work, been running two cams for many years. One on the sump and one on the tank. The tank cam is a PTZ that I can pan around the room to see my fresh water tanks as well.

 

[ScubaFish802]

We are putting in new tanks at the high school I teach at and the students keep asking for a livestream of the tanks. Any camera suggestions?

Wyze has been great for years, even since they switched up the subscription model it is still the best value for us. Their cameras have been really increasing in quality for how cheap they are. The new v3s and the new pan/tilt have great quality - if you pay more for something like Ring the quality is even better, but that is likely overkill for a school.

You can also add users to the app who can access each camera on the account, so could potentially share with students and then take away access if needed later

 

[jphilip813]

I do and the new wyze cam 3 on my Sump (upper left)

 

[jphilip813]

I just bought one of these last week, timely thread!

I’m going to mount it on the ceiling so I can pan/tilt to view the sump and the tank.

I have this trained on my Sump...good buy!

 

[ksaeriereef]

I have 2 of the new Wyze pan one on each side of my peninsula best camera for the purpose.(the price point keeps my wife happy) I work out of town 4 days a week, my son is my reefing partner has me covered in case of emergencies. The wifi in my offsite office sucks, but the I can download the recorded video and the quality is perfect HD. Which I loop on the 75in presentation screen my clients love it.

 

[14 foot reef]

Sump house 4 cams in here

 

[David Carp]

I have a cheap, $20 web cam to watch my anemone incubator basket. It works OK, but I really wish I could find one with a shorter focal distance. The anemones I am checking on are small and I lose a lot of details at 3+ feet.

What's an Anemone incubator?

 

[shakacuz]

Also have a living room cam, used to have a chewer on everything... Found out it was my 4 pounder dog (shocker ironically). Also helps when I have to have a non regular dog/fish sitter.

yeah we got ours just as a precaution. the pup is still young so we’re a bit weary of him with his impending teething.

You both are very brave. I work from home, but when I leave home mine goes into a playpen attached to a crate. He ate 1/2 my couch one day after months of being perfect - at least it was just the couch

he is gorgeous!!! our dal just turned 4mo. surprisingly likes to watch the tank right before he falls asleep and hasn’t been destructive…….(yet)!

 

[ThaBeast]

Thanks for sharing your link Dave...now I gotta go find a web cam!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

You both are very brave. I work from home, but when I leave home mine goes into a playpen attached to a crate. He ate 1/2 my couch one day after months of being perfect - at least it was just the couch

Lol, she was the chair eater (the small one). Literally gnawed/scratched down a wood chair leg to a nub. I have to cover the cushions or use baskets as I dont want my couches ruined.

 

[bradleym]

What's an Anemone incubator?

It's where I keep all my small/sick anemones to nurse them back to full size & full health. I especially like to take in ones that are being troublesome for other hobbyists. The camera view is terrible, but I'm currently watching 3 RBTAs, 1 GBTA, and 1 gigantea, as well as 2 I haven't ID'd yet.

 

[bradleym]

It's where I keep all my small/sick anemones to nurse them back to full size & full health. I especially like to take in ones that are being troublesome for other hobbyists. The camera view is terrible, but I'm currently watching 3 RBTAs, 1 GBTA, and 1 gigantea, as well as 2 I haven't ID'd yet.

Here's a cell phone picture for comparison:

 

[Daveobrien]

I’d love to see some more pictures of your fish room if you care to share! I’m doing a tank build with fish room in my basement right now.

Remodeling the fish equipment room was a beginning of Covid project, which lead to display tank upgrade, which lead to bigger skimmer and CaRx (over the last holidays).

These two build threads at our local club site have pics and details.

• https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/46664-fishroom-remodel-has-begun/
• https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/52020-skimmer-and-ca-reactor-up-size-project/

 

[james670]

I got various Wyze v3 cameras to put around the house and was impressed by the price and performance (though to be honest, I originally did this with an eye towards monitoring my tank, but don't tell my wife that!). I kept an extra camera for my tank, and used it while I was away on vacation to view the front of the tank. Once I got back, I moved the camera to the side of the tank so that it is less obtrusive. I eventually had an extra camera when I got a Wyze floodlight to replace the camera I had on the side of my house, so I repurposed that extra camera to view the far side of my tank. Now I can view my tank from both sides! It works nicely because my tank is approximately a cube. To deal with the blue tint of the video, I cut out some yellow cellophane to match the front of the camera and taped the cellophane to the cameras, which works very well.

I originally strapped a cellphone filter to the front of the camera, but the night vision didn't work properly because the filter wasn't right up against the camera lens like the cellophone is, and the infrared light reflected against the filter lens to complete screw up the video.

 

[andiserax]

Simple Wide lens USB cam connected to raspberry with 3d print fixture.

Installed a MJPG streamer for time lapse.

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Im going to add one to my reef tank & my discus tanks.extra peace of mind.

 

[Icryhard]

I have a cheap, $20 web cam to watch my anemone incubator basket. It works OK, but I really wish I could find one with a shorter focal distance. The anemones I am checking on are small and I lose a lot of details at 3+ feet.

May I ask which webcam you use? You can often times buy the focal lenses.

 

[CoralB]

I have one set up from across the room looking at the tank and equipment. It’s piece of mind when you are away for any length of time .