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

[geekengineer]

Its going to be hard to figure out what I missed the last 4 years or so. How is reef-pi doing these days? lol Any new exciting things, hardware, etc. or would that be hard to explain? I also was curious if it would work on an older ras-pi like a rasberry pi B+ 512MB for instance? Since can't hardly get the new ones.

 

[Sral]

Here are a two threads about this:
- Raspberry-pi-Alternatives
- Alternatives to Raspberry Pi Zero for Reef-Pi

In the second one @Ranjib mentioned that any Model B would work, that is every Pi with a 40 Pin header

 

[geekengineer]

Cool thanks for the info.

 

[geekengineer]

I ended up finding I had two Pi Zero W's V1.1 and I found my old Pi B+. Amazon said I bought like 5 total pi B+ over the years I wish I could find them all. I honestly didn't realze I bought that many.

 

[eggi55]

Hallo
ich heiße Heiko und komme aus Deutschland mein Englisch ist nicht gut und arbeite mit einem Übersetzer.
sowas wie reef-pi habe ich schon lange gesucht. ich besitze ein Serra Bio Cube 130.
reef-pi läuft bei mir erstmal zum testen habe mir die Beleuchtung mir powerLEDs gebaut mit je 7 kaltweiß weiß warmweiß und blau für mondlicht habe ich 3. ich lasse die Beleuchtung nicht mit 100% laufen wollte noch Reserve haben. mein Frage ist kann ich über den I2C PWM und Ph laufen lassen?
Schöne Grüße aus Deutschland.

Translation:
Hi
My name is Heiko and I come from Germany, my English is not good and I work with a translator.
I've been looking for something like reef-pi for a long time. I own a Serra Bio Cube 130.
reef-pi is running for me first of all for testing, I built the lighting for myself with powerLEDs, each with 7 cold white, warm white and blue for moonlight, I have 3. I don't let the lighting run at 100% and wanted to have a reserve. my question is can i run pwm and ph over the i2c?
Nice greetings from Germany.

 

[geekengineer]

Mein deutsch ist nicht gut, das macht uns beide aus.

I'm not a ton familiar with what reef-pi supports as I never got a chance to dive into it a ton yet. I believe the raspberry pi has some build in PWM outputs at least the later ones. I don't know how well they work or if you would want to get an external I2C based PWM chip. I usually run the ph circuit over I2C but I use the atlas-scientific module. Others modules might work differently etc. Anyways I am sure Ranjab can tell you more.

I would be curious tho if there is a list somewhere of what reef-pi supports?

 

[geekengineer]

OK I guess it would help to look at the manual. lol That has some drivers listed in there if that helps.

manual

 

[eggi55]

hallo erstmal danke für die antwort ich habe mir auch atlas-scientific module besorgt.ich werde mir das manual mal durchlesen.

 

[geekengineer]

I guess one thing I should ask about is there a way to make your own drivers if you want to?

 

[Sral]

Hallo
ich heiße Heiko und komme aus Deutschland mein Englisch ist nicht gut und arbeite mit einem Übersetzer.
sowas wie reef-pi habe ich schon lange gesucht. ich besitze ein Serra Bio Cube 130.
reef-pi läuft bei mir erstmal zum testen habe mir die Beleuchtung mir powerLEDs gebaut mit je 7 kaltweiß weiß warmweiß und blau für mondlicht habe ich 3. ich lasse die Beleuchtung nicht mit 100% laufen wollte noch Reserve haben. mein Frage ist kann ich über den I2C PWM und Ph laufen lassen?
Schöne Grüße aus Deutschland.

Translation:
Hi
My name is Heiko and I come from Germany, my English is not good and I work with a translator.
I've been looking for something like reef-pi for a long time. I own a Serra Bio Cube 130.
reef-pi is running for me first of all for testing, I built the lighting for myself with powerLEDs, each with 7 cold white, warm white and blue for moonlight, I have 3. I don't let the lighting run at 100% and wanted to have a reserve. my question is can i run pwm and ph over the i2c?
Nice greetings from Germany.

Moin, um deine Frage zu beantworten: absolut !
Sowohl PWM Kanäle, als auch die pH-Wert Messung wird im allgemeinen über eine I2C-Verbindung realisiert. Hier sind ein paar alte Anleitungen dafür. Die pH-Wert Messung dort wir ebenfalls über einen (älteren) ATlas Instruments pH chip realisiert.

Translation:
Hi, to answer your question: absolutely !
Both the PWM channels and pH measurement are typically done via an I2C connection. You can find some old guides here. The pH measurement there is also done with an (old) Atlas Instruments pH chip.

 

[Sral]

I guess one thing I should ask about is there a way to make your own drivers if you want to?

The software is open-source, as long as you understand the language (mostly go, from what I understand from this thread), that should be absolutely possible.

 

[eggi55]

Ich danke erstmal für die Hilfe,das es machbar ist habe ich im Internet schon gelesen mir ging es nur darum ob es in der reef-pi vorgesehen ist oder mit einem extra raspberry pi machen muß.
Was dann wiederum ich ein problem habe 2 raspis an einer festen ip adresse zu vereinen. Habe mich dangit nicht so beschäftigt und lebe dangit auf Kriegsfuß.
Ich werde es versuchen ob es klappt habe heute alles bekommen.

 

[eggi55]

habe vergessen zu erwähnen, das ich VNC nutze um von der Arbeit aus darauf zu zugreifen zu können .mit zwei raspis habe ich es nicht hinbekommen im heimnetzwerk zu hause kein problem

 

[geekengineer]

Not sure if I follow as my German is pretty rusty, but are you trying to use 2 raspberry pi's? and you only have one static IP address on your network? I think there was a thread here sort of talking about static IPs when you have an internet provider that doesn't give you one or charges extra for that. However if you want two then I am not sure if you can get two dynamic DNS points that would be a way around it. Or are you asking if you need two and I would assume you only need one raspberry pi unless you have more than one setup you want to do or some other ones around etc. That might be why you can't access VNC outside your house cause you will need to configure your router for that I believe and have some way to get to your router via dynamic DNS or static IP. It might still be a good idea to translate to English if you can so others might help.

This thread might help also. no static IP

 

[eggi55]

Thanks for the tips
tried it in reef-pi and ph (atlas) and pwm both work. It's a great project that I've been looking for for a long time. For my pond I have something similar, but it was more work, the installation work was from 2011, I had to find out a lot myself.
What I'm missing here would be wireless socket support. I have one question, how did you solve that with ATO if the photoelectric liquid level sensor failed and the feed pump didn't switch off?

 

[geekengineer]

I'm not sure if you are asking me? I haven't solve that sort of problem as I haven't got that far yet. lol There might be a way to have a redundant liquid level sensor if it was a concern. maybe 'or' them together in depending on the logic of course.

 

[eggi55]

all good I asked the general public and hope someone answers

 

[robsworld78]

Thanks for the tips
tried it in reef-pi and ph (atlas) and pwm both work. It's a great project that I've been looking for for a long time. For my pond I have something similar, but it was more work, the installation work was from 2011, I had to find out a lot myself.
What I'm missing here would be wireless socket support. I have one question, how did you solve that with ATO if the photoelectric liquid level sensor failed and the feed pump didn't switch off?

For wifi sockets look at the Kasa HS300, it's possible to configure one within reef-pi. For ATO you can set a maximum runtime the pump is allowed to run, if the sensor doesn't shut it off and the timer expires it'll get turned off.

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks for the tips
tried it in reef-pi and ph (atlas) and pwm both work. It's a great project that I've been looking for for a long time. For my pond I have something similar, but it was more work, the installation work was from 2011, I had to find out a lot myself.
What I'm missing here would be wireless socket support. I have one question, how did you solve that with ATO if the photoelectric liquid level sensor failed and the feed pump didn't switch off?

we use a combination of feature called `alert on usage above` and `disable on alert` . You can observe the general ato usage in chart (Say its 30s in normally) and set a value of 100s as `alert on usage above` and turn on the `disable on alert`, this will send an alert and switch off the ato pump. I use it extensively, and this is how i always find out my ato container has finished or my overflow is clogged (common problem with my red sea gate valve that leads to sump water level changes)

 

[eggi55]

For wifi sockets look at the Kasa HS300, it's possible to configure one within reef-pi. For ATO you can set a maximum runtime the pump is allowed to run, if the sensor doesn't shut it off and the timer expires it'll get turned off.

sounds good i can't use it in germany because of 110v