New Reef Pi Starter Component Selection

[ManyBlenny]

I have a 20g saltwater aquiarium. No sump, but a nano skimmer. And I came across the reef pi and thought it could greatly improve the stability.
I've seen people build ATO, but none of the ones you can buy off the shelf seem to include salinity measurement, and I feel like that would be a major benefit to be able to check both the water level and the salinity before activating a pump.

That would be a good starting point, but if this works well I also would be interested in the future in adding temperature monitoring, power outlet control for turning on heaters or pumps, and battery backup.

I was wondering though if people already had builds for this kind of thing as I'm not sure where to best source the hardware for it.

 

[theatrus]

Salinity is a bit rough of a measurement to automate as the probes do take a lot of re-calibration (they tend to drift). Also, probe driver circuitry varies a lot and can influence how long the measurements are stable for (need a dual-polarity drive scheme so the cathode doesn't gunk up).

I don't know if someone has integrated this, but you can buy conductivity probes + measurement from Atlas Scientific / ezo - their pH products work pretty well.

 

[Broady2067]

Ato shouldn't be such a problem as you are only replacing evaporated water. Test regularly to start off with to give you confidence it's working ok. On another note i still check daily with a Hanna salinity checker.