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

[iamdan]

I'm trying to get my reefpi up and running using robo-tank controller with the lighting and DC module, Sensor module and 2 power strips. Everything is plugged in: module interconnects, power, float sensors, Ph probe, custom lighting dimmers to Meanwell drivers. Dosers.

I ran the robo-tank installation instructions for reefpi https://www.robo-tank.ca/reef-pi_Related_User_Manuals afterwards the reefpi blank dashboard comes up so I know reefpi is installed. When I click on connectors to start programming the ports I get this:

There is also a reoccurring error message:

@Rob


@robsworld78

Use raspberry pi os bullseye. Bookworm is not compatible

 

[Brett7397]

Use raspberry pi os bullseye. Bookworm is not compatible

Rob had a script he made to install reef pi. He posted it on here.

 

[Brett7397]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-install-reef-pi.889815/

 

[KrisMoro]

Are you running Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye?

Yes, I tried both Bullseye and Bookworm on all mentioned boards. I think issue is somewhere in 12 years old HAL dependency. but interesting thing, each time pin number was different in error...

 

[Matt Carden]

Rob had a script he made to install reef pi. He posted it on here.

Recently there are more options for the Raspberry OS to choose from. There is 2 versions of lite, bookworm and bullseye. I choose bookworm I'm going to try bullseye in a few. Will update.

 

[Matt Carden]

Use raspberry pi os bullseye. Bookworm is not compatible

Switching to Bullseye fixed my issue Thanks!

 

[natebatey]

Hi, I used to be able to use adafruit.IO for all of my channels, but recently I do not get any of my 'equipment' data. I've been out of the loop for a couple years, did something change with adafruit.io? I am getting the following error and wonder why the I.P address listed is incorrect for the system, is it supposed to be that way?

 

[biznatch]

Hi, I used to be able to use adafruit.IO for all of my channels, but recently I do not get any of my 'equipment' data. I've been out of the loop for a couple years, did something change with adafruit.io? I am getting the following error and wonder why the I.P address listed is incorrect for the system, is it supposed to be that way?

That looks like the IP of your gateway (router), and port 53 is a DNS request (you can confirm by running 'ipconfig' on your laptop, and it will show the same IP as the default gateway). So it's trying to get the IP of io.adafruit.com and failing. This looks like the rPi is being blocked by a firewall. What happens when you SSH onto the rPi and try and ping google.com or io.adafruit.com? I'm guessing you'll get the same error.

 

[natebatey]

That looks like the IP of your gateway (router), and port 53 is a DNS request (you can confirm by running 'ipconfig' on your laptop, and it will show the same IP as the default gateway). So it's trying to get the IP of io.adafruit.com and failing. This looks like the rPi is being blocked by a firewall. What happens when you SSH onto the rPi and try and ping google.com or io.adafruit.com? I'm guessing you'll get the same error.

Ok, I will try the ping when I get home. Does it make sense that other io channels work fine it’s just the equipments that give the error? I’m guessing there is a different “call” method for the equipments because it’s a two-way communication? And just to clarify, it’s not really looking for an actual IP address for adafruit io per se, it’s looking for a “route” to go through to connect to it? Also, if what you are saying about a firewall blocking it is true then I assume that I can go into the router and set a rule to allow it to pass through? Thanks for your help!

 

[biznatch]

Ok, I will try the ping when I get home. Does it make sense that other io channels work fine it’s just the equipments that give the error? I’m guessing there is a different “call” method for the equipments because it’s a two-way communication? And just to clarify, it’s not really looking for an actual IP address for adafruit io per se, it’s looking for a “route” to go through to connect to it? Also, if what you are saying about a firewall blocking it is true then I assume that I can go into the router and set a rule to allow it to pass through? Thanks for your help!

Port 53 is for DNS calls, which is always the first step. It converts the human readable URL to the IP for the computer to use. It doesn't matter what API endpoint you're hitting, since the DNS call is to the domain itself. If there was an issue with the API/endpoint, the DNS call would succeed, but you would get an HTTP error (like a 404 not found) on port 443, not a network error on 53. 2 way communication would still make a DNS call on 53, then use that IP to connect on 443 and open a web socket for the return calls. But your error shows it's failing log before that.

 

[natebatey]

Port 53 is for DNS calls, which is always the first step. It converts the human readable URL to the IP for the computer to use. It doesn't matter what API endpoint you're hitting, since the DNS call is to the domain itself. If there was an issue with the API/endpoint, the DNS call would succeed, but you would get an HTTP error (like a 404 not found) on port 443, not a network error on 53. 2 way communication would still make a DNS call on 53, then use that IP to connect on 443 and open a web socket for the return calls. But your error shows it's failing log before that.

Hmm…. Well I checked the firewall on the router and it’s off. I also pinged io.adafruit.com and google.com from ssh into the pi and they both pinged fine with 0% packet loss. Clearly something is stopping reef-pi. If you have any other ideas I’d appreciate more help. Does the modem possibly have a firewall? It is a different modem than what I used before. Or maybe some other obscure setting on the modem. I still wonder why some of the channels go through fine but the equipments fail. I appreciate you help, thanks.

 

[biznatch]

Hmm…. Well I checked the firewall on the router and it’s off. I also pinged io.adafruit.com and google.com from ssh into the pi and they both pinged fine with 0% packet loss. Clearly something is stopping reef-pi. If you have any other ideas I’d appreciate more help. Does the modem possibly have a firewall? It is a different modem than what I used before. Or maybe some other obscure setting on the modem. I still wonder why some of the channels go through fine but the equipments fail. I appreciate you help, thanks.

If you can ping it from the rPi itself and get an IP/reponse, then it doesn't sound like a firewall blocking it, as that does a DNS lookup as part of the steps prior to sending out the ICMP calls. So I'm actually at a loss here. It's making the call to your gateway, so it's not like the BS home assistant pulled by hardcoding DNS calls to a 3rd party IP which might be blocked. I would attempt the tried and true 'turn it off and on again' to see if that clears any caching going on and restarts all processes, including reefpi.

 

[natebatey]

If you can ping it from the rPi itself and get an IP/reponse, then it doesn't sound like a firewall blocking it, as that does a DNS lookup as part of the steps prior to sending out the ICMP calls. So I'm actually at a loss here. It's making the call to your gateway, so it's not like the BS home assistant pulled by hardcoding DNS calls to a 3rd party IP which might be blocked. I would attempt the tried and true 'turn it off and on again' to see if that clears any caching going on and restarts all processes, including reefpi.

ok, thanks anyway. I've tried that also. I saw a message on the io.adafruit site that said they had made some changes to the api and wondered if that was causing an issue, but if no one else has experienced it then it's probably just something on my end.

 

[Simonv92]

Hi all! today during some maintenance I've disconnected the sump temp probe.
After that the heater kicks on without any control. There's a way to disable the temperature control when the sensor goes bad? Thank you!

 

[iamdan]

Hi all! today during some maintenance I've disconnected the sump temp probe.
After that the heater kicks on without any control. There's a way to disable the temperature control when the sensor goes bad? Thank you!

In reef-pi itself I don’t think it’s possible however for my use case I have reef-pi connected into home assistant so you could create an automation for it there

 

[Broady2067]

How have you connect it to home assistant.

 

[BenB]

Hi all! today during some maintenance I've disconnected the sump temp probe.
After that the heater kicks on without any control. There's a way to disable the temperature control when the sensor goes bad? Thank you!

When you disconnect the sensor the temperature signal will most likely drop to zero degrees celsius. What you can do is under the temp tab create a new item. Select the sensor. Under control you can add a macro (first create a macro to turn off the heater) then use the chiller function, put it to 1 degree celsius, and select the macro. You can test is when disconnecting the sensor.

 

[iamdan]

How have you connect it to home assistant.

https://github.com/tdragon/reef-pi-hass-custom

 

[Simonv92]

When you disconnect the sensor the temperature signal will most likely drop to zero degrees celsius. What you can do is under the temp tab create a new item. Select the sensor. Under control you can add a macro (first create a macro to turn off the heater) then use the chiller function, put it to 1 degree celsius, and select the macro. You can test is when disconnecting the sensor.

Thank you @BenB! that's exactly what I want! :D If someone would like to replicate this setup if you set the macro as reversible it will re-enabe the temp control automatically when you reconnect the sensor.
I'll also connect my Reef-Pi to home assistant but I want to use it only as "monitoring" device, I would like to have all the important control running only on Reef-Pi without relying on the operation of the HA server..

 

[biznatch]

Thank you @BenB! that's exactly what I want! :D If someone would like to replicate this setup if you set the macro as reversible it will re-enabe the temp control automatically when you reconnect the sensor.
I'll also connect my Reef-Pi to home assistant but I want to use it only as "monitoring" device, I would like to have all the important control running only on Reef-Pi without relying on the operation of the HA server..

The connection to reefpi is done by the HACS integration. All that does is connect to the reef-pi API. Everything is still done by reef-pi, this just gives external access to monitor/control through HA.

FYI though, enabling this does appear to cause the PH sensor to randomly report almost 0 throughout the day. At this point I've stopped using the HA integration and just use the reefpi UI for everything.