Rico's Reefnecks
Community Member
About 2 months into the hobby and finally got to the point where I had enough "stuff" it was time to clean up the wiring (and make it safe). Putting all the cabling into a waterproof cable box does tend to make it harder to switch things on and off, so I decided to splurge on one of those "smart home" powerstrips - by Kasa in this case.
Wow, what a game-changer. Turn pumps off for feed mode, all electrical off for maintenance, time my skimming and refugium light, even check power usage on my heater to make sure nothing is amiss.
It's no apex obviously and pretty dumb for a "smart" device when you think about it...but then I started to wonder what you could actually do with the available ecosystem of cheapo domestic-grade sensors available these days.
So to start I picked up a cheap leak sensor (Yolink...love these names) and the requisite $20 router to go with it. Slap a wet paper towel on the sensor, and yes, my phone lights up with emails and alerts as the dutiful sensor alerts me to impending disaster.
Now we get to the main issue I've always heard about with these systems - i have products from two different companies running and they cannot directly talk to one another. Enter IFTTT (if this, then that - clever) - I signup for a free account and this new app links the two together. Now if the yolink water sensor goes off, IFTTT gets a notification, and pushes a message to the kasa powerstrip to activate the "failsafe" scene and turn everything off.
So the moment of truth - leak sensor under the cabinet, drip some water on it and...CLICK, the tank goes dark a couple of seconds later and my phone blows up with alerts again.
Having never seen any of this discussed in my pre-build research I have to say...this is a huge "aha" moment. Some of the most common irritations of daily tank operation have just evaporated by incorporating these tools, and while obviously not designed with reefing in mind, they seem robust so far (and extremely easy to use). IFTTT and similar approaches really make me think about what is possible in this space with consumer-grade equipment. And even if its not the most robust solution, any solution takes the edge off the anxiety when you start to wonder what might happen if (when?) an "unscheduled water change event" occurs.
So for all the beginners out there like me...you don't have to get a souped-up apex or wire up a Reef Pi to solve the daily headaches (though I do love the whole reef pi approach).
Would love to know if anyone else has explored these systems and has experience to share.
Wow, what a game-changer. Turn pumps off for feed mode, all electrical off for maintenance, time my skimming and refugium light, even check power usage on my heater to make sure nothing is amiss.
It's no apex obviously and pretty dumb for a "smart" device when you think about it...but then I started to wonder what you could actually do with the available ecosystem of cheapo domestic-grade sensors available these days.
So to start I picked up a cheap leak sensor (Yolink...love these names) and the requisite $20 router to go with it. Slap a wet paper towel on the sensor, and yes, my phone lights up with emails and alerts as the dutiful sensor alerts me to impending disaster.
Now we get to the main issue I've always heard about with these systems - i have products from two different companies running and they cannot directly talk to one another. Enter IFTTT (if this, then that - clever) - I signup for a free account and this new app links the two together. Now if the yolink water sensor goes off, IFTTT gets a notification, and pushes a message to the kasa powerstrip to activate the "failsafe" scene and turn everything off.
So the moment of truth - leak sensor under the cabinet, drip some water on it and...CLICK, the tank goes dark a couple of seconds later and my phone blows up with alerts again.
Having never seen any of this discussed in my pre-build research I have to say...this is a huge "aha" moment. Some of the most common irritations of daily tank operation have just evaporated by incorporating these tools, and while obviously not designed with reefing in mind, they seem robust so far (and extremely easy to use). IFTTT and similar approaches really make me think about what is possible in this space with consumer-grade equipment. And even if its not the most robust solution, any solution takes the edge off the anxiety when you start to wonder what might happen if (when?) an "unscheduled water change event" occurs.
So for all the beginners out there like me...you don't have to get a souped-up apex or wire up a Reef Pi to solve the daily headaches (though I do love the whole reef pi approach).
Would love to know if anyone else has explored these systems and has experience to share.
