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

[DirtDiggler2823]

I promise it will be put to good use. Excited about it as I have developed an annoying tremor over the last 5 years that has made soldering fairly tricky and nearly screwed up my last build. Sorry ya'll

I will say that I will abstain from the second drawing lol

Tremors, oof. Rough, but the reefing continues. Me soldering is like watching a bear do needlepoint.

 

[Ox100]

Hey guys got a quick question i'm cycling my tank now and was planning on taking the plunge and purchasing a Apex EL but spoke with my son who is a very into computer and programming and he said he could do an open source controller very easy so i gave him a SD card and he asked me what features i want told me purchase a Raspberry 4 kit. My question is how accurate will the readings i'm getting be? whats the reliability? and would it be wise to fore go the Apex? Thanks in advance

 

[Bigtrout]

Hey guys got a quick question i'm cycling my tank now and was planning on taking the plunge and purchasing a Apex EL but spoke with my son who is a very into computer and programming and he said he could do an open source controller very easy so i gave him a SD card and he asked me what features i want told me purchase a Raspberry 4 kit. My question is how accurate will the readings i'm getting be? whats the reliability? and would it be wise to fore go the Apex? Thanks in advance

If you are into DIY projects then reef-pi is for you!

My reef pi build is every bit if not MORE accurate than anything on the market for ph and temperatures.

You can get as elaborate or as simple as you want. There are alot of people making premade boards to give you a jump start and to save you from soldering. @theatrus @Michael Lane and now @Schreiber are all selling some reasonably priced killer boards. Browse around some reef pi build threads and get a feel for what you are jumping into.

For example i run a 75g freshwater planted with a sump. My reef pi controls 8 power outlets, has 3 temp sensors controlling 2 heaters, ph monitor and 4 channels of pwm control for led lights. I have a feed macro that shuts down my return pump for 12 minutes then starts it back up automatically. A guesstimate of cost for me was about $150 and some time to build my own controller to do what I wanted. I can even monitor from the web remotely.

If your son wants to help thats even better. What better way to get family time.

The other great part of reef pi is the community. Everyone is willing to help out if you get stuck!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Reef-pi offers a few advantages over Apex IMO. Its cheap and its built by a community who loves reefing. If an Apex bites the dust you have little to rely on besides a warranty (not sure if thats a thing) but with a reef-pi build you have a community to help you diagnose issues.

As far as reliability goes that will very much be in your own hands. My first build I used Chinese temperature sensors which caused a few issue. My second built I had a floating ground which caused my ATO to be unreliable depending on how I oriented my switch. Its a fun project and I don't regret a minute of the time I spent building my reef-pi but it has risks and hurdles just like starting any new hobby. Just let us know how we can help.

 

[Ranjib]

Hey guys got a quick question i'm cycling my tank now and was planning on taking the plunge and purchasing a Apex EL but spoke with my son who is a very into computer and programming and he said he could do an open source controller very easy so i gave him a SD card and he asked me what features i want told me purchase a Raspberry 4 kit. My question is how accurate will the readings i'm getting be? whats the reliability? and would it be wise to fore go the Apex? Thanks in advance

If you are not tech savvy and can afford , then apex will be easiest choice. Accuracy is same across the board , and with more customization reef-pi might be dialed to a more precise setup than apex, but hard to comment without a specific test setup.
Apex reliability will vary, for most of the core controller features it’s pretty good. I’ve heard the atk has higher failure rates, but your experience may vary as they are constantly improving their system.

It’s better to talk about your specific requirement and then discuss the solutions in light of those. In most cases, if you are not a diy person, I think individual ato, dosing , temperature controllers are better and cheaper (brs temp controller, smart ato micro , are good example). If you are ok with diy, then definitely reef-pi :/)

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Hey guys got a quick question i'm cycling my tank now and was planning on taking the plunge and purchasing a Apex EL but spoke with my son who is a very into computer and programming and he said he could do an open source controller very easy so i gave him a SD card and he asked me what features i want told me purchase a Raspberry 4 kit. My question is how accurate will the readings i'm getting be? whats the reliability? and would it be wise to fore go the Apex? Thanks in advance

I would also add that if you son wanted to get in the game and build a controller its a cheap enough project that can get him into reefing himself. Its how I ended up here

 

[Ranjib]

I would also add that if you son wanted to get in the game and build a controller its a cheap enough project that can get him into reefing himself. Its how I ended up here

Yes, I’ll second this. Most reef-pi builders have learned a lot about circuit, electronics and bit of computer along the journeys. With guides in adafruit (where all the introductory electronics tutorials are also present) its a very good learning experience

 

[Phildago]

Is there anyway to plot timers? Or equipment? I'm using times to control my doser equipment and would like to have a plot to make sure they're being activated coreectly

 

[Ox100]

If you are into DIY projects then reef-pi is for you!

My reef pi build is every bit if not MORE accurate than anything on the market for ph and temperatures.

You can get as elaborate or as simple as you want. There are alot of people making premade boards to give you a jump start and to save you from soldering. @theatrus @Michael Lane and now @Schreiber are all selling some reasonably priced killer boards. Browse around some reef pi build threads and get a feel for what you are jumping into.

For example i run a 75g freshwater planted with a sump. My reef pi controls 8 power outlets, has 3 temp sensors controlling 2 heaters, ph monitor and 4 channels of pwm control for led lights. I have a feed macro that shuts down my return pump for 12 minutes then starts it back up automatically. A guesstimate of cost for me was about $150 and some time to build my own controller to do what I wanted. I can even monitor from the web remotely.

If your son wants to help thats even better. What better way to get family time.

The other great part of reef pi is the community. Everyone is willing to help out if you get stuck!

what about salinity or orp are these possible?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Is there anyway to plot timers? Or equipment? I'm using times to control my doser equipment and would like to have a plot to make sure they're being activated coreectly

Yes there is.

 

[Schreiber]

Hey guys got a quick question i'm cycling my tank now and was planning on taking the plunge and purchasing a Apex EL but spoke with my son who is a very into computer and programming and he said he could do an open source controller very easy so i gave him a SD card and he asked me what features i want told me purchase a Raspberry 4 kit. My question is how accurate will the readings i'm getting be? whats the reliability? and would it be wise to fore go the Apex? Thanks in advance

To add to what's already been mentioned, in the 3 years I've been playing with Reef-Pi, I've never had a stable build "fail", if you're worried about reliability. I've had plenty of issues caused due to dumb mistakes on my part while learning how everything played together. But once I had my issues corrected, Reef-Pi has been absolutely rock-solid.

The Apex is absolutely a nice piece of equipment if you've just got money burning a hole in your pocket. But with a tech-savvy son that's already offering to help with a Reef-Pi build, I'd definitely go that route! Welcome to the thread

 

[Phildago]

Yes there is.

Any tips on how I could get it going? I've been messing around, but having been able to figure it out. All i have is the bar graphs that are always red since my doser only runs for 1 second every two hours or so, depending on the individual pumps

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Any tips on how I could get it going? I've been messing around, but having been able to figure it out. All i have is the bar graphs that are always red since my doser only runs for 1 second every two hours or so, depending on the individual pumps

You've got to enable the timers function in the settings tab. The you can set things to turn on, and off.

 

[Phildago]

You've got to enable the timers function in the settings tab. The you can set things to turn on, and off.

Oh, I think you may be misunderstanding. I already have the timers running. I just want to be able to monitor them. This way I can look back at the data and verify that they triggered at the correct time

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Oh, I think you may be misunderstanding. I already have the timers running. I just want to be able to monitor them. This way I can look back at the data and verify that they triggered at the correct time

Oh, I'm not aware of that type of function. I have a timer for my fuge light and it works like a charm.

 

[Phildago]

Oh, I'm not aware of that type of function. I have a timer for my fuge light and it works like a charm.

Mine appears to be working well too.. but at the same time, I can't see it during the day and my alk has been dropping. Now I know that when the timer triggers it doses about 1 ml each time, but I have no way to verify that it triggers every time reliably.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Mine appears to be working well too.. but at the same time, I can't see it during the day and my alk has been dropping. Now I know that when the timer triggers it doses about 1 ml each time, but I have no way to verify that it triggers every time reliably.

Your alk, or your pH has been dropping?

 

[Phildago]

Your alk, or your pH has been dropping?

My alk. Full disclosure, I rewired my jebao pump from its internal controller to the pi. I tried to set my dosing schedule very similarly to what it had been but my alk is dropping. This means one of two things. It's either not triggering each time I have the timer set, or the doses are significantly smaller. Either one is possible, but I really thought the volumes were quite close when I first tested it, so that leads me to believe it may not be triggering as often as I would like

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

My alk. Full disclosure, I rewired my jebao pump from its internal controller to the pi. I tried to set my dosing schedule very similarly to what it had been but my alk is dropping. This means one of two things. It's either not triggering each time I have the timer set, or the doses are significantly smaller. Either one is possible, but I really thought the volumes were quite close when I first tested it, so that leads me to believe it may not be triggering as often as I would like

If the timers are triggering, then they are working. Could be something else causing the alk drop. How are you measuring alk while you're away from the house?

 

[Phildago]

If the timers are triggering, then they are working. Could be something else causing the alk drop. How are you measuring alk while you're away from the house?

Thats my issue. I cannot plot the data, so I have absolutely no way of verifying that the timers are triggering. I don't monitor alk while I'm away, I test it at home. I tested 5 days ago and it was 8.7 let it go for a few days and it was 7.0 yesterday. Today i tested it as 6.9. So despite increasing the number of times i would like it to trigger to 13 x daily for 1 second, it's still not enough. Before using reef pi I was dosing 1 ml 12 x daily. The 1 second trigger actually doses a bit more than 1 ml, so either my calibration was off on my last timer, or it's not triggering when I want it to.

Really I think my best option would be if I could find a way to plot the data each day. That way I could look back and see that the pumps/timers were actually triggering at the time I set them for