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

[Ranjib]

Thank you for doing reef-pi, so people like my self whit no electronic experince can have a nice Reef controler

I had no experience with electronics 3 years before. Now I know a lot . We have a long way to go, I hope this project will give you an opportunity to learn as well. Although I intend to make it as simple as possible, so that the end users dont have to have electronic experience.
Another goal on that line will be to reduce the setup/build time.. My current challenge is the wide spectrum of different reefing gears :-( . I cant test them all, and user experience on some of them is very different.

 

[mhp1972]

You dont have to wait. The way reef-pi's lighting cycle logic works, it will linearly interpolate the two hour interval values and increment them accordingly every minute. So, you should be able to see those incremental changes every minute. You check the actual pwm value its setting in log.

Looking at your light cycle settings, 8 pm its 17 and 10 pm it 77, so reef-pi will increment (77-17 )/ 120 = 0.5 volt every minute.

I can see now on my log file, that my PWM value is increasing as time go volt as well my LED should change in brigtness now

 

[mhp1972]

You dont have to wait. The way reef-pi's lighting cycle logic works, it will linearly interpolate the two hour interval values and increment them accordingly every minute. So, you should be able to see those incremental changes every minute. You check the actual pwm value its setting in log.

Looking at your light cycle settings, 8 pm its 17 and 10 pm it 77, so reef-pi will increment (77-17 )/ 120 = 0.5 volt every minute.

Seems like everything is working now, so i will go for the update and try it out. Thank you for helping me out

 

[Ranjib]

Seems like everything is working now, so i will go for the update and try it out. Thank you for helping me out

Awesome. Happy that it worked out. Remember there is no gremlins, if things didnt work, that means something was not correct, either wiring or something else. Never give up, use multimeter or something else to test things incrementally. Take break if you are stuck, and let us know if you need any help.
Godspeed

 

[mhp1972]

Awesome. Happy that it worked out. Remember there is no gremlins, if things didnt work, that means something was not correct, either wiring or something else. Never give up, use multimeter or something else to test things incrementally. Take break if you are stuck, and let us know if you need any help.
Godspeed

Your absolutely right and i'am very happy everything is working i do not have the guts to try the new release now everything is working on the old one

 

[Brad Cox]

Im having problems with my ato still.
I replaced the optical sensor and board and i have the same problem.
It will fill up. Then cut off and it wont cut back on until i make the sensor wet again or rub the optical sensor.
Has anyone had any problem with them?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Im having problems with my ato still.
I replaced the optical sensor and board and i have the same problem.
It will fill up. Then cut off and it wont cut back on until i make the sensor wet again or rub the optical sensor.
Has anyone had any problem with them?

I had an issue with power, my ato sensor, temperature sensor, relay. Was all being powered by a 12v power supply. I honestly didnt even think about it till i plugged in the temperature sensor for the first time. Temp sensor was wonky, optical sensor would work 5 minutes, then stop. I changed around how i had things wired a bit. Not sure why i thought 11v was suitable but for a 12v power supply.

 

[Ranjib]

Im having problems with my ato still.
I replaced the optical sensor and board and i have the same problem.
It will fill up. Then cut off and it wont cut back on until i make the sensor wet again or rub the optical sensor.
Has anyone had any problem with them?

I had run the first ato build for 1 .5 months without any issue. I just swapped it with my AIO build which is running in monitor only mode for couple days and till now it has been ok.

That said, ATO sensors across the board are one of the most frequently failed parts. They are sensitive to positioning as well. This, alongside testing the sensor you are using specifically , should be our starting point.

• Can you tell us little bit about what sensor you are using ? the ones from ebay? I want to get one of those and test it out
• Where you have mounted your sensor? All my tanks are AIO, and i position the ATO sensor in the back chamber , same compartment where the return pump is located (in biocube 29), in upside down position. Thats the most stable place for me, since there is not water movement or salt creep

 

[Ryan115]

Hopefully I will be getting my ATO wired up this weekend.
I just got my reservoir cabinet finished, and a 10g tank inside of it. Currently I have a AquaLifter running on reef-pi timers.
The aqualifter is pushing about 2 GPH, and I estimate my evaporation ~1 GPD. So 30 minutes per day should keep me about level.
So until the float switch gets wired (I already have one, so I haven't purchased an optical sensor yet), a 5 minute session 6x/day should be close.

 

[Brad Cox]

I had run the first ato build for 1 .5 months without any issue. I just swapped it with my AIO build which is running in monitor only mode for couple days and till now it has been ok.

That said, ATO sensors across the board are one of the most frequently failed parts. They are sensitive to positioning as well. This, alongside testing the sensor you are using specifically , should be our starting point.

• Can you tell us little bit about what sensor you are using ? the ones from ebay? I want to get one of those and test it out
• Where you have mounted your sensor? All my tanks are AIO, and i position the ATO sensor in the back chamber , same compartment where the return pump is located (in biocube 29), in upside down position. Thats the most stable place for me, since there is not water movement or salt creep

I have mine in my return pump location too.
I printed a mount to mout it to pvc.
Im using it with the wire on the top and sensor pointing down to the water.

I just replaced it this week because the old one was doing the same thing.

But i have mine powered up with a 3.3 instead of 5 volts because thats all i have left.

But it has been working great up until a couple weeks ago.

Should i turn it upside down?

 

[Ranjib]

Hopefully I will be getting my ATO wired up this weekend.
I just got my reservoir cabinet finished, and a 10g tank inside of it. Currently I have a AquaLifter running on reef-pi timers.
The aqualifter is pushing about 2 GPH, and I estimate my evaporation ~1 GPD. So 30 minutes per day should keep me about level.
So until the float switch gets wired (I already have one, so I haven't purchased an optical sensor yet), a 5 minute session 6x/day should be close.

I like this :0) . This is so much safer. You can then wire the sensor just for alerts, in case the water level drops below certain level, or just monitor it.

 

[Ranjib]

I have mine in my return pump location too.
I printed a mount to mout it to pvc.
Im using it with the wire on the top and sensor pointing down to the water.

I just replaced it this week because the old one was doing the same thing.

But i have mine powered up with a 3.3 instead of 5 volts because thats all i have left.

But it has been working great up until a couple weeks ago.

Should i turn it upside down?

I meant exactly this arrangement when i said upside down. I dont know why its acting bad recently. Is it after the recent software upgrade?

I really like these neat little 3d printed accessories. Is it in thingiverse? if so, can you tag it with reef-pi . I'll compile list of all the accessories, I can use them once I have a 3d printer

 

[Ryan115]

I meant exactly this arrangement when i said upside down. I dont know why its acting bad recently. Is it after the recent software upgrade?

I really like these neat little 3d printed accessories. Is it in thingiverse? if so, can you tag it with reef-pi . I'll compile list of all the accessories, I can use them once I have a 3d printer

The MonoPrice mini has received pretty good reviews. Small build space, but hard to beat the price.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15365

 

[Brad Cox]

I meant exactly this arrangement when i said upside down. I dont know why its acting bad recently. Is it after the recent software upgrade?

I really like these neat little 3d printed accessories. Is it in thingiverse? if so, can you tag it with reef-pi . I'll compile list of all the accessories, I can use them once I have a 3d printer

Yea i can do that its on thingiverse.

Yes it did get unstable after a upgrade but i dont remember what version.
Seems like .91.

But i need to see about doing a fresh install of everything.

 

[Ranjib]

We have a slack room for real time chatting around reef-pi, I created is as per the request from couple offer reefers in another r2r thread. We intend to use it for collaboration on specifically software development

pm me your email if any of you are interested https://reef-pi.slack.com

 

[Kampo]

so random feature idea. to make the build simpler. there are a lot of inexpensive smart switches comming out on the market. many of which are open to other cloud devices controlling them. I use Sonoff switches to automate a few of my aquarium needs (lights and c02 on a few planted tanks). I do know they have been updated accept http commands recently

 

[Ranjib]

so random feature idea. to make the build simpler. there are a lot of inexpensive smart switches comming out on the market. many of which are open to other cloud devices controlling them. I use Sonoff switches to automate a few of my aquarium needs (lights and c02 on a few planted tanks). I do know they have been updated accept http commands recently

most of these are not very opensource type hardware, also we 'd prefer to recommend a standard ubiquitous component (like relays and receptacles) that can be customized by user over a specific brand. If a reputed company like sparkfun or adafruit comes up with a controllable switch , then its a different thing, we can consider such components as part of the standard build. Also, i feel equipment or relay controls are relatively easier to do thing. Do you see any particular advantage of these things? or its just the ease of build, that you dont have to deal with 100V/220V AC stuff (which is a fair point).

 

[Ranjib]

I have shared the details of my temperature and ato controller build in 1.0 release post :

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-pi-1-0-release-temperature-and-water-level-monitoring.343672/

 

[HM3105]

@Ranjib So I've got the Reef-Pi all incorporated and all my equipment is now plugged in. A thought just ocured to me as I was putting all the equipment in the interface. All the outlets start in the off position. When Reef-Pi loses power, does it come back on and return all the outlets to the last state or do they default to off or on?

 

[Niwashi]

@Ranjib I cant PM but here is my email: