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

b4tn · Sep 28, 2018

Agreed this is an awesome thread. I have been doing tons of research and am putting together my parts list now. I have decided on the pi 3 B+ so that I have plenty of room for future expansion. PWM control is cool but at the time I am content with my light boxes doing light control on their own. At the bare minimum I need the following features

Ability to control remotley via web (Currently do this with my reefkeeper via port forwarding at my router)
ATO
Auto Temp control
PH monitoring
Graphical statistics and alerts
AC outlets on/off for assorted pumps and lights
Ability to control two wave makers via AC outlets to be on and off at pre programmed timed intervals.

A feature that I have not seen but I may have missed that would be handy, is a to have a single button that will turn off certain devices then have them automatically turn back on after the programmed time has elapsed. For instance, on my current controller I have the standby button (this could be a button on the web interface as well). When I press standby my return pump turns off, wavemakers turn off, and skimmer is turned off for display feeding. After 5 minutes the wavemakers turn back on and kick up any food that has fallen to the bottom for the fish to chase and the corals to catch. 5 minutes later my return pump kicks back on and 5 minutes after that once my sump has been returned to normal water levels the skimmer kicks back on without over flowing.

Based on what I am seeing all of the above can be easily accomplished with the basic setup so I am sold. Some of my future goals once everything above is solid...

PH control
Peristaltic pump control to replace doser
Cameras
Dive into controlling My Ocean revive lights or a DIY LED's

I really wish I knew more about programming! I see a lot of possibilities with this for home automation uses as well. The best part about this is that by doing it myself I will know all the ins and outs. Its frustrating with the RKL especially now that they are no longer in business trying to figure out how to set it up.

noob again · Sep 29, 2018

b4tn said:
A feature that I have not seen but I may have missed that would be handy, is a to have a single button that will turn off certain devices then have them automatically turn back on after the programmed time has elapsed. For instance, on my current controller I have the standby button (this could be a button on the web interface as well). When I press standby my return pump turns off, wavemakers turn off, and skimmer is turned off for display feeding. After 5 minutes the wavemakers turn back on and kick up any food that has fallen to the bottom for the fish to chase and the corals to catch. 5 minutes later my return pump kicks back on and 5 minutes after that once my sump has been returned to normal water levels the skimmer kicks back on without over flowing.

There is a Macro button that does exactly this. You can name it Feed mode and turn off all pumps, then wait a period of time, turn on something wait longer, turn on the next, etc... you can also have more than one macro to do water changes, or what ever else you can think of. There is a built in web button the you can just press to tell it to run. I don't know if there is the ability for a physical button or not, but I don't think that would be hard to implement if there wasn't.

sector9 · Sep 29, 2018

I am confused at the heating/cooling function and feel like there are potential bugs there.

I only have a heater, no cooler. Previously, if you only had a heater, you could set a heater min and max set point. However, on the RC0, you set "heater threshold". I am assuming that the way this is supposed to work is:
If temperature is above heater threshold, heater should turn off
If temperature is below heater threshold, heater should turn on

I just set my heater threshold to 76. I am getting the following on my logs:

Code:

Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

So working as expected, relay should be off and it is

However, when I change the heater threshold to 79, nothing changes:

Code:

Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature sub-system:  sensor Temperature value: 77.225
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine
Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

Not working as expected, relay should turn on when the temperature is below threshold.

Have I gone crazy? Anyone else experiencing issues with the heater control on RC0?

Ranjib · Sep 29, 2018

sector9 said:
I am confused at the heating/cooling function and feel like there are potential bugs there.

I only have a heater, no cooler. Previously, if you only had a heater, you could set a heater min and max set point. However, on the RC0, you set "heater threshold". I am assuming that the way this is supposed to work is:
If temperature is above heater threshold, heater should turn off
If temperature is below heater threshold, heater should turn on

I just set my heater threshold to 76. I am getting the following on my logs:

Code:

Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature sub-system: sensor Temperature value: 77.225 Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine Sep 29 09:01:43 reefpi reef-pi[7235]: 2018/09/29 09:01:43 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

So working as expected, relay should be off and it is

However, when I change the heater threshold to 79, nothing changes:

Code:

Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature sub-system: sensor Temperature value: 77.225 Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 temperature subsystem: Current temperature is above maximum threshold. Executing cool down routine Sep 29 09:04:53 reefpi reef-pi[7399]: 2018/09/29 09:04:53 Setting GPIO Pin: 5 State: 1

Not working as expected, relay should turn on when the temperature is below threshold.

Have I gone crazy? Anyone else experiencing issues with the heater control on RC0?

So, if I understand correctly, the new threshold is not being respected . Can you enable/disable the temperature controller. This can be due to a UI bug.
I'm looking into this right now. Thanks for reporting,

sector9 · Sep 29, 2018

Ranjib said:
So, if I understand correctly, the new threshold is not being respected . Can you enable/disable the temperature controller. This can be due to a UI bug.
I'm looking into this right now. Thanks for reporting,

I tried reloading reefpi and turning off then back on temp subsystem and turning off and on temp controller function. Nothing has fixed it

However! I just found a fix that confirms this to be a bug IMO. I have to set a chiller threshold value for the heater function to work even though I don’t have a chiller. To do this, I have to change the chiller control to a relay and the chiller threshold was no longer grayed out. I set a value then changed the chiller control back to “none”. The heater is now working as expected

It is important to me to have reliable temperature function. In fact, ever since my raspberry pi running reefpi died a few months ago (with reefpi being my only real temperature control mechanism as my heater had a terrible temp sensor built in), I feel strongly that multiple layers of backup for temp control are important.

Ranjib · Sep 29, 2018

sector9 said:
I tried reloading reefpi and turning off then back on temp subsystem and turning off and on temp controller function. Nothing has fixed it

However! I just found a fix that confirms this to be a bug IMO. I have to set a chiller threshold value for the heater function to work even though I don’t have a chiller. To do this, I have to change the chiller control to a relay and the chiller threshold was no longer grayed out. I set a value then changed the chiller control back to “none”. The heater is now working as expected

It is important to me to have reliable temperature function. In fact, ever since my raspberry pi running reefpi died a few months ago (with reefpi being my only real temperature control mechanism as my heater had a terrible temp sensor built in), I feel strongly that multiple layers of backup for temp control are important.

You are absolutely right, and we cant have this type of logic bugs in temperature or even ato control. I am looking into this.

Ranjib · Sep 30, 2018

Way too much tech stuff :-)
My zoa island (acan is being slowly decimated) ...

One of my acro frag, slowly taking grips... go on buddy.. you can do this!

This acro, was glued on top of a purple stylophora colony..

b4tn · Sep 30, 2018

I need more SPS. Those look amazing. What camera and lense are you using?

I got my pi3 B+ in and killed the SD card. Was running the updates on Raspbian so I could get VNC and reef pi set up to play around with and look at features and the update locked up. I did a reboot and and it won’t boot from or re format the SD card. I suspect that my 12 watt iPhone power supply that was causing low voltage warnings did it. Just ordered a decent 2.5 amp power supply and a new SD card and will try again in a couple days.

janos · Sep 30, 2018

Hi to all,any news from 2.0 releases?

Ranjib · Sep 30, 2018

b4tn said:
I need more SPS. Those look amazing. What camera and lense are you using?

I got my pi3 B+ in and killed the SD card. Was running the updates on Raspbian so I could get VNC and reef pi set up to play around with and look at features and the update locked up. I did a reboot and and it won’t boot from or re format the SD card. I suspect that my 12 watt iPhone power supply that was causing low voltage warnings did it. Just ordered a decent 2.5 amp power supply and a new SD card and will try again in a couple days.

I am using Nikon D5300 with Tokina 100mm macro lens. I was not able to shot decent pictures till recently, after @Zekth helped me with some settings those are:

No flow (stop return, power head etc)
Use tripod or something to fix camera.
Shoot in raw mode.
ISO 100
Aperture priority mode
While manually focusing, zoom in at maximum level to ensure focus is as good as possible

I am using Raw Therapee on Macbook to fix the white balance and standard mac image preview software to crop it

Ranjib · Sep 30, 2018

janos said:
Hi to all,any news from 2.0 releases?

Right before thanksgiving, we are still doing a lot of UI improvements, particularly around input validation and mobile (responsive designs). I am also in the middle of writing up all the guides at Adafruit (there will be total 8 guides, I have three published already, five more to go). Last but not the least I am also doing field testing, we cant have a single logic bug going in public release (like the one @sector9 reported). That's a big NO, and a deal breaker, I'll happily delay the release if things are not error-free (we can have UI, or other non-critical issues).

b4tn · Sep 30, 2018

Ranjib said:
I am using Nikon D5300 with Tokina 100mm macro lens. I was not able to shot decent pictures till recently, after @Zekth helped me with some settings those are:
No flow (stop return, power head etc)
Use tripod or something to fix camera.
Shoot in raw mode.
ISO 100
Aperture priority mode
While manually focusing, zoom in at maximum level to ensure focus is as good as possible
I am using Raw Therapee on Macbook to fix the white balance and standard mac image preview software to crop it

Awesome, one of these days I will get a macro lense. For now I am using a 75-300mm lense and stand 4 ft back from the tank. I can get decent shots but not like those. I will mess around with some of those settings.

Ranjib · Sep 30, 2018

b4tn said:
Awesome, one of these days I will get a macro lense. For now I am using a 75-300mm lense and stand 4 ft back from the tank. I can get decent shots but not like those. I will mess around with some of those settings.

Are you shooting in raw? If not go for it and post process for fixing the white balance /temperature, these pics will look much nicer

speedstar · Oct 1, 2018

Does anyone have the circuit for the Gravity IR water sensor? The link from the main page is not working for me.

Also I am just building this all out have not yet even loaded the software, can you tell me is there general GPI that can be assigned to outlet relays?

Thanks

wykat · Oct 1, 2018

speedstar said:
Does anyone have the circuit for the Gravity IR water sensor? The link from the main page is not working for me.

Also I am just building this all out have not yet even loaded the software, can you tell me is there general GPI that can be assigned to outlet relays?

Thanks

Do you mean this sensor (without the board)?:

I can't find the original design so quickly, but I do have the schematics for it.

basically it's the ATO#2 schematic.

speedstar · Oct 1, 2018

wykat said:
Do you mean this sensor (without the board)?:

I can't find the original design so quickly, but I do have the schematics for it.

basically it's the ATO#2 schematic.

That is the one, I do have the board and it mentioned following a schematic from a site that no longer linked to connect to the Pi

wykat · Oct 1, 2018

speedstar said:
That is the one, I do have the board and it mentioned following a schematic from a site that no longer linked to connect to the Pi

Maybe this will help then: https://www.dfrobot.com/wiki/index.php/Liquid_Level_Sensor-FS-IR02_SKU:_SEN0205
It's for Arduino, but basically you just need +5V plus GND and connect OUT to any of the Raspberry GPIO ports. The link shows all the connections of the board.

b4tn · Oct 1, 2018

wykat said:
Do you mean this sensor (without the board)?:

I can't find the original design so quickly, but I do have the schematics for it.

basically it's the ATO#2 schematic.

Trying to understand this schematic because minus ATO #2 and the second ULN2803 ( I only need 8 outputs) its exactly what I am looking to build. I see and understand the Motor driver for the dosers and the relay outputs. But where is the LM2596? What is J8 on the top right and why do the PWM outputs go to it?

Also...
Can anyone link me to the PH monitoring circuit and board?

wykat · Oct 1, 2018

b4tn said:
Trying to understand this schematic because minus ATO #2 and the second ULN2803 ( I only need 8 outputs) its exactly what I am looking to build. I see and understand the Motor driver for the dosers and the relay outputs. But where is the LM2596? What is J8 on the top right and why do the PWM outputs go to it?

I'm not using the LM2596 (yet), I power the RP Pi (5V) and Reef-PI_HAT separately with 12V. I've bought components to integrate the LM2596 on the Reef-PI_HAT, but first I have to understand why the Reef-PI_PWM module is not working as expected. With the Reef-PI software I got very strange behavior in the user interface, when I started to control the PWM module directly (Python) it did seem to work however (think it's related to the used NPN transisors). Have ordered an oscilloscope to measure what comes out of the PCA9683 chip. Also 'recycled' an old oscilloscope, but not sure if that one still works (>30 years old).

J8 is an 'I2C' bus with 5 and 12V to connect to other boards. That's were I'm having some problems now, the I2C bus communicates with the PWM chip, but I don't get the expected output voltages (0-10V) yet.

Ranjib · Oct 1, 2018

speedstar said:
Does anyone have the circuit for the Gravity IR water sensor? The link from the main page is not working for me.

Also I am just building this all out have not yet even loaded the software, can you tell me is there general GPI that can be assigned to outlet relays?

Thanks