Reefnook

[ocd_reefer]

Now that we are over here, I can actually talk about reefnook. For those of you with controllers, or just looking for a way to keep track of your reef, checkout Reefnook | Online Reef Aquarium Management | Contests, News & Pictures. Rev was kind enough to give me a forum over here at Reefnook.com to talk about issues, questions, whatever.

Admittedly, the site hasn't seen an update in a while. Im rewriting the backend to expose an api that will be used by the iOS and android apps. As well as tinkering with a homebrew controller.

Russ (from RC, dont know him personally, but I know he is a great guy) also runs Reeftronics , so thats another to check out if you have the time.


So glad to be here on R2R!

 

[poolkeeper1]

Now that we are over here, I can actually talk about reefnook. For those of you with controllers, or just looking for a way to keep track of your reef, checkout Reefnook | Online Reef Aquarium Management | Contests, News & Pictures. Rev was kind enough to give me a forum over here at Reefnook.com to talk about issues, questions, whatever.

Admittedly, the site hasn't seen an update in a while. Im rewriting the backend to expose an api that will be used by the iOS and android apps. As well as tinkering with a homebrew controller.

Russ (from RC, dont know him personally, but I know he is a great guy) also runs Reeftronics , so thats another to check out if you have the time.


So glad to be here on R2R!

Chuck, It's been a long time coming but a Blessing in disguise in my opinion. Other than a few Sour Grapes comments by of all people Mike Martinez who wanted to do this when he was on the BOD!
Funny how people turn on you so fast your head spins, But as you know I have thick skin!

 

[mixer911]

Now that we are over here, I can actually talk about reefnook. For those of you with controllers, or just looking for a way to keep track of your reef, checkout Reefnook | Online Reef Aquarium Management | Contests, News & Pictures. Rev was kind enough to give me a forum over here at Reefnook.com to talk about issues, questions, whatever.

Admittedly, the site hasn't seen an update in a while. Im rewriting the backend to expose an api that will be used by the iOS and android apps. As well as tinkering with a homebrew controller.

Russ (from RC, dont know him personally, but I know he is a great guy) also runs Reeftronics , so thats another to check out if you have the time.


So glad to be here on R2R!

This is just one of the many reasons we need to have everyone on R2R!!!!

Reefnook is an AWSOME tool that everyone should be using. I use it to track all my tank parameters and have used it for a few years. Reeftronics is also a site i use to monitor my controller. Russ is a great guy, just a Chuck is! :nerd:

 

[skinz78]

We're glad to have you all, I can only shake my head and imagine why the other guys wouldn't let you use Reefnook....

 

[ocd_reefer]

Rick -

What kind of functionality is Russ giving you over what I have with reefnook (just curious, trying to not sound weird)? I've been away from the current codebase for a while, but that will change as I near the end of this rewrite.

 

[mixer911]

Chuck, I really like the ability to see all parameters of each outlet in real time. His graphs are really handy and eye candy but also have data that goes back a ways and charts that also. It also lists all the outlets, weather virtural or real, with info on them. Easy to read. Also the graphs pull realtime data from each outlet and module. Yours does the same in some ways, but it needs some tweaking. I noticed for example my PH probe. I have a PH and a CaRx PH. You program picks up both randomly, so the graph goes from 6.7 to 8.2 randomly. So it is getting the data from both modules and combining the data.

I love your "Logs" and "Notes" portion, as I use that alot to log my manually tested data and water changes and such.

 

[josh_tn]

Chuck, I use reefnook quite frequently as well. I use it mostly for logs and notes as Rick mentioned to document my water parameter tests, bulb changes, water changes, etc. I haven't really investigated many other options for real time or historical data for the apex. I generally just use the Apex's built in web interface for my needs. My setup is fairly simple and straightforward at this point though.

I'm not sure I'm really adding any useful information to this topic other than a thumbs up for the site in general and to say thanks for making it available and I find it quite handy for keeping tabs of my tests and notes. I seem to remember now that you were the one behind that site but I don't think I'd ever had the chance to thank you for it. I appreciate your efforts and look forward to what you do with it in the future.

Josh

 

[ocd_reefer]

Thats great feedback. The dual probe bug has bitten me before as well. Can you explain the virtual/real weather display? Thats honestly something that has never crossed my mind, I'm curious how you are using that information?

 

[mixer911]

I think my choice of words made it sound like a "weather display", lol... I should have said "either virtural or real outlets", in other words you can view which outlets are active even if it is a virtural outlet and not a physcial device.

 

[ocd_reefer]

Gotcha

That makes more sense. Going to bug you when I get the code in shape to make progress.

 

[mixer911]

:sure::nerd::bigsmile:.... love the R2R smilies....

 

[RussM]

What kind of functionality is Russ giving you over what I have with reefnook (just curious, trying to not sound weird)? I've been away from the current codebase for a while, but that will change as I near the end of this rewrite.

Hi Chuck! RussM here, the sysop of Reeftronics. Of all the various third-party web sites focused on aquarium controllers (Reefnook, Reeftronics, Kenargo.com, etc.), I strongly believe each one has it's own unique value to offer the reefkeeper. Reeftronics doesn't offer some things that others do (like your Reefnook's journal and log features), and Reeftronics has some capabilities not found elsewhere. Besides the real-time status and parameter graphing for 24-hour, 7-day, and 30-day periods (with hi/low/average markers) that Rick mentioned, Reeftronics has a notification system which alerts controller owners if the system cannot communicate with the member's controller - this serves as an early warming system in event of a power outage, an Internet problem, or a problem with the controller itself. I'm happy to say that this system has "saved" several tanks. Reeftronics also has several interactive tools for Neptune AC3 and Apex owners (membership not required to use these tools). Plus, I'll integrate video streams from (some) 'netcams. A minor new feature to Reeftronics is that it sums, stores, and graphs the total amperage draw of Apex EnergyBars - info which some members with bigger systems would simply rather NOT know .

Reeftronics is also mobile-friendly, with an optional theme tailored for touchscreen devices.

It will not upset me if you were to duplicate any unique Reeftronics features on Reefnook... as I see it, it's all for the good of the community. Besides, looking at Reefnook, I can tell that you are a much more expert programmer than I - if you can do something better than I do it, more power to you!

 

[NeveSSL]

I've got a geek joke for you guys...

How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb?


None... that's a hardware issue. :nerd:

Brandon

 

[ocd_reefer]

Thanks for responding Russ. Would you mind setting up an account for me at reeftronics?

I've been mulling over some of the features that you discussed. The alert-if-cant-communicate I've had since the beginning, but the time delay was too long, I believe. I tend to go in spurts working on reefnook and the last year has been a not-work-on-it spurt. Sadly, I've been an absentee landlord.

I'm going through a complete backend refactor that will make it eleventy-million times easier for me to add features and lay api-using clients on top of it.

My code is written in ruby and I plan on open-sourcing the controller libraries. If you ever want to collaborate on anything, let me know.

 

[mixer911]

Russ, I just noticed the total Amp graph, that is nice!

And Chuck, your Alert if can't communicate is delayed some. I had it in the past and if I remeber right it was a little delayed, could have been me though . Plus Reeftronics will send you an email alert if it can't find the controller. Pretty nifty as the APEX will not alert you until it comes back online.

 

[RussM]

TWould you mind setting up an account for me at reeftronics?
My code is written in ruby and I plan on open-sourcing the controller libraries. If you ever want to collaborate on anything, let me know.

Just fill out a membership request (there are no accounts per se), and I take it from there. The link is near the bottom of the 1st post on the home page Reeftronics. Currently, Neptune and DA controllers are supported, but I'll try to add support for anything that has an embedded web server and/or RSS/XML output.

When I started, the polling engine was in perl, and the front-end in PHP. I have since done a total rewrite of the polling back-end in PHP running in CLI mode driven by cron, which is blazingly fast compared to those old perl scripts. Plus, since there is so much similarity between the polling functions and the real-time status functions, I was able to use some modular code. The databases started out as flat files, went to being all in MySQL, and are now back to being simple CSV files - I found that for the relatively small amount of data involved, SQL just wasn't worth the hassle. A good case for the KISS principle

 

[RussM]

Russ, I just noticed the total Amp graph, that is nice!

Thanks Rick. It only took me a half hour to add and test the necessary code, but I spent the next 2 weeks mentally kicking myself in the butt for not thinking of it sooner.

 

[ocd_reefer]

I made a few visual updates to the site, so I'm trolling for feedback. Minor stuff really, but I think it polishes well.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reefnook-com/64407-reefnook-visual-tweaks.html#post712791

 

[mixer911]

Chuck, Any way to add Potassium and Iron to the ReefRX Logs?

 

[ocd_reefer]

I'll do it now.

BTW: I finished my code upgrade months ago, but there is so much difference in data, I got scared and locked up.

But I can at least add these two for you.

edit: done