reef-pi :: An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi.

[Ranjib]

I've occasionally noticed the ordering of values on the charts sometimes being incorrect. I don't think we have an issue for it yet.

Till recent versions of reef-pi, there was a bug that we didnt store the year' part of the timestamp in usage data. as a result usage values of same months/days of different years will overlap and cause confusion. This was fixed in last release. I m not sure if this is the same bug, but thats something to be aware of.

 

[Ranjib]

Think I found my issue - somehow I wiped out i2c being enabled.

Keep us posted. I just got my pi 4 and gonna start testing with Raspberry OS soon.

 

[lmm1967]

Keep us posted. I just got my pi 4 and gonna start testing with Raspberry OS soon.

This was for sure me & my fault.

I will update with how I do with a pi 4 and the robo-tank as I have one of those on the way.

I'm bad add doing detailed write ups but I will tell you that I am replacing every piece of GHL & Apex on all my tanks with either stand alone solutions (ATO for instance) or Reef-Pi setups.

 

[stefanm]

When you say you got them back up & running, what exactly was the issue that made them "not running"? Have you changed the wiring on any connectors? I know I saw some weirdness with sliders not dimming all the way a while back I realized was caused by switching ground & one of the PWM outputs.

It doesn't seem to be that, I had wired everything properly and tested before putting back on the tank. I had initially taken the pi offline to test a new audio DAC, it wasn't working properly on the pi 4, the manufacturer wanted me to check on a pi3 and report back, somehow when I put the pi back on the tank my Arduino stormx clone fried along with its PCA 9685, even the reef pi's PCA 9685 stopped working at the same time. The replacement Arduino came after 10 days, only then I discovered the PCA 9685's were not working, the replacement was put onto to reef pi and lights were back working (5 mean well ldd's had also failed, only 3 were ok), in the mean time I decided to change the l293d motor drivers to l298's my order was out to be delivered so I took the pi offline and prepared to swap out, only one l298 was in the packet, so back went the l293 boards, one channel was faulty and irritating me (fault on the IC) so back on the tank and lights working without issue. The new board came after 4 days, I prepared it and waited until the Mrs went to her parents house for the weekend, done the swap all tested no problems, next morning back on the tank and no lights, no power on the mean well PSU, removed only the PSU, strangely the fuse on the plug had blown (I use UK plugs with fuses where possible) swapped out the fuse, BANG! the PSU stopped working, the replacement ordered came on Sunday, 12 days without lights, earlier I had the t5's as a back up for emergencies, now the ballasts don't work either.

So that's the story, this all started in June, previously my diy chiller conked off in feb, rusted to bits the replacement 2nd AC unit had a faulty compressor, didn't realise this until the hot summer which runs from late march to early June, this was also during lockdown so couldn't swap out the compressor, I got that done last month. Needless to say the tank is quite pi55*d right now.

Back to the dimming, I'll try it from another pin, it's only one channel, the other in use works properly, I've got some replacement LDD drivers on the way, once they arrive I'll check the circuit again.

What I wants to know is there anyway I can refresh the installation of reef pi?
Maybe go back to an earlier version and then back again?

I'd like to rule that out, some other things are acting weird on the pi, I'm thinking something may have become corrupt
@Ranjib maybe you can advise?

 

[Ranjib]

It doesn't seem to be that, I had wired everything properly and tested before putting back on the tank. I had initially taken the pi offline to test a new audio DAC, it wasn't working properly on the pi 4, the manufacturer wanted me to check on a pi3 and report back, somehow when I put the pi back on the tank my Arduino stormx clone fried along with its PCA 9685, even the reef pi's PCA 9685 stopped working at the same time. The replacement Arduino came after 10 days, only then I discovered the PCA 9685's were not working, the replacement was put onto to reef pi and lights were back working (5 mean well ldd's had also failed, only 3 were ok), in the mean time I decided to change the l293d motor drivers to l298's my order was out to be delivered so I took the pi offline and prepared to swap out, only one l298 was in the packet, so back went the l293 boards, one channel was faulty and irritating me (fault on the IC) so back on the tank and lights working without issue. The new board came after 4 days, I prepared it and waited until the Mrs went to her parents house for the weekend, done the swap all tested no problems, next morning back on the tank and no lights, no power on the mean well PSU, removed only the PSU, strangely the fuse on the plug had blown (I use UK plugs with fuses where possible) swapped out the fuse, BANG! the PSU stopped working, the replacement ordered came on Sunday, 12 days without lights, earlier I had the t5's as a back up for emergencies, now the ballasts don't work either.

So that's the story, this all started in June, previously my diy chiller conked off in feb, rusted to bits the replacement 2nd AC unit had a faulty compressor, didn't realise this until the hot summer which runs from late march to early June, this was also during lockdown so couldn't swap out the compressor, I got that done last month. Needless to say the tank is quite pi55*d right now.

Back to the dimming, I'll try it from another pin, it's only one channel, the other in use works properly, I've got some replacement LDD drivers on the way, once they arrive I'll check the circuit again.

What I wants to know is there anyway I can refresh the installation of reef pi?
Maybe go back to an earlier version and then back again?

I'd like to rule that out, some other things are acting weird on the pi, I'm thinking something may have become corrupt
@Ranjib maybe you can advise?

You should be able to go back to earlier version. I am assuming you mean just the software version and not data / state of the system (how the controller was at a given point in time In past ). For that you need to take a backup or copy of the reef-pi.db file

 

[Ranjib]

I am running reef-pi 3.4 on raspberry pi 4 since last night . So far so good. I know some of you have encountered issue, if any of you who have encountered pi 4 or raspberry pi os (new version and name of raspbian ) , please let me know the details. My initial guess was kernel version change is causing gpio detection bug, leading to outlet/inlet not working. So far this has not happened , with pi 4 , raspberry pi os and reef-pi 3.4

 

[bishoptf]

I think I have asked before but wondering what everyone is using for PH probes, is there one that is more reliable etc? Need to add one to my setup and wondering which one is the one to purchase.

Thanks

 

[Bigtrout]

Thank you reef-pi... alerts and weird temp graph let me catch a failed heater in 30 mins!!!

Aquarium heaters all stink. Ive bought crap ones, "good" ones and have had them all fail. Except for one...my trusty old(20 years old) renniesance brand 200w made in Italy. Its been a dependable backup when (more brands than I can count) other supposedly "good" heaters fail.

Can anyone recommend a good, NON glass 300 watt heater??

 

[bishoptf]

Thank you reef-pi... alerts and weird temp graph let me catch a failed heater in 30 mins!!!

Aquarium heaters all stink. Ive bought crap ones, "good" ones and have had them all fail. Except for one...my trusty old(20 years old) renniesance brand 200w made in Italy. Its been a dependable backup when (more brands than I can count) other supposedly "good" heaters fail.

Can anyone recommend a good, NON glass 300 watt heater??

These are supposed to be really good - https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/titanium-heater-element-bulk-reef-supply.html , they do need a controller since they do not have one internally. I think they are rebranded Schego heaters and are supposed to be about the best you can do, from what I read. I am running aqueon pro heaters and even some of the cheap aqueon pre-set heaters, I do tend to run undersized and run multiple vs one large one.

Although I tend to agree that all heaters are a crap shoot, they all seem to have issues.

 

[Bigtrout]

These are supposed to be really good - https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/titanium-heater-element-bulk-reef-supply.html , they do need a controller since they do not have one internally. I think they are rebranded Schego heaters and are supposed to be about the best you can do, from what I read. I am running aqueon pro heaters and even some of the cheap aqueon pre-set heaters, I do tend to run undersized and run multiple vs one large one.

Part of the redundancy I like is having the heater with a thermostat, and reef pi as the failsafe.

It was an aqueon pro that just died! At least it failed off and my temp dropped instead of cooking fish. Id return it for warranty(lifetime) but the proof of purchase was lost.

Looks like they are now made in china and new ones dont have the quality of the older ones that were supposed to be a great heater.

Uggh

 

[bishoptf]

Part of the redundancy I like is having the heater with a thermostat, and reef pi as the failsafe.

It was an aqueon pro that just died! At least it failed off and my temp dropped instead of cooking fish. Id return it for warranty(lifetime) but the proof of purchase was lost.

Looks like they are now made in china and new ones dont have the quality of the older ones that were supposed to be a great heater.

Uggh

Yeah I have one of the newer ones but I do not like it as well as the older units, the other one folks seem to like are the Finnex ones. They all appear to have issues, none of them appear to be as reliable as we would like them so its pick your poison and have a fail safe.

 

[Bigtrout]

Yeah I have one of the newer ones but I do not like it as well as the older units, the other one folks seem to like are the Finnex ones. They all appear to have issues, none of them appear to be as reliable as we would like them so its pick your poison and have a fail safe.

Theres my million dollar invention...a quality aquarium heater!!!

 

[bishoptf]

Theres my million dollar invention...a quality aquarium heater!!!

Yeah im not sure why it can't be done but it must not be easy to do since no one has really has been able to do it. The cobalts used to be popular but they appear to have issues, all of them appear to have issues. Bulk Reef just recommends replacing them every couple of years, hate doing that but there just doesnt seem to be any that are across the board reliable.

 

[Ranjib]

Thank you reef-pi... alerts and weird temp graph let me catch a failed heater in 30 mins!!!

Aquarium heaters all stink. Ive bought crap ones, "good" ones and have had them all fail. Except for one...my trusty old(20 years old) renniesance brand 200w made in Italy. Its been a dependable backup when (more brands than I can count) other supposedly "good" heaters fail.

Can anyone recommend a good, NON glass 300 watt heater??

Whoa .. I’m glad it worked as expected. I use fluval pro and eheim jaeger,

 

[robsworld78]

I am running reef-pi 3.4 on raspberry pi 4 since last night . So far so good. I know some of you have encountered issue, if any of you who have encountered pi 4 or raspberry pi os (new version and name of raspbian ) , please let me know the details. My initial guess was kernel version change is causing gpio detection bug, leading to outlet/inlet not working. So far this has not happened , with pi 4 , raspberry pi os and reef-pi 3.4

Now you have it running update the OS with this.

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y

When finished power down the Pi and then after it starts go to connectors and it should say something went wrong. The error won't show until the Pi has been power cycled. Just now I ran the update on a working Pi 4 with 3.4 and now it's broke.

 

[stefanm]

You should be able to go back to earlier version. I am assuming you mean just the software version and not data / state of the system (how the controller was at a given point in time In past ). For that you need to take a backup or copy of the reef-pi.db file

I want to remove all data, so everything is fresh, without having to remove the sdcard. Many things are acting strange...

 

[Michael Lane]

I want to remove all data, so everything is fresh, without having to remove the sdcard. Many things are acting strange...

You can remove the data by resetting reef-pi's database.

sudo systemctl stop reef-pi.service 
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/reef-pi/reef-pi.db 
sudo systemctl start reef-pi.service

 

[Ranjib]

Now you have it running update the OS with this.

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y

When finished power down the Pi and then after it starts go to connectors and it should say something went wrong. The error won't show until the Pi has been power cycled. Just now I ran the update on a working Pi 4 with 3.4 and now it's broke.

Just tried , still no issue. Any chance you can share the kernel version where it’s not working?

 

[stefanm]

You can remove the data by resetting reef-pi's database.

sudo systemctl stop reef-pi.service
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/reef-pi/reef-pi.db
sudo systemctl start reef-pi.service

Thanks, I found the details earlier my lights just dimmed down to zero as normal! All other issues are sorted also except one, which is my feed macro I'll post that in a little while..

 

[robsworld78]

Just tried , still no issue. Any chance you can share the kernel version where it’s not working?

Wow, that's crazy. How are you loading Raspberry OS? I'm using the Raspberry Imager program.

Linux raspberrypi 5.4.51-v7l+ #1333 SMP Mon Aug 10 16:51:40 BST 2020 armv7l GNU/Linux