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

[AbjectMaelstroM]

please advise which PCB board is most feature rich that I should look at? there is a ROBO TANK. Leviathan .
any others one can buy ?

I'm currently running a RoboTank on my DT and ML's hat on my QT and Coral QT/Nano DT, for about 6 months now.

In the end they all do about the same thing. That being said, money no object, RoboTank get's my vote; especially if you want more of a Plug-And-Play solution. Tons of customization with minimal fiddling on the part of the user as most connections are baked in; comes in a nice case and has a bunch of expansions and a powerbar. Heck, it even works with ML's Viparspectra and Jebao slave doser adapter boards!

Now, if you're more of a DIY/fiddler guy/gal then it's pretty hard to beat ML's HAT. A lot of options in a small package that's inexpensive, but you have to come up with your own connections and enclosure, there's no pre-built powerbar.

There is also the Pico Board and the Leviathan, but I don't have experience with them.

 

[Boostable]

please advise which PCB board is most feature rich that I should look at? there is a ROBO TANK. Leviathan .
any others one can buy ?

They are all nice and will work well in the right configuration. With that said you need to look at WHAT and HOW you want to control. There are slight differences between each that may lead you down one path or another. Specifially how you want to control the switched power outlets. Make that decision and it will help narrow your path. On that note I may have an extra Leviathan board that I would consider getting rid off if your looking in that direction.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Leviathan is nice but does require building connectors but I like it and would purchase again for future builds.

 

[b4tn]

I am not against the pre packaged builds but prefer to build mine on perma proto boards with modules. It does not look as nice and is not compact but it makes it much more scalable and easier to troubleshoot/replace parts, easier to modify as newer build options come out, and can customize it to your exact needs. My current build has 16 AC outlets, 8 DC outlets, 4 temp probes, ATO, autofeeder, 4 dosers, and plenty of room to add a PH probe or any other I2C enabled modules in the future.

The IKEA reefpi upgrade build

It’s been almost 2 years now that I have been running my reef exclusively with reefpi. Here is my original build thread. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-reef-pi-build.506894/ This all started because I need two more dosers. One thing that’s always bothered me was one, the lack of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[dadarara]

regarding the Reef-pi board..
no problem to build it with perma proto boards.
just though maybe some pre packaged build boards will make it simpler.
dont need boxes. plan to have my own acrylic box.

I got a feeling that the 4 doser ports is some kind of a "bottleneck" ? is it ?
need about 7 doser ports.
- 4 for chemicals
- 1 for AOT doser pump to push it far away
- 2 for auto water change system IN/OUT also far away

so it seams the Leviathan and ROBOtank are limited to 4.

also I want an option to have about 7-10 water level sensors (chemicals bottles, AOT and water changer , Sump etc)

QUESTION: can you guys give me a list of accessories that will use 16 AC sockets ? Why would I need 16 ?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

The problem is the control signal required for dosers. You can add additional dosers by using a PWM signal from a PCA9685 and motor drivers but it is likely less plug and play than one might want. Water level sensors and sockets are all controlled by the I/O of the raspberry pi so its doubtful you will be able exactly what you want without some additional wiring and PCA9685 boards.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

regarding the Reef-pi board..
no problem to build it with perma proto boards.
just though maybe some pre packaged build boards will make it simpler.
dont need boxes. plan to have my own acrylic box.

I got a feeling that the 4 doser ports is some kind of a "bottleneck" ? is it ?
need about 7 doser ports.
- 4 for chemicals
- 1 for AOT doser pump to push it far away
- 2 for auto water change system IN/OUT also far away

so it seams the Leviathan and ROBOtank are limited to 4.

also I want an option to have about 7-10 water level sensors (chemicals bottles, AOT and water changer , Sump etc)

QUESTION: can you guys give me a list of accessories that will use 16 AC sockets ? Why would I need 16 ?

i don’t think that is true about the robotank. I’m pretty sure you can control more than 4 dosers. You would need to know what doser though for how to connect to it. Do you need variable dc, pwm, ac control, or etc?

Input sensors can also be extended to 10+.

I don’t have a robotank. (I have a ml hat and pico board). But these things are highly configurable. It is true that some are more plug and play than others though.

Head over to @robsworld78 website and ask. He is a pretty friendly guy.

As for ac control. It’s just for flexibility. I have 8 ac devices but I can see a possibility for several more. Or if someone were to run two tanks from one controller.

 

[b4tn]

regarding the Reef-pi board..
no problem to build it with perma proto boards.
just though maybe some pre packaged build boards will make it simpler.
dont need boxes. plan to have my own acrylic box.

I got a feeling that the 4 doser ports is some kind of a "bottleneck" ? is it ?
need about 7 doser ports.
- 4 for chemicals
- 1 for AOT doser pump to push it far away
- 2 for auto water change system IN/OUT also far away

so it seams the Leviathan and ROBOtank are limited to 4.

also I want an option to have about 7-10 water level sensors (chemicals bottles, AOT and water changer , Sump etc)

QUESTION: can you guys give me a list of accessories that will use 16 AC sockets ? Why would I need 16 ?

For 7 dosers assuming you don't need them to be bi-directional you will need 7 PWM outputs, 7 GPIO outputs, and 4 motor drivers (I use the MOSFET tb6612 which comes in pairs). This can easily be done on a single PCA9685 board which has 16 potential outlets. If it was me I would just round it to 8 dosers. But like mentioned above it is not plug and play anymore.

As for 16 outlets. I run an Algae scrubber, 2 reactors, 3 wavemakers, sump light, algae scrubber light, skimmer, return pump, 2 heaters and an ATO pump. Not quite 16 but I have 3 spare outlets left just in case I want to add something like auto water change pumps or additional wavemakers.

 

[Martin Lowry]

@Ranjib Oops! Invalid Credentials.
It's been quite sometime since I worked on my build. Just getting back to it now and long story cut short, I forgot my credentials. Is there any way to maybe backup the DB, do a clean install to get to where I was?

 

[Ranjib]

Stop reef-pi, run the reset-password command, start reef-pi

sudo systemctl stop reef-pi.service
sudo reef-pi reset-password -user <NEW_USER> -password <NEW PASSWORD>
sudo systemctl start reef-pi.service

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

Stop reef-pi, run the reset-password command, start reef-pi

sudo systemctl stop reef-pi.service
sudo reef-pi reset-password -user <NEW_USER> -password <NEW PASSWORD>
sudo systemctl start reef-pi.service

Is there a list of "useful" or "common" commands for Reefpi?

 

[Ranjib]

Is there a list of "useful" or "common" commands for Reefpi?

No.. I did the dev work in piecemeal, the only help currently present is `reef-pi --help` . I plan to add the details in docs as part of 4.0 release work., its one of the long list of things that needs to be documented.

 

[Martin Lowry]

Stop reef-pi, run the reset-password command, start reef-pi

sudo systemctl stop reef-pi.service
sudo reef-pi reset-password -user <NEW_USER> -password <NEW PASSWORD>
sudo systemctl start reef-pi.service

Strange! Tried the above and got the successful message, then started the reef-pi.service, tried to login from the browser and still getting the same invalid credentials. Tried multiple times and rebooted

 

[Ranjib]

Strange! Tried the above and got the successful message, then started the reef-pi.service, tried to login from the browser and still getting the same invalid credentials. Tried multiple times and rebooted

reef-pi uses session based authentication and one possibility is the old session cookie still being used. If you still encountering this issue , check if logging in from your browser incognito or private mode work? If so, its due to cached data in the browser

 

[robsworld78]

regarding the Reef-pi board..
no problem to build it with perma proto boards.
just though maybe some pre packaged build boards will make it simpler.
dont need boxes. plan to have my own acrylic box.

I got a feeling that the 4 doser ports is some kind of a "bottleneck" ? is it ?
need about 7 doser ports.
- 4 for chemicals
- 1 for AOT doser pump to push it far away
- 2 for auto water change system IN/OUT also far away

so it seams the Leviathan and ROBOtank are limited to 4.

also I want an option to have about 7-10 water level sensors (chemicals bottles, AOT and water changer , Sump etc)

QUESTION: can you guys give me a list of accessories that will use 16 AC sockets ? Why would I need 16 ?

This list compared to your larger list can be done on controller as is. You get the following to work with.

- 6 configurable sensor ports
- 7 DC ports (unidirectional 12v dosing pump or any other 12v DC device, speed can be adjusted in reef-pi for each, requires DC device to operate on range of voltages such as 6v-12v.)
- 1 auto feeder port (can be used as extra DC port)
- 3 DC ports have a backup float switch port (cuts power to DC port no matter what reef-pi says, great for ATO backup etc.)
- 16 outputs on two DB9's. These come straight from Pi so can be used for anything, my power bars connect to these. In next couple weeks I will have power bar alternatives so instead of AC outlets you can add more DC or sensor ports. I will also have a simple addon to replace the existing DB9s so you can still add 16 AC outlets, it'll have two DB9s.
- 8 outputs that can put out 0-5v or 0-10v PWM or 0-5v or 0-10v analog signal.

With DIY involved you can do everything as controller comes for your long list.

 

[InactiveAcct]

Wondering if there is a limit to the number of kasa hs300s that can be paired to a reefpi? Got to hand it to you that the Kasa integration was a great idea, seems like the power control is the most tedious part of the build.

 

[Ranjib]

Wondering if there is a limit to the number of kasa hs300s that can be paired to a reefpi? Got to hand it to you that the Kasa integration was a great idea, seems like the power control is the most tedious part of the build.

I am tested with 3 at a time.. i am not aware of any explicit limit in place, unless there's cpu/memory issues, which is highly unlikely. I don't know the upper limits, but it should be way beyond dozens..

 

[Urtoo]

Have an pi3 that is sitting around, do I update the pi zero or make a Kali Linux portable “tester”

 

[Ranjib]

Id vote for a backup/test setup instead of replacing the zero. Whats working, should not be touched unless there's specific reason to do so :-) . Having a backup setup that is tested with your existing build is best. reef-pi 4.0 will ship with db export/import capabilities, which will make swapping pi/sd cards even easier

 

[dadarara]

This list compared to your larger list can be done on controller as is. You get the following to work with.

- 6 configurable sensor ports
- 7 DC ports (unidirectional 12v dosing pump or any other 12v DC device, speed can be adjusted in reef-pi for each, requires DC device to operate on range of voltages such as 6v-12v.)
- 1 auto feeder port (can be used as extra DC port)
- 3 DC ports have a backup float switch port (cuts power to DC port no matter what reef-pi says, great for ATO backup etc.)
- 16 outputs on two DB9's. These come straight from Pi so can be used for anything, my power bars connect to these. In next couple weeks I will have power bar alternatives so instead of AC outlets you can add more DC or sensor ports. I will also have a simple addon to replace the existing DB9s so you can still add 16 AC outlets, it'll have two DB9s.
- 8 outputs that can put out 0-5v or 0-10v PWM or 0-5v or 0-10v analog signal.

With DIY involved you can do everything as controller comes for your long list.

thanks
will be waiting for the new updated products.
I can do all DIY. and I do appreciate the notion of having modular design that allows easy fixing and changes by going FULL DIY. But in this case I think its better to start with some core module and build around it. of course this product appeals to a DIY guys like us anyhow. so it should be priced accordingly to be a good alternative to a FULL DIY.
my two cents ..