(AAAA) Amazon Alexa Aquarium Automation: What are your thoughts and experience?

[Fishwife]

I use the TP-Link power strip.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I moved my T5 lights and sump cfls to a wifi power strip from my reef keeper. It has a simple on/off function that both frees up space and saves wear on the more expensive reef keeper power strips. I currently have it set up to function with my phone, but voice control would work if I set it up.

 

[steve meyers]

I have recently started to integrate Alexa into my apex routine. I have also used smart plugs to control various equipment . It can come in handy when you need that third hand. Using Alexa for timers when I’m testing, or filling buckets. Although sometimes she can be difficult and stubborn she is handy.

 

[MJV15]

So here are my thoughts, I'm Old School. I have control issues when it comes to my tank. What are you all going to do when the electricity is out??? .... what will you do when electric is out for weeks, from storms, and you cant remember how to take care of your tank without technology and of course Alexa.. just my thoughts..sorry

We will probably do the same thing you will, watch our tanks Slowly start to die. First we will watch filled with anxiety an hope our battery backups last. When they run out we will pull out our gas generators and hope they last. When they don’t, our little slice of the ocean will unfortunately die.

This hobby is technology dependent. because of automation way more people can be a part of the hobby, I am one of those people. Because of work I spend a total of around 4-5 months away from home each year. And thanks to timers, automatic feeders, dosers, ATOs and an AWC systems I can have my own tank. Automated systems don’t remove the work it front loads it. I still need to know what to feed, when to feed, how much to feed. When to top off, when to change water and so on. Automation doesn’t remove the knowledge requirement it just shifts when the work needs to be done.

I’d be willing to bet the “old school” way is more automated then you probably think it is. Are you manually controlling the temperature of your tank. Or is a heater automatically turning itself on/off to keep your tank at 78? Do you use the sun to light your tank? Or is there a strip of some electrical lighting source above your tank? How does it turn on, manually or on a timer? Have you somehow harnessed the tides to creat water flow in your tank? Or perhaps is it a hand crank wave pump? Or are little electrical pumps moving it automatically for you?

Alexa and any automation is just a tool to alow more people with less time to enjoy what you are already enjoying in your life. A beautiful little slice of the ocean, that helps us relax, and have some pride in watching our fish and corals grow.
Not to rant for too long, .. just my thoughts..sorry

 

[AZMSGT]

Call me paraniod, I have no interest in another company invading my home and listening in on me and my family. Big brother is watching you....

Also Jeff Bezos doesn't need my money so I do everything I can not to purchase Amazon anything.

 

[MiniCoco]

You really can't beat the ability to just say "Alexa, turn off x or turn on y" and the automation of scenes plus the low cost. You know who remembers to turn on the skimmer at 3am after you shut it off earlier? Alexa remembers lol and when it's feed time I just say "Alexa, chum the waters" and then I laugh, cuz I'm funny. One thing though is I'm going Google home. Alexa was king at first but now assistant and home is a lot more functional and I'm an Android guy so it integrates well with my phone.

I have to say that I really like your command, “chum the waters.”

 

[austibella]

As a wheelchair user I find Alexa a brilliant bit of kit along side the 4way WiFi socket extension leads of which I have 2 and plan to get another 2 giving me 16 Alexa and WiFi controlled plug and sockets. When I'm working in the sump I'm normally sat on the floor and the ability to just say "Alexa switch off return pump please" is great otherwise it would mean me drying my hands and then sliding along the floor to the electric cupboard to switch it off then have to slide back around to the sump and continue working on the sump only to realise I should have also switched off the protein skimmer while I was around at the electricity cupboard so I'd have go through the drying of the hands and slide around to the cupboard etc. So that's why I think that it's brilliant and I wouldn't be without it now I can even set the likes of the sump light to come on and knock off at set times of the day or night. I can all so co troll the sockets via my phone through an app.

T.y. I was against the thought of using any device , but you opened my eyes to why it is so important to have these devices.so glad it helps you so you can enjoy reefing.

 

[MartinWaite]

T.y. I was against the thought of using any device , but you opened my eyes to why it is so important to have these devices.so glad it helps you so you can enjoy reefing.

Thank you for your kind words I was like you and against anything that made the hobby "easier" until I needed something or jack the hobby in which I couldn't do that so I sat and planned this latest upgrade and I've done things like that to help me, I also got an Alkatronic and Dosetronic to control my kh, cal, & mag I fully I tend to get the Mastertronic when it's released to test nitrate, phosphate, cal, mag, and unl (I think the calling it) this will save me trying to do testing with shaky hands and a brain that shut off and gets bored doing them.

 

[Lazydayz]

I have several Amazon Echo products that use Alexa and I know about the smart plugs but here is my question for everyone. Do any of you use a Surge Strip that can be controlled with Alexa? For example I would like to find one to plug my powerheads and return pump into for when it's feeding time instead of manually unplugging them.

I use the Kasa surge strip and love it!! You can setup groups or control each outlet independently. I have the powerheads on schedules so they turn on and off by themselves. Also as people have already said I can yell for Alexa to do it if my hands are wet.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

hmm... I haven't done this, but got a couple of ideas now...

 

[Greg Goby]

I use smart outlets and Alexa for the lights in our living room. It sure is nice to shout, 'Alexa, turn off the lights!' but about 1 in 10 times Alexa will say "Ok!" and the lights won't turn off. The smart outlet has a manual button on it that you can push to complete the task if Alexa is acting funny. I personally wouldn't want to risk this false positive situation happening with any vital equipment on my fish tank.

 

[chvvkumar]

I use smart outlets and Alexa for the lights in our living room. It sure is nice to shout, 'Alexa, turn off the lights!' but about 1 in 10 times Alexa will say "Ok!" and the lights won't turn off. The smart outlet has a manual button on it that you can push to complete the task if Alexa is acting funny. I personally wouldn't want to risk this false positive situation happening with any vital equipment on my fish tank.

I've found Google Home (Nest) is far better at recognizing my voice than Alexa. Mind you, I am not a native English speaker so recognizing my accent is a big factor for my use case.

 

[SaleenCB]

I use Alexa with my Apex. I use it to start and/or stop feed cycles. Boy is it nice to just yell out when you have wet hands!

Using Alexa with Apex as well for mundane tasks like starting and stopping feed cycles. I find it useful for these types of activities but haven’t explored further.

 

[Doctorgori]

I sometimes wonder if Alexa knows to dang much and the floating heads at Amazon are covertly seek world domination...
Still Great thread topic otherwise .... Appreciate the community ideas and thoughts ... going back through and giving thumbs Up

 

[SteveG_inDC]

This whole thread is making me wonder why you would ever need to get an Apex. Neptune Systems has such a lock on the market, but their DOS pumps are loud. Their controllers seem largely redundant with cheaper systems. The probes sound nice but you have to buy into the whole system. Having all your data tracked on an app sounds pretty good but surely there are cheaper alternatives. I'm raising these questions as someone who is planning a new system and trying to decide how much to automate and with what equipment.

 

[HaveFishWillTravel]

ABSOLUTELY not! Girlfriend is a computer tech and techno freak. We got alexis and dot and all kinda of technology stuff in the house. She just randomly spurts out stuff all hours of the night and day. Answers questions you didn't ask. Never gets anything right. You can ask Alexa how many ounces in a 12 oz beer and she tells you the weather. She would have our tank nuked before the end of the day...

i don’t even use SIRI. When my phone started asking me questions out of no where, I turned that crap off. I don’t want my phone or mostly my phone company listening to my private conversations at home and responding to them, I said, “This has to STOP right now!” How freaky is that?

 

[Arabyps]

I use Alexa voice commands in conjunction with my home automation system to control many aspects of my fish tanks. For example, when performing a water change I tell Alexa to "tun off the sump". Accordingly, Alexa will turn off the skimmer, reactor, scrubber and sump power head. Or, when cleaning the skimmer, "Alexa turn off the skimmer", and so on. Not a necessary component to keeping your system but helpful. All commands may be done remotely as well.

 

[salty150]

I assume you can do the same thing with Google Home...?

 

[CookieRdReef]

I use Alexa plug ins on wavemakers, fuge light, DT lights. I use "Alexa, I need to feed my fish" to turn off wavemakers and "Alexa, I'm done feeding my fish" to turn them back on. Use the wavemaker times to create random flow by turning off one for a few hrs then the next etc. We have a lot of Alexa devices in our house. Maybe big brother is listening but I'm not selling drugs or anything so ehh lol...

 

[RalphTech]

Alexa: turn on salt tank
Alexa: turn on tropical tank
Alexa: fart