DaveB’s Biocube 32 build

[daveCB]

Hi all;
Starting a new thread to track my new Coralife Biocube 32 build. I am planing to do softies along with some fish.

See below for the initial scape. I am pinning and gluing it all then hope to get the tank wet today. Cycle for several weeks and go from there. I will be using bioballs and no refugium. I may change that, but that’s the plan for now.
Comments on the scape welcome

 

[andrewey]

Dave,

Looks good. You might not have the space, but if you have any leftover rock, you may want to save some in case any of your softies take over and you want to isolate them on an "island".

Happy Reefing!

 

[daveCB]

Thanks for the comment and was thinking the same. I ordered 40 lbs and am using about 30, so I have enough to break out some islands.

 

[CapitalCityAquatics]

Excited to see it's final form!

 

[daveCB]

Well its time for an update! Its only been 5 years!
The History:
I started this thread when I purchased a new Biocube 32 back in 2020 and COVID times. I downsized from a 150 to a 32! It was time to ease the pain and reduce cost some and my hand was forced by an old leaking 150. The new tank was shaping up with new softies and relocated fish and so on. Well, then COVID was over and life got in the way once more. Traveling on business took a huge toll on the new tank. Fish were fine but the softies left one by one. The tank was ugly.
Fast Forward & Power Spikes and damages:
Fast forward to November 2024. We had a transformer blow up in the neighborhood. This caused electrical spikes to about 10 houses, ours being one of them. Many items were damaged around the house including my RPI that was controlling my tank, tank heater, circulation pump, RODI pump and controller and probably more stuff that I don't know about yet.
Recovery:
My recovery was to go back to the old days with no control, replace the basics, and then figure out what was next. And now with lots of time on my hands, time for a clean up and resurrection of the Cube 32 or get out of the game and find a different hobby.
Moving Forward:
Look for posts soon showing the rebuild, clean up, new AquaPi control via Home Assistant, power management with surge protection. I will post photos very soon including what a really ugly (once beautiful) tank looks like, including the recovery and I will detail my AquaPi build. I will also detail my Home Assistant interface and options.

 

[daveCB]

Well - Been busy and never posted the results of my work in process build of AquaPi.

I went with a slightly different approach to the build than @TheFalseReality produces in kit form. I decided to make my system very modular, allow devices to be easily connected and disconnected and expandable.

• All "peripheral" devices, with the exception of PH, will be connected to the ESP processor and AquaPi break out board via mini-XLR connections.
• The main box will also house the PH board
• Eventually, all XLR's will be labeled once I complete the final connections
• Aux Power for devices that require power will be handled local to the device and not from the main controller housing.

My system has been running for 8 weeks with no issues. I am currently only monitoring temperature and have manual control of all powered items via Home Assistant.

Some photos of the build are attached and questions are welcome.

 

[daveCB]

Excited to see it's final form!

Finally posted - Let me know if you have questions or comments. Now to get water level and a few pumps going.

 

[Lukes Saltwater Tank]

Really like your build! Have seen what you have done with Aquapi... I got inspired by that project and have started something similar.

Link: My reef2reef post

I love the look of your dashboard, could you maybe supply some more info on that? How did you decide on the layout... What cards do you use?

Is there anything you want to add to the setup which you haven't yet got too?

 

[daveCB]

Really like your build! Have seen what you have done with Aquapi... I got inspired by that project and have started something similar.

Link: My reef2reef post

I love the look of your dashboard, could you maybe supply some more info on that? How did you decide on the layout... What cards do you use?

Is there anything you want to add to the setup which you haven't yet got too?

All very good questions.

Dashboard (Fish Dash) - Nothing fancy on this one. Its a combo of Vertical and Horizontal stacks with Button Cards and custom mini-graph cards. I used the Sections View as a basis and to keep things aligned. The other advantage of Sections is I rarely need to make a separate phone dashboard. See the attached for a section of my Dash YAML. I have a much more advanced Dash in the works.

What would I do different - Well several things and opinions as follows;

1. Advanced Sensors and Pumps: I am not super happy about being stuck with very expensive peripherals and sensors (Pumps, Salinity, PH....) . I would much prefer the ability to choose additional, less costly options. PH sensors have the same lifespan weather they are $60 or $200 units. Pumps are ridiculously expensive. Don't get me wrong, you can add any device you want to ReefPi and the ESP board, but you must also be able to write code well. I am not a coder. I can poke and change things and fix things, but writing from scratch is a different level.

2. The Good: Overall cost - I did the DIY route to save cost and have fun with the build. I have built many systems prior, so this was a nice project. I have about $180 invested and Its still a good investment if you look at the other options available with the exception of comment one above.

3. The Bad (Well sort of): I run HA on a Pi-5 and it is very stable and on battery backup as is my network and internet. ESP-Home is wireless (although there are wired options) and my tank power is on a battery backup. My point is the risk level is still fairly high for failure and remember that you are controlling a tank with $1K or more worth of live creatures. If my Pi-5 decides to go south, some rogue HA update happens or my wireless network has a hitch, the tank is left in a static state. Remember that with this system, ALL trigger control is from HA. Parameters like Pump run time and safeguard for a run away pump are hosted in ESP Home. I have safeguards for temperature but not for ATO or dosing. I created alarm scripts to warn me of failure, but still the risk level is fairly high. Other solutions offer the ability for more redundancy, but then you loose the tight integration with HA and the cost goes up. There is certainly a tradeoff.

4. Power Control via TP-Link power strip: I do not like my power strip solution. This has nothing to do with ReefPi. The power strip has locked up twice in 6 weeks and is the only true failure I have had. I did get an alarm via HA and was able to fix the issue quickly. I am searching for a better solution that also provides energy monitoring and tightly integrates with HA. I have not found one yet.

Future wish list:
1. Additional pump and sensor options for ReefPi
2. Comprehensive Lighting Control via ReefPi.
3. More robust power control solution (See above)

Questions and comments are welcome.

 

[CapitalCityAquatics]

All very good questions.

Dashboard (Fish Dash) - Nothing fancy on this one. Its a combo of Vertical and Horizontal stacks with Button Cards and custom mini-graph cards. I used the Sections View as a basis and to keep things aligned. The other advantage of Sections is I rarely need to make a separate phone dashboard. See the attached for a section of my Dash YAML. I have a much more advanced Dash in the works.

What would I do different - Well several things and opinions as follows;

1. Advanced Sensors and Pumps: I am not super happy about being stuck with very expensive peripherals and sensors (Pumps, Salinity, PH....) . I would much prefer the ability to choose additional, less costly options. PH sensors have the same lifespan weather they are $60 or $200 units. Pumps are ridiculously expensive. Don't get me wrong, you can add any device you want to ReefPi and the ESP board, but you must also be able to write code well. I am not a coder. I can poke and change things and fix things, but writing from scratch is a different level.

2. The Good: Overall cost - I did the DIY route to save cost and have fun with the build. I have built many systems prior, so this was a nice project. I have about $180 invested and Its still a good investment if you look at the other options available with the exception of comment one above.

3. The Bad (Well sort of): I run HA on a Pi-5 and it is very stable and on battery backup as is my network and internet. ESP-Home is wireless (although there are wired options) and my tank power is on a battery backup. My point is the risk level is still fairly high for failure and remember that you are controlling a tank with $1K or more worth of live creatures. If my Pi-5 decides to go south, some rogue HA update happens or my wireless network has a hitch, the tank is left in a static state. Remember that with this system, ALL trigger control is from HA. Parameters like Pump run time and safeguard for a run away pump are hosted in ESP Home. I have safeguards for temperature but not for ATO or dosing. I created alarm scripts to warn me of failure, but still the risk level is fairly high. Other solutions offer the ability for more redundancy, but then you loose the tight integration with HA and the cost goes up. There is certainly a tradeoff.

4. Power Control via TP-Link power strip: I do not like my power strip solution. This has nothing to do with ReefPi. The power strip has locked up twice in 6 weeks and is the only true failure I have had. I did get an alarm via HA and was able to fix the issue quickly. I am searching for a better solution that also provides energy monitoring and tightly integrates with HA. I have not found one yet.

Future wish list:
1. Additional pump and sensor options for ReefPi
2. Comprehensive Lighting Control via ReefPi.
3. More robust power control solution (See above)

Questions and comments are welcome.

The risk of failure when HA goes down is the REAL thing I HATE about this. Now Luckily, it rarely does and if wifi cuts, it's only for a second. I do like how the EZO pumps are controlled locally. However, the ATO is not. I made a blueprint that may help.

You know, TP-Link was my GOTO device for wifi controlled power strips, but lately, those things have be so UNRELIABLE that I almost want to throw them away. Seriously. Like I have 2 right next to each other and 1 goes out of range constantly. I gotta make sure I put my ATO on a more stable one. I am thinking of replacing these with Zigbee controlled devices, as I have my lights set up that way. But I am not sure. Some times, Zigbee can be delayed when toggling some lights so I am not sure. Is there a really reliable way to connect things, seems like bluetooth works best but nothing really uses that.