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

[BlakeFL]

Sandisk 'Extreme' or Samsung. Be very careful about who you purchase it from though, there's a lot of counterfeits, especially on eBay and Amazon.

Do you have a suggestion on a vendor? I usually try to ensure I am at least buying from Amazon and not a random 3rd party seller.

 

[level16gazebo]

I usually try to ensure I am at least buying from Amazon

Unfortunately, all that ensures is rapid shipping. They co-mingle inventory, it's a problem.

I hear good things about BestBuy and B&H Photo's supply chain management in this regard.

 

[BenB]

Going to start setting up my Raspberry Pi for Reef-Pi. Is there any specific SD card that is more reliable? Seems like the SD card is the biggest issue with Raspberry Pi reliability. I thought I had a spare but will need to buy a new card.

When you have a pi4 You can use a SSD with a usb 3.0 connector. I impemented that some weeks ago, and it works great!

 

[Ranjib]

Going to start setting up my Raspberry Pi for Reef-Pi. Is there any specific SD card that is more reliable? Seems like the SD card is the biggest issue with Raspberry Pi reliability. I thought I had a spare but will need to buy a new card.

Get Samsung evo or similar class 10 sdk card

 

[Ranjib]

Had the same issue again. After a powercycle, all data after the same day in october as last time is gone again, a new doser i set up is gone, and what i can see now that i am looking on desktop and not mobile, reef-pi has reverted from 5.0 to 4.3

How can this be, could i have multiple copies of reef-pi running by accident? I remember that i tried to use the upgrade fucntion in the admin panel and it didnt work and locked up reefpi so it powercycled it then, could that have caused it? Or is a memory problem like i initially though more likely?

It is possible you installed but never restarted ?

 

[robsworld78]

Going to start setting up my Raspberry Pi for Reef-Pi. Is there any specific SD card that is more reliable? Seems like the SD card is the biggest issue with Raspberry Pi reliability. I thought I had a spare but will need to buy a new card.

Yeah I've seen a few peoples SD card go bad, it's game over at that point. I've been recommending and packaging the Samsung Pro Endurance card, apparently this one is designed for 24 hour read and write but those other cards should be good too. I think you just want a good quality card.

Amazon product ASIN B07B98GXQT

 

[elysics]

It is possible you installed but never restarted ?

Did at least once via ssh, but tried right now multiple times over the admin menu with repeatable results

Before the reboot, notice the duration, I changed it from 20 to 18:

After the reboot:

I'll probably just backup the db and do a clean install let's see if that fixes it

 

[Coolhack]

Omg, another temp probe going out on me again. This time, I wake up and the temp in the tank is at 72 degrees, I have to manually cut the heater on and it will cut off at the temp I have set for it to go off but it will not cut the heaters back on if the temp goes below the set point. It is a rollercoaster ride of temps all day long. This is annoying me to the point of no return. Just bought a nice colony of candy canes too. Errrrrr

 

[Coolhack]

Is there maybe something wrong in here?

 

[robsworld78]

Omg, another temp probe going out on me again. This time, I wake up and the temp in the tank is at 72 degrees, I have to manually cut the heater on and it will cut off at the temp I have set for it to go off but it will not cut the heaters back on if the temp goes below the set point. It is a rollercoaster ride of temps all day long. This is annoying me to the point of no return. Just bought a nice colony of candy canes too. Errrrrr

Did you try adding a fake piece of equipment for the "Chiller" setting on temperature controller?

If you can't get it working easiest solution is to go back to 4.3, you can use the upgrade in admin tab. Make sure to power cycle the Pi after you do that. Then delete all your temperature sensors and add them back. That should sort it out.

Once v5.1 is released you can update again.

 

[Bigtrout]

@Ranjib

I bought a 29 biocube and my winter project is going to be building another reef-pi. Since a pi zero w is nowhere to be found, i managed to snag a pi zero 2 w. The main differemce is the 2 w has a 4 core processor, the form factor and memory remain the same.
Does reef pi work in the new zero 2 w? Has anyone tried? If so which image is correct, the pi 0 image, or the pi 3 image?

 

[Ranjib]

@Ranjib

I bought a 29 biocube and my winter project is going to be building another reef-pi. Since a pi zero w is nowhere to be found, i managed to snag a pi zero 2 w. The main differemce is the 2 w has a 4 core processor, the form factor and memory remain the same.
Does reef pi work in the new zero 2 w? Has anyone tried? If so which image is correct, the pi 0 image, or the pi 3 image?

I have not tried pi zero 2. I’ll recommend trying with pi 0 build first and if that does not work then move to pi 3 build.
it will be pretty easy to detect if 0 build is not working, since the binary will nit even start. systemctl status reef-pi.service will show that it’s stopped , so after installation

 

[Bigtrout]

I have not tried pi zero 2. I’ll recommend trying with pi 0 build first and if that does not work then move to pi 3 build.
it will be pretty easy to detect if 0 build is not working, since the binary will nit even start. systemctl status reef-pi.service will show that it’s stopped , so after installation

I guess im the guinea pig. Will test and report when the pi 2 zero w arrives

 

[robsworld78]

@Ranjib

I bought a 29 biocube and my winter project is going to be building another reef-pi. Since a pi zero w is nowhere to be found, i managed to snag a pi zero 2 w. The main differemce is the 2 w has a 4 core processor, the form factor and memory remain the same.
Does reef pi work in the new zero 2 w? Has anyone tried? If so which image is correct, the pi 0 image, or the pi 3 image?

I got some of those, they work good, I think I used the Pi 0 image. To me the wifi feels faster than the original zero but still not enough power for a display. The desktop OS runs but when the browser is open it crawls and basically unusable. Other than that it's great.

 

[attiland]

Going to start setting up my Raspberry Pi for Reef-Pi. Is there any specific SD card that is more reliable? Seems like the SD card is the biggest issue with Raspberry Pi reliability. I thought I had a spare but will need to buy a new card.

Go SSD HDD from start. All you space issues and SD failures will go. Of course it is just an IT’s opinion

 

[attiland]

@Ranjib

I bought a 29 biocube and my winter project is going to be building another reef-pi. Since a pi zero w is nowhere to be found, i managed to snag a pi zero 2 w. The main differemce is the 2 w has a 4 core processor, the form factor and memory remain the same.
Does reef pi work in the new zero 2 w? Has anyone tried? If so which image is correct, the pi 0 image, or the pi 3 image?

I would go pi3 or 4. I use 4 and works great. Pi0 is just about enough for this job but forget display connection if you do that.

 

[Bigtrout]

Reef pi was my first splash into raspberry pi, and linux. Ive since ditched windows, learned alot about liinux and im using raspberry pis for everything. Reef pi, many pi zero tinkering/electronics projects, and even my main router is a pi4b running openwrt(awesome) with dumb access points, with a pi zero as a usb ethernet gadget plugged into that main router running Adguard Home.

 

[Bigtrout]

I would go pi3 or 4. I use 4 and works great. Pi0 is just about enough for this job but forget display connection if you do that.

My pi zero running my 75 freshwater does just fine. Instead of a display, I run it headless. It barely breaks a sweat. Ssd is fine, but with a good sd card and a rtc added to my reef pi i havent had a card corruption issue yet and i live in an area with numerous power failures. That being said, i do have a backup and spare card ready at all times just in case.
I have the same in place for my Pi 4 im using as a router.

 

[attiland]

My pi zero running my 75 freshwater does just fine. Instead of a display, I run it headless. It barely breaks a sweat. Ssd is fine, but with a good sd card and a rtc added to my reef pi i havent had a card corruption issue yet and i live in an area with numerous power failures. That being said, i do have a backup and spare card ready at all times just in case.
I have the same in place for my Pi 4 im using as a router.

You are right. The reef-pi itself doesn’t require more than pi 0. If you plan anything more on that hardware be it just a display, or connecting it to your Alexa, run mqtt server on the side it is not enough.
As per SD I worked with a lot of them in the past and not trusting it for more than putting it in a camera where if breaks I put it in the bin. An 128GB SSD cost £10. I good SD can be 3x of that price

 

[iLMaRiO]

which SSD form factor is needed for a Pi?