electrical idiot builds a controller - a reef pi build

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I wanted a lush planted tank. And if you squint your eyes a bit it almost looks like a lawn.

But I need to get some real plants in this tank.

 

[Bigtrout]

I wanted a lush planted tank. And if you squint your eyes a bit it almost looks like a lawn.

But I need to get some real plants in this tank.

Yes you do...if you are growing lush green algae like that, plants should take off!
The rummynose tetras look happy. They have nice color.
My bristlenose pleco family would have that algae gone in a day, I have to give them algae tabs. I found another young bristlenose just today...a small golden one...apparently a golden and a brown can make either color offspring. Im up to 3 total offspring from the golden male and 2 brown females.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

That is a little better

 

[Bigtrout]

That is a little better

Much better...looks like a good variety of plants. The hair grass can be seperated a bit and planted like lawn plugs if you like, or it may spread from there. Dont be afraid to try a new plant or two, and dont get discouraged if a species doesnt like your conditions. I can grow Vallineria like crazy but Saggitaria species just exist. My crypts suprised me, everyone said they dont like to be uprooted or disrupted...I rip bunches out every 2 weeks.
With the changes you made, it may take a little time to get going but you have the most important thing, good LIGHT and some fish to fertilize the plants. I find that once I get a tank into "jungle" mode I can overstock alot and not have water parameters suffer.

Here is a pic of my tank when first planted last june, and a recent pic.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Yes you do...if you are growing lush green algae like that, plants should take off!
The rummynose tetras look happy. They have nice color.
My bristlenose pleco family would have that algae gone in a day, I have to give them algae tabs. I found another young bristlenose just today...a small golden one...apparently a golden and a brown can make either color offspring. Im up to 3 total offspring from the golden male and 2 brown females.

I have one bristlenose pleco. If he eats the algae it isn’t enough to tell. I think my tank is a bit small to have breeding plecos. That is cool though.

I’m thinking of getting endlers for my tank. If I get too many I can use them for my salt tank feeding.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Much better...looks like a good variety of plants. The hair grass can be seperated a bit and planted like lawn plugs if you like, or it may spread from there. Dont be afraid to try a new plant or two, and dont get discouraged if a species doesnt like your conditions. I can grow Vallineria like crazy but Saggitaria species just exist. My crypts suprised me, everyone said they dont like to be uprooted or disrupted...I rip bunches out every 2 weeks.
With the changes you made, it may take a little time to get going but you have the most important thing, good LIGHT and some fish to fertilize the plants. I find that once I get a tank into "jungle" mode I can overstock alot and not have water parameters suffer.

Here is a pic of my tank when first planted last june, and a recent pic.

That is amazing growth!

The hair grass was tightly rooted together. Is it okay to tear the root mass to separate it?

 

[Bigtrout]

That is amazing growth!

The hair grass was tightly rooted together. Is it okay to tear the root mass to separate it?

Yes, just dont divide it too small...I had some I collected in a native plant tank 3 years ago, all native to the Allegheny River...it seemed like it wanted to spread more once divided.

You could split that in half or thirds.

 

[Bigtrout]

I have one bristlenose pleco. If he eats the algae it isn’t enough to tell. I think my tank is a bit small to have breeding plecos. That is cool though.

I’m thinking of getting endlers for my tank. If I get too many I can use them for my salt tank feeding.

Endlers are nice, my native plant tank was hard and alkaline, so I decided not to fight the water and had all livebearer species. The grandkids loved the population explosion! Guppies and endlers are interesting in their own right!

 

[Bigtrout]

@Mikeneedsahobby
How are those plants doing?

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

@Mikeneedsahobby
How are those plants doing?

They are fighters.

The algae issue has remained. The java fern was covered in dark algae. Anything higher than mid water column covered in green hair algae. Last week I added endlers, cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp, and trumpet snails. I did a water change with rodi and equilibrium. I started dosing flourish and flourish trace. And probably most important. I decreased the light intensity and changed the duration from 12 hours diurnal to 6 hrs. Yesterday I noticed the java fern mostly free of algae and the hair algae was reduced.

I think I am on a path. Currently I am in Florida visiting hogwarts. I am hoping the tank looks better when I get home.

 

[GK3]

I was born a mechanical engineer. Which means for me the only thing that makes sense is computers must be run by tiny trolls. I like to leave pizza out at night so the trolls will be happy with me allow my computer to work the next day.

I want a controller though. It sounds like a good thing to have. I would like to control a heater. turn on and off dosing pumps (ATO and AWC) and shut off the loud skimmer pump in the evenings. So I went and looked for them and found APEX. and it's price tag....

Then I ran across reef-pi. Hmm I like to build stuff. I started reading and reading and reading. and reeding and reeding. and reeding and reeding. I read so much the last a turned into a e. seriously have you seen the length of the main reef-pi thread? Most of what I read was in another language, I think, but eventually I started learning the language a bit. I think I can order a beer and ask where the bathroom is in reef-pi language now.

Finally I discovered the reef-pi hats. This put me over. and here is my build thread. Maybe this will help other electrical idiots.

* just a warning. everything I build takes forever. Don't expect fast progress.

Isn’t voltage just potential energy? So current must be kinetic energy? So basically if I have a bucket of water that is 50ft in the air - thats my battery. And then if I build a series of pipes that flow down to the ground, those are like wires. So the water flowing through the pipes (current) can be made to do things, like spin a wheel to create flow in my tank (powerhead) or spin a super high friction wheel to create heat (heat the aquarium water).

So basically just build the pipes in such a manner that everything only occurs when needed and is timed perfectly. Boom, you have an aquarium controller and really don’t need to know electricity, programming, or circuits. It’s all mechanical.

Oh, Lastly, when all the water goes through all the pipes, and is at the ground (0 potential), you can employ your computer trolls to run it back up and refill the bucket 50ft in the air.

...I’m also a mechanical engineer.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Isn’t voltage just potential energy? So current must be kinetic energy? So basically if I have a bucket of water that is 50ft in the air - thats my battery. And then if I build a series of pipes that flow down to the ground, those are like wires. So the water flowing through the pipes (current) can be made to do things, like spin a wheel to create flow in my tank (powerhead) or spin a super high friction wheel to create heat (heat the aquarium water).

So basically just build the pipes in such a manner that everything only occurs when needed and is timed perfectly. Boom, you have an aquarium controller and really don’t need to know electricity, programming, or circuits. It’s all mechanical.

Oh, Lastly, when all the water goes through all the pipes, and is at the ground (0 potential), you can employ your computer trolls to run it back up and refill the bucket 50ft in the air.

...I’m also a mechanical engineer.

;Hilarious

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Finally winning the battle with algae! This is after a week of no cleaning. Algae is nearly gone!!!

But. I lost all my shrimp. I started dosing flourish trace. The plants loved. Shrimp disappeared. I looked at the bottle. It has copper. Looks like I killed about 15 shrimp.

Oh and a controller update. The goblins and the trolls have been working flawlessly!

 

[Bigtrout]

Finally winning the battle with algae! This is after a week of no cleaning. Algae is nearly gone!!!

But. I lost all my shrimp. I started dosing flourish trace. The plants loved. Shrimp disappeared. I looked at the bottle. It has copper. Looks like I killed about 15 shrimp.

Oh and a controller update. The goblins and the trolls have been working flawlessly!

Wow great growth in a few short weeks...i dont dose, i use partial water changes to replace lost minerals...growth may slow down but you wouldnt kill ur shrimp

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Wow great growth in a few short weeks...i dont dose, i use partial water changes to replace lost minerals...growth may slow down but you wouldnt kill ur shrimp

Yes true. But with rodi as my source water. I don’t put much in from water changes. I’ll probably find a different fertilizer. But I’m in no hurry. Things are finally looking better.

 

[Bigtrout]

Yes true. But with rodi as my source water. I don’t put much in from water changes. I’ll probably find a different fertilizer. But I’m in no hurry. Things are finally looking better.

My angelfish would love shrimp..lol for the few minutes it took them to hunt them all down, lol

 

[Ranjib]

@Mikeneedsahobby how is the controller doing? any hiccup yet?

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Running perfectly!

I switched out the base board on the saltwater tank (trolls) to get ready for ph monitoring. The old one is on its way back to @theatrus now. Started right back up when I plugged it in.

This weekend I plan to install reef-pi 3.0 and try to get ph running on trolls.

If it works then I’ll look into a ph board for the freshwater (goblins).

Oh and my endlers had babies! Lots of new fish swimming around.

 

[Bigtrout]

Running perfectly!

I switched out the base board on the saltwater tank (trolls) to get ready for ph monitoring. The old one is on its way back to @theatrus now. Started right back up when I plugged it in.

This weekend I plan to install reef-pi 3.0 and try to get ph running on trolls.

If it works then I’ll look into a ph board for the freshwater (goblins).

Oh and my endlers had babies! Lots of new fish swimming around.

Nice, new tank additions are kewl, on the freshwater Goblin end, hold off on 3.0 until they get the PWM straightened out...i found a bug which wont allow our lights (like we wired the beamsworks) to fully turn off unless you wire the channels thru relays.

Although im not a GO coder(but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night) I think i found where the bug was and got that info to @Ranjib.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

It's time to upgrade the trolls!

I'm told this is easy. I'm sure it is for most. but...

So first step, go to reef-pi GitHub and read the section on upgrade. I am seeing things like " dashboard footer", "terminal window", "ssh". I think I used to know what some of these things were but the trolls and goblins have been so well behaved I haven't needed to think about these things in months....

So 2nd step. ssh into the pi. This required me to remember how to start a terminal window in a mac and the line to ssh to the trolls. Luckily one of my first posts has the steps.
ssh 192.168.1.108 -l pi

now what was my password....