reef-pi :: An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi.

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Ranjib

Ranjib

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I have got the following working and Tested ..

1. 8 channel relay Mains side GFCI between house and Outlets . Logic side uln2803 between relay and Pi .. Powered with its own 5v power supply.
2. DS 18B Temp sensor . controller Heater and Cooling outlet
3.Analog Float switch . Controlling a ATO Outlet
4.Adafruit pca 9685 Running led lights thru msfets irf520 testing with high power rgb led powered by 10v ps
5. running 3 12 v fans thru a second on pca 9685 powered by 12v ps to test a second light channel of 3 devices
6 . 4 port dosing pumps running thru pca9685 with a uln2830 between dosing pumps and pca9685
the only thing being powered thru the pi is the pi itself.

The dosing pump outlets. and a few other things will be broke out into separate boxes . Next step i think.
Here is the mess
Reef-pi controller Build .jpg
You are killing it :)
 

Erica-Renee

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You are killing it :)
I Have killed it about 10 times in the last two weeks. Luckily NOT TODAY...Nor have i burned our home down. Better half might not like that on tiny bit.

Does everything look of and SAFE.. SAFETY is my biggest concern.I have been silently watching this thread, Reading up on electronics mostly about needed safety measures. Now i need to build this in cad to shrink things onto a PCB . Which is something totally new to me.. But tomorrow i am laying tile something i am actually know how to do very well....

Thanks again for such a awesome project,program and support
 
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Ranjib

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I Have killed it about 10 times in the last two weeks. Luckily NOT TODAY...Nor have i burned our home down. Better half might not like that on tiny bit.

Does everything look of and SAFE.. SAFETY is my biggest concern.I have been silently watching this thread, Reading up on electronics mostly about needed safety measures. Now i need to build this in cad to shrink things onto a PCB . Which is something totally new to me.. But tomorrow i am laying tile something i am actually know how to do very well....

Thanks again for such a awesome project,program and support
I am bit worried about the relay + ac part of the build. If you know what you are doing , it should be ok. From housing material to ac wiring and fuse gating, lot of things relevant to physical, electrical and fire safety. This is why I am leaning towards recommending the adj power strip instead of hand rolling relay based ones (that I have done till now). I am not too concerned with the dc parts , as far as electrical safety is concerned
 

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I am bit worried about the relay + ac part of the build. If you know what you are doing , it should be ok. From housing material to ac wiring and fuse gating, lot of things relevant to physical, electrical and fire safety. This is why I am leaning towards recommending the adj power strip instead of hand rolling relay based ones (that I have done till now). I am not too concerned with the dc parts , as far as electrical safety is concerned

Yes i totally agree.. The Relays i will use will be higher end (not what i am using now) solid state and in a Metal enclosure with breaker/ fuse protection.I did see the ADJ Relay bar you posted.. This might be the best bet by time you buy all the parts to build something as safe your going to be close to its cost anyway...

the ones I am using now are only on when i am in the same room for the most part. I do NOT!! Trust them
 
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I recently changed heater and return pump of my biocube 29. Its almost 2 years old tank, and I felt it would be safer to proactively change those two things. This will reduce the chance of failures (just in case) as well as give me some backup option. The return pump was getting slower, so that contributed as well. I was using fluval heater (100W) and stock return pump (coralife). I went with MJ12 return pump and eheim jaeger 100W heater, because I have heard good things about them.

Mj12 is definitely a beast, i can feel its push way more water than the coralife one, though not sure if thats a good thing. A local reefer told me that its better so have slower return pump, that way water has more time to go through the filter media (this is an AIO tank, without refugium, and with chemical filtration [carbon+purigen+gfo=chemipue blue]), and rely on powerhead (mp10).

The new heater (Eheim Jaeger) is definitely better built, than fluval spec. It feels little heavy. The wire is also made of better quality insulation. But after running it for a week I am noticing it allows much bigger temperature swing than the older fluval spec. I cant think of any reason that this is better for corals. Though corals are fine, and they should be able to tolerate anything between 78-82, I am not sure temperature varies hourly in the ocean. I know there is seasonal patterns in ocean temperature, but I dont know if theres any fluctuation daily or hourly. Fluval heaters contained the temperature fluctuations to almost with 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit , while the eheim jaeger is showing as large as 1.2 degree fluctuations. This is certainly not better than my old heater. I am still keeping the new heater, since I dont know whats the impact and how this implicates the longivity of the heater, but I thought this is a very interesting observation, and something related to reef-pi, since I found this due to the temperature charts

The dip in the middle is me doing water change :)

Screen Shot 2018-04-21 at 2.28.07 PM.png
 

jcmental

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@Ranjib
Good morning fella. I have a question for you to do with timers and the set up of in Reef pi.
First off I have set some times to bring my lights on and off, For each light Channel I have had to add 2 times into the time pannel one on and one off. it works fine but is this the correct way of doing it?
Also when I looked at your description in the build guide I noticed I had an extra box from the one shown. I have edited the one from your BG from memory ( think I got it similar) as I'm on my brew at work but can you explain what this function will do if I use it.
Ta Joe
timer_start.png
 

James Golden

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AF5E581E-930A-4843-A619-CA0B95533963.jpeg
@Ranjib
Good morning fella. I have a question for you to do with timers and the set up of in Reef pi.
First off I have set some times to bring my lights on and off, For each light Channel I have had to add 2 times into the time pannel one on and one off. it works fine but is this the correct way of doing it?
Also when I looked at your description in the build guide I noticed I had an extra box from the one shown. I have edited the one from your BG from memory ( think I got it similar) as I'm on my brew at work but can you explain what this function will do if I use it.
Ta Joe
timer_start.png
That will determine how Lon it will be on or off. I use this to turn off the power heads in tank at night. There should be a revert check box also that you can click. That way if the device was on when it went off, when the timer ends it will turn it back on and also the other way too. Check out my photo above
 

cheeseclock

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I recently changed heater and return pump of my biocube 29. Its almost 2 years old tank, and I felt it would be safer to proactively change those two things. This will reduce the chance of failures (just in case) as well as give me some backup option. The return pump was getting slower, so that contributed as well. I was using fluval heater (100W) and stock return pump (coralife). I went with MJ12 return pump and eheim jaeger 100W heater, because I have heard good things about them.

Mj12 is definitely a beast, i can feel its push way more water than the coralife one, though not sure if thats a good thing. A local reefer told me that its better so have slower return pump, that way water has more time to go through the filter media (this is an AIO tank, without refugium, and with chemical filtration [carbon+purigen+gfo=chemipue blue]), and rely on powerhead (mp10).

The new heater (Eheim Jaeger) is definitely better built, than fluval spec. It feels little heavy. The wire is also made of better quality insulation. But after running it for a week I am noticing it allows much bigger temperature swing than the older fluval spec. I cant think of any reason that this is better for corals. Though corals are fine, and they should be able to tolerate anything between 78-82, I am not sure temperature varies hourly in the ocean. I know there is seasonal patterns in ocean temperature, but I dont know if theres any fluctuation daily or hourly. Fluval heaters contained the temperature fluctuations to almost with 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit , while the eheim jaeger is showing as large as 1.2 degree fluctuations. This is certainly not better than my old heater. I am still keeping the new heater, since I dont know whats the impact and how this implicates the longivity of the heater, but I thought this is a very interesting observation, and something related to reef-pi, since I found this due to the temperature charts

The dip in the middle is me doing water change :)

Screen Shot 2018-04-21 at 2.28.07 PM.png

If you chose to implement an auto tuning PID, it could be used for temperature control of tanks or lighting, etc. I briefly considered an Omron temperature controller and an electric hot water heater element driven by an industrial SSR. In the annealing ovens I built controls for years ago, I was able to hold .2 degrees F with 44Kw of heater.
 

cheeseclock

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In other news... The support hoops are machined for the aluminum fan cover. I'll try to get the sheet metal bent tonight. We have a press brake at work, but it's an animal and not well suited to delicate .032" aluminum sheet.

IMAG0131.jpg


IMAG0133.jpg
 

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AF5E581E-930A-4843-A619-CA0B95533963.jpeg

That will determine how Lon it will be on or off. I use this to turn off the power heads in tank at night. There should be a revert check box also that you can click. That way if the device was on when it went off, when the timer ends it will turn it back on and also the other way too. Check out my photo above
Brilliant, Thanks @James Golden
 
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@Ranjib
Good morning fella. I have a question for you to do with timers and the set up of in Reef pi.
First off I have set some times to bring my lights on and off, For each light Channel I have had to add 2 times into the time pannel one on and one off. it works fine but is this the correct way of doing it?
Also when I looked at your description in the build guide I noticed I had an extra box from the one shown. I have edited the one from your BG from memory ( think I got it similar) as I'm on my brew at work but can you explain what this function will do if I use it.
Ta Joe
timer_start.png
The official docs were written before the auto revert option was implemented, hence the screen shot in docs does not have that checkbox (or timer as reminders).
That feature (auto revert after certain duration) allows you to do certain things in one timer job instead of two. So, if you are planning to run a BRS style dosing pump for 10 seconds , you can set that auto revert duration to 10. It means "automatically revert the action on the equipment specified in the timer job after N seconds".
 

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I recently changed heater and return pump of my biocube 29. Its almost 2 years old tank, and I felt it would be safer to proactively change those two things. This will reduce the chance of failures (just in case) as well as give me some backup option. The return pump was getting slower, so that contributed as well. I was using fluval heater (100W) and stock return pump (coralife). I went with MJ12 return pump and eheim jaeger 100W heater, because I have heard good things about them.

Mj12 is definitely a beast, i can feel its push way more water than the coralife one, though not sure if thats a good thing. A local reefer told me that its better so have slower return pump, that way water has more time to go through the filter media (this is an AIO tank, without refugium, and with chemical filtration [carbon+purigen+gfo=chemipue blue]), and rely on powerhead (mp10).

The new heater (Eheim Jaeger) is definitely better built, than fluval spec. It feels little heavy. The wire is also made of better quality insulation. But after running it for a week I am noticing it allows much bigger temperature swing than the older fluval spec. I cant think of any reason that this is better for corals. Though corals are fine, and they should be able to tolerate anything between 78-82, I am not sure temperature varies hourly in the ocean. I know there is seasonal patterns in ocean temperature, but I dont know if theres any fluctuation daily or hourly. Fluval heaters contained the temperature fluctuations to almost with 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit , while the eheim jaeger is showing as large as 1.2 degree fluctuations. This is certainly not better than my old heater. I am still keeping the new heater, since I dont know whats the impact and how this implicates the longivity of the heater, but I thought this is a very interesting observation, and something related to reef-pi, since I found this due to the temperature charts

The dip in the middle is me doing water change :)

Screen Shot 2018-04-21 at 2.28.07 PM.png

@Ranjib Why not use the raspberry pi to control the heater on and off cycles? That's what I do with my jager. BRS has a heater youtube video.

Jagers should be .5 temp swings. I just use the Jagers, like BRS recommends as a secondary backup. Set the jarger to be 80 for off, and set the raspberry pi to turn on and off between 78 and 78.5, or whatever your desired temps are. Jagers are extreamly reliable, but i wouldn't bet the temp on it alone.
 

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I have got the following working and Tested ..

1. 8 channel relay Mains side GFCI between house and Outlets . Logic side uln2803 between relay and Pi .. Powered with its own 5v power supply.
2. DS 18B Temp sensor . controller Heater and Cooling outlet
3.Analog Float switch . Controlling a ATO Outlet
4.Adafruit pca 9685 Running led lights thru msfets irf520 testing with high power rgb led powered by 10v ps
5. running 3 12 v fans thru a second on pca 9685 powered by 12v ps to test a second light channel of 3 devices
6 . 4 port dosing pumps running thru pca9685 with a uln2830 between dosing pumps and pca9685
the only thing being powered thru the pi is the pi itself.

The dosing pump outlets. and a few other things will be broke out into separate boxes . Next step i think.
Here is the mess
Reef-pi controller Build .jpg

Totally jealous of the dosing pump setup. Can you tell us more about it?
 
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@Ranjib Why not use the raspberry pi to control the heater on and off cycles? That's what I do with my jager. BRS has a heater youtube video.

Jagers should be .5 temp swings. I just use the Jagers, like BRS recommends as a secondary backup. Set the jarger to be 80 for off, and set the raspberry pi to turn on and off between 78 and 78.5, or whatever your desired temps are. Jagers are extreamly reliable, but i wouldn't bet the temp on it alone.

Oh its not about reef-pi's ability to control, I do that. I have three different tanks and the builds powering the tanks go through lot of changes. This is more to observer the difference in between heaters.
 

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I have a heater that is set to shut off at 79 degrees in case the relay get stuck closed. Kinda like a fail safe in a way but reef pi keeps it at a comfortable 77 degrrees
 

James Golden

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Well if the heater has an adjustable temp and you have it set to stay on for example, mine is a 50 watt heater preset to 78 degrees and I have the reef pi set to 76, so the heater is always in an on state(it has an internal sorta mechanical thermostat) so it acts as a resistive load only, no major inrush of current to pit and damage the relay contact on the relay board. In my case only about .45 amps, well with in the rating of the relays.
 

Erica-Renee

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Totally jealous of the dosing pump setup. Can you tell us more about it?
Its 4 dosing heads out of a jabao dosing pump...
the pumps connect to ln2803 ic then out of that ic into the pca9685 using 4 ports .. the pca9685 is connect to the pi of course..... The Power and ground on the pumps are isolated from pca9685 and powered with a 12v ps connected to input and ground on ln2803 .. Again this keeps it somewhat isolated . the reef-pi ..

Its only being tested on the desk at this time.. Soon I am going to sort things out in isolated components data cables only will be connected to the pi . either with serial cables or hdmi.....

everything in my setup has been from reading this forum thread.. All the info is here . I just duplicated

OHH Also i am Worn out I have i layed 350 sq ft of floor tile today ..... back splash tomorrow... Will give the customer there Kitchen back End of the Week..
 

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In other news... The support hoops are machined for the aluminum fan cover. I'll try to get the sheet metal bent tonight. We have a press brake at work, but it's an animal and not well suited to delicate .032" aluminum sheet.

IMAG0131.jpg


IMAG0133.jpg

Where did you get those sinks if you do not mind me asking ?
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 65 37.1%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.7%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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