Sral's Aquarium and Reef-Pi Build

[Sral]

The current status can now be found on GitHub

You will find an overview of the current status and discussions with links.
Also includes comprehensive Links to Sources/Guides, Schematics and Pictures reporting on the progress.

I will post progress reports and pictures here as well.

 

[Sral]

Update on the Aquarium:

• got some filter medium

Spoiler: Filter_Setup

• fitted the ground heater
  • Filter trays stand in for the plateaus (no need for heating there)
  • front left will get a sand-try for the cat-fish

Spoiler: Ground Heater

• started on the DIY BIO CO2-Plant:
  • two 0.5 l washer bottles (top left)
  • two 5.0 l reservoirs
    • one holding sugar solution
    • one with the yeast solution
  • inline CO2 reactor from the same bottles

Spoiler: CO2 Plant Overview

• inline reactor build

Spoiler: inline CO2-reactor materials

• connection by pushing on bottle inside => pressure will tighten the seal

Spoiler: Fitting

• Same construction on the connectors, water pressure will push the parts against the seal

Spoiler: Hose connnectors

• Glued everything together by applying aquarium silicone on the part and then pushed it against the sealing surface, creating a seal
• Will get mechanical reinforcement from the outside using a hot glue gun
• Will test that in a bucket once it's finished ^^

 

[Ranjib]

following along

 

[Sral]

Progress on the Reef-Pi planning:

• Spoiler: Power Supply:

  • 12 VDC from 3 pin power cable
  • Ground connection
  • 5.0 VDC from Variable Buck converter
  • 3.3 VDC from Variable Buck converter
• Spoiler: Interface connectors:

  • Power
    • 4-pin MOLEX
  • I2C
    • shielded USB type A cable (+5.0V, SDA SCL, GND)
    • chained through all devices
    • driven from Py through either:
      • a BSS138 level shifter + LTC4311 I2C Extender
      • a ISO1540 I2C isolator (includes level shifting)
  • GPIO:
    • 2xDB9 connectors (GND, 8 GPIO 3.3V pins)
    • 4-8xJST PH 3-pin (+5.0V, GND, Pin)
    • connected through a BSS138 level shifter
    • directly interfaces and supplies
      • DS18B20 temperature sensors
      • Water flow sensor
  • PWM:
    • 2xJST 2-pin (GND, PWM pin)
• Modules:
  • Spoiler: ADC Module:

    • Adafruit ADS1015
    • I2C connection
    • power connection
    • signal connection (4 x JST 3-pin connectors: +5.0V, GND, Analog In)
  • Spoiler: PWM Module:

    • Adafruit PCA9685
    • I2C connection
    • power connection
    • 16 JST 2-pin connections for PWM out
  • Spoiler: LED Module:

    • JST 2-pin connections (isolated)
    • separate 12V power for direct LED drive
  • Spoiler: pH Module:

    • Robotank pH circuit
    • I2C connection
  • Spoiler: Air Quality Module:

    • SCD30 sensor board
    • I2C connection
  • Spoiler: CO2 pressure Module:

    • 2 x BMP280 sensor boards
    • I2C connection
  • Spoiler: AC Power Relais Module:

    • DB9 GPIO connection
    • Power connection
  • Spoiler: Doser Module:

    • DB9 GPIO connection
    • power connection
    • 2xPWM connection
    • mechanical switch to determine which PWM input is used for each doser
  • Spoiler: EC module:

    • power and analog connection to ADC
    • internal isolation, both signal and power

Since I most definitely forgot something, be sure to let me know what you think ^^

 

[Sral]

Some progress on the lighting and the according Reef-Pi control. I'm thinking of getting either:

• ~120$ bare bone set
  • ~ 6 250 lm, 47W 24V
  • cold white, warm white and RGB
  • 60W power supply
  • very simple holder
  • coated LEDs and plugs (waterproof)
• ~250$ Solid LS 870
  • ~10 000 lm, 92W 24V
  • same cold white warm white and RGB
  • 100W power supply
  • prettier and better heat dissipation (elox aluminium all over)
  • coated LEDs and plugs (waterproof)

Either allows to control all channels (6 in total), even with a third party dimmer (which is not standard as far as I can see, so I like this manufacturer a lot). Problem now is how to control those channels with Reef-Pi.

I couldn't find a nice ready PWM controlled dimmer online, so I'm thinking of building something myself.

 

[Sral]

Alright, got a few chonky orders out. That should get me almost all of the parts needed. Stay tuned !

 

[Sral]

Also: had to be a bit flexible with a few parts:

• the standard Adafruit power MOSFETs weren't available
  • replaced them with comparable ones from Nexperia
    • similar low capacitance
    • ~20mOhm on resistance compared to ~10mOhm
• similar story with the Darlington transistor ULN2803A
  • replaced them with ULN2801A (same datasheet)
  • same transistor IC, just without 2,7k input resistor
  • I'll have to add them by myself

 

[Sral]

Christmas came early this year !

Now I sadly have to focus on work with this package sitting next to me ^^

 

[Sral]

Alright, I sorted the parts and the light arrived. And IT, IS, BEAUTIFUL !!

I did however not find my micro SD adapter so I’ll have to wait to set up the reef-Pi

 

[Sral]

Alright, filled in the fertilizer floor:

Modeled the plateaus with lava gravel:

And started building the plateaus and fill in the ground:

I’m going to need more rocks though ^^

also started the first dry run of the CO2-plant. Currently it’s gravity fed through a valve:

Beer-grade sugar solution on the left (100g per 1l, should give me about 5% max ethanol), gravity fed through that green valve down to the yeast. The gas exhaust equalizes the pressure difference between the two bottles and feeds into the two 0,5l washer bottles in the front. The exhaust goes to a CO2 meter that will ring when it exceeds 1000ppm

 

[Sral]

Working as intended, steady stream of bubbles and CO2 increased at the sensor:

Sry for the tilt, the website won’t let me turn the picture

 

[Sral]

And like with all diy co2 setups: Houston, we have a leak ! Now I have to find it without using soap ^^

Also: the last package arrived from @robsworld78, so I have everything to start the Reef-Pi side of things !

 

[Sral]

Alright, restructured the Aquarium, increased the plateau areas, added more rocks and build a sand pit in the front left:

Also added a small current pump for the catfish, that’s hidden behind the rocks

started building the reef-Pi unit. The 12V supply is too large however, so I’ll include it in the power supply and Relais unit on the left. That way I have more space in the reef Pi main unit on the right:

 

[Sral]

Alright, tried to set up the Pi according to @robsworld78 guide.

Buuut the Pi Zero v1.3 doesn't show up on my network.
The PI is connected to a 5V 1A USB power supply.
The PI's status LED blinks a bit and then light up solid.
The PI's OS (Raspbian OS LITE 32 bit) is written on a kingston 32 GB class 10 micro SD card.
The Adafruit Ethernet Hub lights up green as well and shows the occasional orange flicker
The other side in the Router is lit orange as well and shows the occasional green flicker.

I also have a Printer that is connected to the Router whose MAC is hardwired to IP 192.168.0.253 in the Router's DHCP settings, that one shows up as well.

But I cannot see a device that fits the Pi and if I try to connect to the IP adresses around the ones I can see, typically 192.168.0.2 to 7, I can't get a connection using PUTTY on port 22.

Any Ideas ? I will currently try to set the PI's address manually if I can manage that.

 

[Sral]

Strike that, managed to get a connection.

I tried manually setting an Ip if DHCP fails, but that didn't work.
I rebooted once, reconnected the Ethernet cable to no avail.

Then I rebooted the Pi without the Ethernet connected and only plugged it in after the PI seemed to have booted. Then it showed up as 192.168.0.9, Huray !

I also installed reef-Pi. Problem that I see: @robsworld78 file on his website uses Reef-Pi version 4.3
How can I update my Reef-Pi to the newest 5.2 release ?

 

[Sral]

Found the Update part in Reef-Pi UI and the Code in the Adafruit Guide:

wget -c https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/4.3/reef-pi-4.3-pi0.deb

sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-4.3-pi0.deb

Just have to replace 4.3 with 5.2 I guess.

The Ethernet Problem still remains, however.

 

[robsworld78]

Tank layout is looking good.

Hope you got that Pi connecting to the network, sounds like it's working. I'm still pushing 4.3 as I feel that's the easiest to setup as 5.2 has a few UI bugs that cause a lot of confusion. You can update how you guessed but you can also do it from reef-pi interface. If you go to the admin tab put in the version you want and it'll do it's thing. After it updates it's recommended to reboot the Pi and clear the browser cache otherwise you might get mixed results.

 

[Sral]

Alright, power supply and AC relay module is progressing:

I checked which one of the AC input leads is the phase and put the switch on that one. All connectors on the phase are isolated with shrink tube. There are holes in the side of the lid on the right for the AC cables, that connect to AC power and the relais inside. On the other side I will fix AC outlets and screw them onto a panel.

I will also connect 8 LEDs to show the status of the AC outlets. I am planning on finishing that today.

I am also working on the circuit drawings.

Power supply unit with one example Relay-circuit:

The jumper between the 3 pins at the top is used to supply both the signal and the relais from one VCC pin. I am planning to disconnect it though to drive the optocoupler and the relais from their own designated 5V to improve isolation to the PI.

Pi unit:

A few important questions on the Pi:
- does the single wire interface for the DS18B20 require pin 4 or will every GPIO pin work ?
- I am running out of designated GPIO pins. Can I also use the pins marked with a question mark as GPIO ?
That's the SPI pins (BCM 10,9 and 11), some UART pins (BCM 14, 15, 24, 26 and 28) and the PWM communication pins (20 and 21).
- I am currently thinking about using a designated 5 V 3A Step down for the Relais and one 5V 3A step down for the rest
(PI Zero 1.3, Ethernet adapter (300 mA), pH circuit, EC circuit, PWM circuit (PCA9685), ADC (ADS1015), 2 barometric pressure sensors (BMP280), Air quality module (SCD30 CO2 sensor))

Do you recon that will be too much draw on the 5V 3A supply ? I'll probably try and find a current draw for all circuits mentioned.

All in all I probably should have used a 12V relay board, that would have made it much easier ^^

 

[Ranjib]

one wire pin can be any other gpio pin. just configure it accordingly: https://pinout.xyz/pinout/1_wire
i concur with the 12v realization. this is the reason i go with 12v and then step down to 5v as required for anything above 10 or 12 watt load

 

[Sral]

one wire pin can be any other gpio pin. just configure it accordingly: https://pinout.xyz/pinout/1_wire
i concur with the 12v realization. this is the reason i go with 12v and then step down to 5v as required for anything above 10 or 12 watt load

Nice, thanks ! I think I will stay with Pin4 then.

The Relais don't draw that much, as far as I can see it's 5mA activation on the input and 120mA / 0,6 W on the relais when active. Since I am running them normally closed I don't expect to run more than 2-4 relais at the same time.

Problem that I see with the 12V relais is that none of them have the input isolation that I have with this one, but I guess that's not actually needed and I am too paranoid about that.