electrical idiot builds a controller - a reef pi build

[Mikeneedsahobby]

once logged in run this to download pi 0 and 3.0 alpha
wget -c https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/...pre-alpha-1/reef-pi-3.0.0-pre-alpha-1-pi0.deb

then install with this
sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-3.0.0-pre-alpha-1-pi0.deb

then check if it worked with this
sudo systemctl status reef-pi.service

well i think it worked but it's time to check the ui

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

yay! it says reef-pi 3.0 on the bottom. but I was expecting to need to reinstall everything as 3.0 is very different than 2.2 and it kept running like nothing happened. Time to look at the main reef-pi thread about this upgrade.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

So I rebooted reef-pi and everything shut off.

 

[Bigtrout]

Ah, you needed to get rid of the old reef pi database.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

seek and you shall find.

ranjib had told me (well everyone actually but I read it as if it was to me) that you must delete the old database. So I found the codes and did that.

now create a driver on the configuration tab.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Ah, you needed to get rid of the old reef pi database.

haha yep. was doing it as you posted.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

for pico board it says to use 72 for the address. and now I can start setting it up as new. I need to look again at my old posts to figure out the pins again.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I messed up a few times but found the driver should be raspberry pi and the pins are
24, 25, 5, 10, 8, 7, 16, and 20. The equipment is working again.


a little more work added back the dashboard, the temp probe and got me back to where I started.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

a few more steps to add the ph probe. But this didn't work right away. I received a 404 not found error.

@DirtDiggler2823 I'm wondering if you could help me to take your mind off of calibration. : )

I set the analog input to pin 0 using the pico-board driver. Then I add a PH tab and select the input I created but I get a 404 error page not found. I'm not sure what I'm missing or if I am using the wrong pin for the input.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

okay well nevermind. I got it working but I have no clue how. I deleted the driver and started over and it seems to be working now.!!!

sometimes i don't care if I understand. It works.

For posterity the driver is on 72 I think and the analog input is set to pin 0. I haven't tried to calibrate and the probe is still sitting in it's shipping vessel and not reading my tank yet.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I installed a PH probe in the fresh tank "Goblins". I had a couple issues of my own fault but once I worked through those everything went well.

Reef-Pi is a Winner!!

I finally had to prune the plants in my tank. I have a lot duck weed growing on the top. It must of hitchhiked on another plant. I pulled out as much as I could. I also cut the wisteria down as it was leaving the water.

The Endlers are still going crazy. I have a bunch of full color males now. The tank is starting to over populate and nitrate is becoming a bit of a problem. I'll need to run more water changes to keep up. or hurry up and actually add fish to the salty tank "Trolls" so that I can feed the endlers to it.

... and on a non fish note. My 17 year old son has had several small colleges contact him about playing college lacrosse for them. This is amazing to me. He has grown so much as an athlete. From one time bench runner to a key member a varsity team as junior to college recruiting. I am proud of him. But I'm also so proud that his grades are so good he will turn all of them down to go to a more prestigious academic school and not play lacrosse instead.

 

[Bigtrout]

I installed a PH probe in the fresh tank "Goblins". I had a couple issues of my own fault but once I worked through those everything went well.

Reef-Pi is a Winner!!

I finally had to prune the plants in my tank. I have a lot duck weed growing on the top. It must of hitchhiked on another plant. I pulled out as much as I could. I also cut the wisteria down as it was leaving the water.

The Endlers are still going crazy. I have a bunch of full color males now. The tank is starting to over populate and nitrate is becoming a bit of a problem. I'll need to run more water changes to keep up. or hurry up and actually add fish to the salty tank "Trolls" so that I can feed the endlers to it.

... and on a non fish note. My 17 year old son has had several small colleges contact him about playing college lacrosse for them. This is amazing to me. He has grown so much as an athlete. From one time bench runner to a key member a varsity team as junior to college recruiting. I am proud of him. But I'm also so proud that his grades are so good he will turn all of them down to go to a more prestigious academic school and not play lacrosse instead.

Very nice! See what the right light can do for plants! For the price, the Beamswork DA Fspec lights cant be beat for growing good plants.

I dont have issues with nitrates, usually plant growth ramps up to use them up, but I also dont have population explosions. With the right conditions its amazing how endlers or common guppy populations can ramp up so quickly.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Very nice! See what the right light can do for plants! For the price, the Beamswork DA Fspec lights cant be beat for growing good plants.

I dont have issues with nitrates, usually plant growth ramps up to use them up, but I also dont have population explosions. With the right conditions its amazing how endlers or common guppy populations can ramp up so quickly.

The duckweed was blocking light to some of the plants. Also i was only running the lights at 75%. Now I’m up to 100% so hopefully plant growth can help keep up with the nitrates

 

[Bigtrout]

Plants will grow like crazy, growth only slows for some limiting factor. If light is the factor, ramping up light now shifts the limiting factor to something else. Once all the limiting factors are surpassed, the limiting factor usually ends up being co2. With lots of circulation you get atmospheric co2 into the tank. The only way to increase that limit is adding co2 which adds more expensive equipment to the mix.

A word of caution, once co2 becomes your limiting factor, plants can actually cause your ph to swing wildly if your water is relatively soft. Plants use all the co2, and can cause your ph skyrocket when they are photosynthesizing during the day, then at night when they quit using co2, the water rapidly becomes more acid. If you see this happening on your ph graph, back off the light until you hit a happy medium.

Thats why I want to monitor ph, so I can tread that line between good plant growth, but not having so rapid of growth that I end up with rapid ph swings.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Tank is doing well.

 

[Bigtrout]

Tank is doing well.

Beautiful!!

 

[Ranjib]

Tank is doing well.

Love it

 

[Matevz Savarin]

Mike thanks for your thread, I am at begining of build, and doing with your help..
For now I have berry and waiting for hat v2 and 16 relay switches, and ph hat.. this wont be so easy..today I will try to put reef pi 3.0 on it..

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Hey!

I'm still alive. Both tanks are doing well. I added Co2 to the planted tank. It is looking great. The salt tank still has just one small puffer swimming around with a bunch of live rock. I'm over a year in and still haven't gotten around to actually setting up my permanent tank. Goblin and Troll pi's are working great. They feasted on pumpkin pi and are happy.

The one problem I do have is my Current-USA light controller stopped taking inputs. The light still turns on and ramps up and down but I can't change anything in the controller anymore. Thanks to daylight savings the light shuts off too early this time of year. Pretty sure the gremlins that run it quit and moved away. Very annoying.

In early November @b4tn offered some ocean revive lights that were already modified for reef pi. I jumped at it and he gave an insanely great deal for them. Suddenly I have reef capable lights! Maybe I'll do a reef tank instead of FOWLR.


Awesome aren't they!

I need to connect these to my reef-pi. On the salt tank I am running a pico-hat. It doesn't have a PCA9685. The lights need one.
Step 1: Get a PCA9685 $15 on adafruit

Also I need some relays to shut the lights all the way off.
Step 2: Get a 2 channel relay board. $9 amazon

Then I need to make a circuit for the moon lights. It looks like this.

I'm not sure what it is yet. But that is for another day.

Baby Yoda for president and peace for now.

 

[Michael Lane]

That's great! It looks like the lights were also modified to include moon lights with the smaller LEDs in the middle?

I've wanted a puffer (actually a longhorn cowfish), and I'm inspired to one day start a planted freshwater tank. Keep us posted.