Reef Pi Noob - Robo Tank Build

[Dukereefnz]

Very cool, that little pump moves some water!!! I like the idea of a dosing pump, are the cheap ones save? can they siphon through?

looking forward to having my Robotank /reef pi running when my tank stand is complete.
The robotank system does allow people like me to use the reef pi, I would not have the skills to build one from scratch.
Such a cool setup...

I am waiting on my power board covers from Rob, I had some made locally and it was a disaster, should have purchased Robs from the start as it worked out cheaper and included ship around the globe.

I have a buzzer, going to give this a try.

Question - the one shot feature on the ATO what does this do?
How would you use it?

 

[robsworld78]

Very cool, that little pump moves some water!!! I like the idea of a dosing pump, are the cheap ones save? can they siphon through?

looking forward to having my Robotank /reef pi running when my tank stand is complete.
The robotank system does allow people like me to use the reef pi, I would not have the skills to build one from scratch.
Such a cool setup...

I am waiting on my power board covers from Rob, I had some made locally and it was a disaster, should have purchased Robs from the start as it worked out cheaper and included ship around the globe.

I have a buzzer, going to give this a try.

Question - the one shot feature on the ATO what does this do?
How would you use it?

I haven't tried the one shot feature yet but I think with this set if a sensor detects water it will only run once and won't trigger again until sensor doesn't detect water and then detects again. without it will continue to run until the sensor doesn't detect water. I assume with one shot it's easier to control a low/high level sensor setup, how close am I @Ranjib?

 

[Lubo.2302]

I think the PCA9685 does a hand shake when driver is added so I guess my answer was wrong when I said you can setup, I remember this happening to me once.

EDIT: Maybe I'm wrong, I have 3.4 installed and was able to add using an address not connected.

EDIT2: Something else came up so I went back to 3.3.1 and tried adding PCA9685, got same error so hand shake is gone in 3.4. If you update to 3.4 make sure you add the pH-ezo driver first.

it is necessary to write values in the frequency + address field, although it shows, but it is necessary to write them again
when not showing a password with a secure reason it could show at least ***********

 

[Ranjib]

I haven't tried the one shot feature yet but I think with this set if a sensor detects water it will only run once and won't trigger again until sensor doesn't detect water and then detects again. without it will continue to run until the sensor doesn't detect water. I assume with one shot it's easier to control a low/high level sensor setup, how close am I @Ranjib?

Yup, pretty much what you said. I was hoping it will be useful in conjunction with macros

 

[robsworld78]

it is necessary to write values in the frequency + address field, although it shows, but it is necessary to write them again
when not showing a password with a secure reason it could show at least ***********

Yeah you do need to add a frequency, the number showing is only a placeholder value I believe, type in 150 and it should be good. In most cases no change can be seen by adjusting the frequency, if something buzzes adjust the value and it might go away.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Its been a while since a I touched the robo tank, The ato had me jumping through hoops trying to get it working right (optical sensors are not water proof so if they are not sealed and submerged they will act screwy) Ended up switching to all float switches and it took care of that issue and its been working solid now for 8 months (Thanks to @robsworld78)

So now I am thinking of setting up a auto water change system using the robo tank. It would be a daily water change of 1% of my tanks volume which would be 1g a Day. My Idea was to use two float switches one for the pump out level and one for the fill level, was thinking of using peristaltic pumps to perform the pumping but unsure on how well they will stand up to draining and filling 1g a day. does everyone think they will work well or should I switch to two of the same pumps I use on my ato?

These are the peristaltic pumps I had in mind, If they run at 80ml a min it would take 48min to pump 3800ml , The other option would be to run them every hour or split through out the day so it would not burn up the pumps and rely on ml in and out instead of the switches for water level.



These are the small pumps I use for diy/robo tank ato and have had good success with them



Playing around with a similar system with my jebao doser and my 29bio cube to see how well it works. Dont mind the spider webs of wires

 

[attiland]

An ATO like system seems to be more suitable by my opinion. I would probably do something like turn off the ATO let water out till the water level drops to a point than an another pump pumps it back to normal level at which point you turn on the ATO function again. The ATO can share the sensor too. The only thing you have to think of if you use pumps is to cut the water flow once enough water went out.

 

[Weasel1960]

You may want to do some calculations on your water change. What are the length and width dimensions if your tank? Then figure out using an aquarium calculator to figure out how many inches of water depth is 1 gallon. Not sure if you will be able to get a hobby grade hi and low float assembly that will get that accurate. You will also likely need to shut off power heads so you don’t have any waves affecting it. Just some things to consider.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Double post

 

[xiholdtruex]

Double post

 

[xiholdtruex]

You may want to do some calculations on your water change. What are the length and width dimensions if your tank? Then figure out using an aquarium calculator to figure out how many inches of water depth is 1 gallon. Not sure if you will be able to get a hobby grade hi and low float assembly that will get that accurate. You will also likely need to shut off power heads so you don’t have any waves affecting it. Just some things to consider.

So the way I determined if the sensors worked correctly is I marked my sump at full, then removed a gallon of water and marked it with 1 gallon gone and the difference in water in the sump is around 3-4 inches which is enough to properly activate the float switches. So the only thing I would need to shut off in my macro is the ato system. At 1 g it is a little over 1% of the water volume in the system.

 

[robsworld78]

Its been a while since a I touched the robo tank, The ato had me jumping through hoops trying to get it working right (optical sensors are not water proof so if they are not sealed and submerged they will act screwy) Ended up switching to all float switches and it took care of that issue and its been working solid now for 8 months (Thanks to @robsworld78)

So now I am thinking of setting up a auto water change system using the robo tank. It would be a daily water change of 1% of my tanks volume which would be 1g a Day. My Idea was to use two float switches one for the pump out level and one for the fill level, was thinking of using peristaltic pumps to perform the pumping but unsure on how well they will stand up to draining and filling 1g a day. does everyone think they will work well or should I switch to two of the same pumps I use on my ato?

These are the peristaltic pumps I had in mind, If they run at 80ml a min it would take 48min to pump 3800ml , The other option would be to run them every hour or split through out the day so it would not burn up the pumps and rely on ml in and out instead of the switches for water level.



These are the small pumps I use for diy/robo tank ato and have had good success with them



Playing around with a similar system with my jebao doser and my 29bio cube to see how well it works. Dont mind the spider webs of wires

Glad the floats are working better.

If you use the ATO to trigger a macro you can only have one step in the macro so keep that in mind. Were you able to get something configured in reef-pi to animate the process?

 

[xiholdtruex]

Glad the floats are working better.

If you use the ATO to trigger a macro you can only have one step in the macro so keep that in mind. Were you able to get something configured in reef-pi to animate the process?

If I use the float route I was planning to use to dedicated floats for it not the ato or the ato floats, one high and one low for draining and filling like the macro in the manual. I tried playing with the macros and got a little confused since I did not have the components connected so will need to play with it some more when I get more parts.

I have decided to play with some of the peristaltic pumps for the time being and see what they can do.

The jebao is running well on my 29 biocube. Ordered two peristaltic pumps to set up with the robo tank and see how accurate they run, depending on the results may or may not run or small hourly water change similar to a continous water change but at 160 ml a hour to equate to roughly 1g a day.

 

[robsworld78]

I agree dedicated floats are best, maybe the drain hose can only go in the tank to the absolute drain limit so you can't empty your tank and then for refill it would be good to add a backup float or even better a mechanical float (like in a toilet) to the main fill line so you can never overfill.

 

[xiholdtruex]

I agree dedicated floats are best, maybe the drain hose can only go in the tank to the absolute drain limit so you can't empty your tank and then for refill it would be good to add a backup float or even better a mechanical float (like in a toilet) to the main fill line so you can never overfill.

I did not think of the mechanical float that is a great idea as a redundancy. I was also thinking of making the saltwater container size limited to 5-10g which my sump can easily handle and not over fill just in case.

With the peristaltic pumps I doubt I will have any issues as long as I calibrate them right as long before any big change in water volume comes I would notice it.

Now with the small pumps on the other hand they can empty a 5g bucket in a few mins lol

 

[robsworld78]

Can't beat old fashion mechanical, I think there are some small ones available. I hear a lot of people who limit the container size so the system can handle a dump, either way I think planning for disaster is the best way.

The dosing pumps do sound better, if you use float switches with them calibration shouldn't matter unless you try and time it but I can see the in/out ratio swinging over time so you would always need to tweak.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Had the peristaltic pumps come in and had some time so I went about making the connectors and mock mounting them to my stand, I want to put them in a project box when all is said and done. If they work well I would like to add a second set parallel or depending on amount needed to be pulled on a second set of connectors. Got as far as testing there functionality dry, will calibrate and wet test this weekend waiting for the right size hose to come in.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Calibrated both peristaltic pumps and tested for one week on 1g of water, finally set it up on the tank doing 160ml a hour of water equating to 1g a day. Awc roughly setup with 5g buckets, once I run it a few weeks I will clean up the install, all the water containers in the middle of the florida room are driving me nuts lol Do not mind the spider web of wires which is also driving me crazy and needs to be cleaned up