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

[robsworld78]

Just as a sanity check, are both SD cards running the same kernel?

The ReefPi 1wire code is pretty boring, in that it only knows how to read devices the kernel provides. Maybe its now reading faster? Only impacting difference I could think of.

Thanks for the suggestion, both seem to be running the same.

Linux raspberrypi 5.4.51-v7+ #1333 SMP Mon Aug 10 16:45:19 BST 2020 armv7l GNU/Linux

Just as I was checking the card with 3.4 it immediately gave the errors but yet to see one on 3.3.1.

 

[Freccialata]

Sorry to hear about the problems, for the pH board did you add this line to the config.txt file in the /boot/ folder of the SD card? Not sure what was happening to you but if you were getting a bunch of parsing errors this will be why.

dtparam=i2c_arm_baudrate=10000

For your temp issue do the sensors keep working or do you need to restart the controller?

As I wrote you in August, I’m still on holidays.
So, I will setup the ph probe next week and... yes, the config file has that line!

For the temperature sensors, after the errors they keep on working without any problem.... till one or all the sensors have another error... than they keep on working.

The 3 sensors have been working without any peoblem (without any error) since the 19rh of August.

P.S.: Raspberry Pi 3B+ and reef pi 3.3.1 running.

 

[rmilyard]

Anyone know what right settings to get email alerts with Hotmail account? Server using smtp.live.com, tried ports 25, 465 and 587

 

[jsweir]

Ok getting ready to build mine. Primary objective is to monitor everything I can, but no control. I have a ph probe is every one using a ds18b20 for monitoring temp? How about optical switches for water level - what is a good one to use? Anything else easy to monitor?

 

[Weasel1960]

Hi. I am a newbie all over again. Going to start a tank soon after being away 30 years. Looking at equipment, did an internet search for control systems and Robo-Tank came up. Shout out especially to Ranjib and Rob for their work and all of you for the support. This world would be a much better place if everything was open source and a collaborative effort. I have been messaging Rob on his Robo site but since I am following I decided to jump into this thread. Rob suggested in his last message that not all equipment will work with ReefPi so my question to the masses is how do I start selecting equipment that will? For instance I am looking at the Aqua Life dimableDX hybrid lights which have a 0-10v connection so am assuming that would work. What other equipment clues should I be looking for on skimmers pumps etc.?

 

[robsworld78]

As I wrote you in August, I’m still on holidays.
So, I will setup the ph probe next week and... yes, the config file has that line!

For the temperature sensors, after the errors they keep on working without any problem.... till one or all the sensors have another error... than they keep on working.

The 3 sensors have been working without any peoblem (without any error) since the 19rh of August.

P.S.: Raspberry Pi 3B+ and reef pi 3.3.1 running.

Sorry I'm not really sure who you are, I've got a lot of controllers out there so getting hard to track who's who. When you get home be sure to send a message so we can get your issues solved.

 

[Ranjib]

Anyone know what right settings to get email alerts with Hotmail account? Server using smtp.live.com, tried ports 25, 465 and 587

Check if this helps: https://www.lifewire.com/what-are-windows-live-hotmail-smtp-settings-1170861
i dont use hotmail, and have not tested this. reef-pi uses smtp for email, this is based on that

 

[Ranjib]

Hi. I am a newbie all over again. Going to start a tank soon after being away 30 years. Looking at equipment, did an internet search for control systems and Robo-Tank came up. Shout out especially to Ranjib and Rob for their work and all of you for the support. This world would be a much better place if everything was open source and a collaborative effort. I have been messaging Rob on his Robo site but since I am following I decided to jump into this thread. Rob suggested in his last message that not all equipment will work with ReefPi so my question to the masses is how do I start selecting equipment that will? For instance I am looking at the Aqua Life dimableDX hybrid lights which have a 0-10v connection so am assuming that would work. What other equipment clues should I be looking for on skimmers pumps etc.?

When i started with my reef tanks, following were the main thing i needed to control:
- Light: I use kessil (0-10v) and 12v coralife moon light strip,
- ATO: 12v dc peristaltic pump and float sensor (was using optical sensor for first 3 years)
- Temperature: Jaeger eheim Heater & 12V dc fans with ds19b20 sensor
- Return pumps (rio for picos and sicce syncra for nano), skimmer, HoB filters (for pico tanks)

I later added ph monitoring, dosing of two parts , skimmer etc. But, except ATO nothing else is a must have in my experience, everything can run off timer (i.e instead of sunrise to sunset cycle, it will be direct on/off) ... heater too has its own termostat. Controller just make it little easier. I have macros to start/stop water change. I get to use two heaters to maintain temperature during winter etc.

The actual equipment has more to do with your tank size, type of corals you are planning to grow. You may need lot more things including dosers and calcium reactor controls for more sophisticated setup.

 

[Ranjib]

Hi. I am a newbie all over again. Going to start a tank soon after being away 30 years. Looking at equipment, did an internet search for control systems and Robo-Tank came up. Shout out especially to Ranjib and Rob for their work and all of you for the support. This world would be a much better place if everything was open source and a collaborative effort. I have been messaging Rob on his Robo site but since I am following I decided to jump into this thread. Rob suggested in his last message that not all equipment will work with ReefPi so my question to the masses is how do I start selecting equipment that will? For instance I am looking at the Aqua Life dimableDX hybrid lights which have a 0-10v connection so am assuming that would work. What other equipment clues should I be looking for on skimmers pumps etc.?

And welcome :-), we really appreciate the kind words. Hope reef-pi helps you with your hobby :-)

 

[Ranjib]

Ok getting ready to build mine. Primary objective is to monitor everything I can, but no control. I have a ph probe is every one using a ds18b20 for monitoring temp? How about optical switches for water level - what is a good one to use? Anything else easy to monitor?

ds18b20 is the one currently supported. There are ways to hook up custom sensor (using hal file drivers), but i would expect almost everyone using ds18b20. optical switches works just like float switches. Theres nothing special in software, all differences are only in the circuit. I used dfrobot optical sensors. They ship with a breakout board that makes thing little easier.

 

[Ranjib]

As I wrote you in August, I’m still on holidays.
So, I will setup the ph probe next week and... yes, the config file has that line!

For the temperature sensors, after the errors they keep on working without any problem.... till one or all the sensors have another error... than they keep on working.

The 3 sensors have been working without any peoblem (without any error) since the 19rh of August.

P.S.: Raspberry Pi 3B+ and reef pi 3.3.1 running.

Please start your build thread ,that way your issues are consolidated in one place. we wont be able to keep track of your build details and it will be hard to help you on the main thread for persistent issues.

 

[Des Westcott]

Hey. Despite using a Kalkwasser stirrer and all my ATO water being Kalkwasser, my pH still tends to be a little low, typically sitting between swinging between 8.0 and 8.1 between night and day. I would like to increase it slightly if possible, and would like to use the reef-pi pH Control feature to do it.

Can I please get setup suggestions from anyone who is doing this. I've got a few ideas using Macros, Timers and Dosers, but I'd rather not re-invent the wheel if someone already has a bulletproof method.

 

[jsweir]

I wouldn't dose anything based on ph.

 

[Des Westcott]

I wouldn't dose anything based on ph.

I suppose I should have told the full story and give my full background thinking.

My actual plan is to dose based on one of the popular 2-part dosing regimines with all the normal tests that go along with it. I plan to use the reef-pi control more as a way to actually turn off the dosing if it goes outside my goal parameters and send me alerts. Depending on how you look at it, it's technically the same thing. But in terms of utilizing the reef-pi functionality, it has to be thought of as enabling the dosing within a specified range.

At the moment I'm thinking of a Macro to enable the Doser at the lower threshold and another to turn it off at the upper. My initial thought on this is whether it will only turn the dosing back on at the lower threshold (as I suspect it will) or if there is a way to turn it back on when it's back within range. Playing with a narrow range and the hysteresis settings might be necessary, hence me not wanting to re-invent the wheel if anyone has implemented something like this successfully.

 

[rmilyard]

I am running version 3.4 on my Pi 3b+. Very couple hours it seems I get alert in email for:

Temperature sensor failure. Error:EOF

 

[trustychords]

I suppose I should have told the full story and give my full background thinking.

My actual plan is to dose based on one of the popular 2-part dosing regimines with all the normal tests that go along with it. I plan to use the reef-pi control more as a way to actually turn off the dosing if it goes outside my goal parameters and send me alerts. Depending on how you look at it, it's technically the same thing. But in terms of utilizing the reef-pi functionality, it has to be thought of as enabling the dosing within a specified range.

At the moment I'm thinking of a Macro to enable the Doser at the lower threshold and another to turn it off at the upper. My initial thought on this is whether it will only turn the dosing back on at the lower threshold (as I suspect it will) or if there is a way to turn it back on when it's back within range. Playing with a narrow range and the hysteresis settings might be necessary, hence me not wanting to re-invent the wheel if anyone has implemented something like this successfully.

I've wondered if we could use Reef-Pi to control a solenoid valve that is connected to the airline intake of a Co2 scrubber. That would be the best way to consistently maintain a higher pH.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I suppose I should have told the full story and give my full background thinking.

My actual plan is to dose based on one of the popular 2-part dosing regimines with all the normal tests that go along with it. I plan to use the reef-pi control more as a way to actually turn off the dosing if it goes outside my goal parameters and send me alerts. Depending on how you look at it, it's technically the same thing. But in terms of utilizing the reef-pi functionality, it has to be thought of as enabling the dosing within a specified range.

At the moment I'm thinking of a Macro to enable the Doser at the lower threshold and another to turn it off at the upper. My initial thought on this is whether it will only turn the dosing back on at the lower threshold (as I suspect it will) or if there is a way to turn it back on when it's back within range. Playing with a narrow range and the hysteresis settings might be necessary, hence me not wanting to re-invent the wheel if anyone has implemented something like this successfully.

I haven’t tried this. It seems like it could work. Maybe start with dosing ro or saltwater until you have confidence in it. I get a bit noise on my ph line. It’s okay for monitoring but I don’t trust it to control.

 

[Des Westcott]

I've wondered if we could use Reef-Pi to control a solenoid valve that is connected to the airline intake of a Co2 scrubber. That would be the best way to consistently maintain a higher pH.

I live in a part of the world where we don't have very extreme weather and as such, the tank is in a room that always has adequate ventilation. The window next to the tank is wide open 90+% of the time, so I doubt a buildup of CO2 is responsible for suppressing my pH. I have at a time run my skimmer air intake from outside the house and the pH results are the same.

Reef-pi could easily control a solenoid valve as you describe.

 

[Des Westcott]

I haven’t tried this. It seems like it could work. Maybe start with dosing ro or saltwater until you have confidence in it. I get a bit noise on my ph line. It’s okay for monitoring but I don’t trust it to control.

Yes. I would start dosing the 2 part manually starting with lower amounts than I should need and slowly adjust to get stable. I'd then tweak reef-pi around that dosing regimen.

 

[themericks]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with the reef-pi dashboard tab. Every time I click "Configure" in the Dashboard tab I get a red "404 page not found | HTTP 404" error and it does not give me the option to configure the dashboard. All other tabs work fine, lights, dosing, temperature, etc. Running reef-pi 3.4 on a pi3. Any idea why this would be happening?