Automated Reefing: How "automated" are you?

[Bob Weigant]

All I have is ATO and lights, everything else I do manually.

same here

 

[Doctorgori]

Automated: heat, lighting schedule & intensity, feeder, Top off, dosing alk ca
manual: phosphate & nitrate control, frozen foods, water changes, algae control, detritus removal

 

[tang_man_montreal]

• Detect power outages to shut down non-critical devices to prolong power on my battery backup
• Control dual heaters in my sump, and a heater in my saltwater mixing station
• Control lighting schedules including lunar schedules
• Adjust my Gyre for different flow rates throughout the day and night
• Test Alk, Cal, and Mag and produce graphs over time
• Control 2-part dosing and automatically adjust based on test results
• Monitor water flow rate through my carbon reactor, as well as return pipe
• Turn off my UV sterilizer when water flow goes below 250 gallons/hour
• Shut off the skimmer when the Avast skimmate locker is full and send me an alert
• Clean the skimmer neck every 6 hours with the Avast Swabbie
• Control auto feeder when I'm away from home
• Shut down pumps and send an alert if a leak is detected in my sump cabinet or the carpet below my tank
• Daily automatic water changes
• Remote ATO pump in my garage mixing station feeds water to my tank in the living room
• Alert me when RO/DI tank is low, or too full
• Alert me when saltwater storage tank is too low, and shut down auto water change until full
• Turn on a cooling fan when temps are too high in summer
• All alerts are sent to both email and text message

Much inspired by SuncrestReef and his great write-ups!
Here's mine:

- Detect power outages to alert me and shut down non-critical devices to prolong power on my battery backup
- Dedicated Battery backup on my ReefWave45 in display
- Dedicated Battery backup for internet router and wifi
- Monitor and Control dual heaters in my sump, and a heater in my saltwater mixing station, with Inkbird redundant to Apex
- Control lighting schedule with Mobius on Display
- Control lighting schedule with myAI on Frag tank
- Automated lighting schedule for my refugium
- Adjust my ReefWave45 for different flow rates throughout the day and night
- Test and control Alk, Cal, and Mag and produce graphs over time with Trident and DOS
- Additional dosing via Kamoer doser (FM Bacto Reef Therapy, FM Elementals P, ESV Nitrate)
- Monitor water flow rate through my UV
- Turn off my UV sterilizer when water flow goes below 250 gallons/hour or if pump off, alert if Flow below 275 gph
- Auto feeder twice per day (In addition to frozen feedings)
- Shut down pumps and send an alert if a leak is detected in my sump cabinet or the carpet below my tank
- Daily automatic water changes via DOS
- ATK with PMUP from mixing station for evaporation
- Dedicated ATO for QT/Hospital, and Isolation/observation tanks.
- RO/DI controlled via Tunze 8555 with solenoid
- Alert me when RO/DI tank is low, or too full
- Alert me when saltwater storage tank is too low, and shut down auto water change until reset
- Ecotech M2 pump on mixing station with daily 30min high flow agitation schedule.
- All alerts are sent via Apex Fusion
- Apex Reminders for manual recurrent tasks and yearly events (ie: UV maintenance)

I think that's it, dang I'm lazy. ;Joyful

 

[Reefbuds]

Lights are automated. Other than that everything is done manually.

 

[vlangel]

I voted not automated but then I read the post before mine and realized that my lights are also automated. I can put fish feeder on when we go away but everything else is done by me.

 

[codenfx]

I use Kasa smart and Alexa to control my devices. Also have an auto-feeder that feeds lightly during the day. Cheap way to automate.

 

[sfin52]

Only automation is top off and lights.

 

[iReefer12]

If someone could develop an automated glass cleaner… I would gladly drop some serious cash on that device. Hey @AVAST Marine I bet you could engineer something

 

[revhtree]

If someone could develop an automated glass cleaner… I would gladly drop some serious cash on that device. Hey @AVAST Marine I bet you could engineer something

Robosnail

 

[gbroadbridge]

I've seen over the years how reefers will wax and wane when it comes to how automated their reef aquariums are. Sometimes life requires the most automation as possible but then something changes and there isn't quite the need and vise-versa. What about for you? Let's talk about it!

How automated is your current saltwater reef aquarium and why is that so?

image via @keywestreefer

I travel a lot so almost everything is automated when it needs to be.

When I'm home i turn off some of the automation.

A robot glass cleaner would be cool .

 

[Jason33021]

 

[Dacotahk]

Thanks for the input so far!

So what could be automated that’s not yet automated?? Glass cleaning is already going with the Robosnail or something like that.

Robo snail? I’d like to hear about that!

 

[JulesH]

I spend a quite a bit of time away from home so I,

1. Use a Mastertronic for testing.
2. Automated Lights.
3. Dosing.

I would like to auto water change in the future.

 

[Dacotahk]

Testing and dosing automatically would be something I’d like for consistency. For me, the largest issue is actually setting it up. I’m not familiar with neptune’s language.

 

[G Santana]

My lights come on and go off automatically and my 4 head doser uses 1 head to dose AFR and my heater is controlled everything else is me.

Automation is great until it isn't.
I dose 4 things by hand religiously, I test weekly religiously and I run my maintenance twice a week religiously.

My biggest fear is something staying on too long or not going on at all, happens all the time. So until I can't anymore I'll do what I can by hand.

 

[Aldrinlights]

For anyone out there looking at these results from a stability point of view I have to mention this. I am fully automated except for testing and water changes. I had VERY LITTLE success before automation. I attribute it to my work life being so demanding and my lack of energy to devote all the time but it was depressing that I would have little bits of success then devastating failure. I didn't see good stability until I introduced variable schedule linear wave pumps, and ATO plus dosing. Now I test the water every month or so and it's always spot on. Everything is growing so fast that I am actually having trouble with my zoa garden starting to go where I dont want it to. Automation is the way to go for a hectic schedule.

Lighting - Automated
Top Off - Automated
Feeding - Automated
Calcium - Automated Dose sitting on an electronic stirrer that comes on before dosing.
Flow - Automated variable speeds and directions
Alk - Automated Dose
PH - Air line run to outside from skimmer (through an air filter)
Cleanliness - UV Sterilizer + Charcoal filter + Filter socks
Heating - Automated temperature sensors with alarm and control.

 

[steveschuerger]

The only thing automated right now is my lights. I’m thinking about getting an Inkbird for the temp/heater. Right now I like the hands on approach, but that could change considering I have 2 other(freshwater tanks, Discus community and pea puffer) also.

 

[josephsTropicalTanks]

I've seen over the years how reefers will wax and wane when it comes to how automated their reef aquariums are. Sometimes life requires the most automation as possible but then something changes and there isn't quite the need and vise-versa. What about for you? Let's talk about it!

How automated is your current saltwater reef aquarium and why is that so?

image via @keywestreefer

aman

 

[Sean Clark]

Thanks for the input so far!

So what could be automated that’s not yet automated?? Glass cleaning is already going with the Robosnail or something like that.

I am still waiting for the Neptune ASF to be released. The Automatic Snail Flipper.

 

[ClownWrangler]

I don't have much automation. Just lights and heaters. But I have been contemplating what additional automation is a necessity if I have to leave my tanks unattended for for more than a few days. ATO for sure. Automatic feeding can be tricky for some tanks due to the more aggressive fish taking all the food.

If anyone knows of an automated fish feeder that will drop a large pinch of flakes at once rather than tricklijng pelets, let me know. The later reults in my flamehawks not getting any food.