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FishBit Aquarium Monitor

It is interesting Paulo. I couldnt imagine me getting away with tweaking the tank whilst on holiday ( supposed to be relaxing) I spend enough time messing as it is:D it would probably cost more than it would to replace my stock.....however I can also think of many people here or for example large aquariums that would benefit from such a divice, if we're talking marines ie coral priceless fish shrimp I think it brilliant for them. Why not.
 
Interesting, however there are a lot of ways to do this with a Raspberry Pi and it is relatively simple.
I had a look at this and even being a techie it didnt seem that simple, messy stuff! Unless someone has written a guide to do it now. Links appreciated.
 
After a couple of years reading up, I'm still non the wiser
Yeah same here, hence an out of the box solution that actually works and can be customised would be ideal ;)
 
I think the best thing would be to just go and buy one and have a play. Not having it in front of me and trying to understand what people are talking about is just not working :rolleyes:

There are already a few monitors on the market though, the reef angel and seneye are 2 I know. I'm sure there's a few others.
 
If you go to http://pi.plantedpi.co.uk this is my aquarium monitor. Still a work in progress however it monitors in tank temperature, PH, My lounge Temp and Humidity where the tank is located. It works by a python script taking the readings and putting them into an SQLite3 database and then using PHP to pull it back. The charts are created using Google Charts which does the work for you.

I had to learn python and php but i did have a basic knowledge of using SQL and ASP.

Happy to help if i can!
 
There alerts aren't working properly at the moment but i was playing with making it look a bit like a Star Trek LCARS screen!!
http://pi.plantedpi.co.uk/index.php

I also have a flow monitor that sits inline of the filter output, however the results were erratic but it might be good enough to show if the flow is slowly getting worse.

This is also a work in progress, however it has been on the back burner so far this year due to work commitments.
 
That's fantastic and just the sort of thing I want! The flow meter is great too :thumbup:

Can this info be displayed in "real life" too? Like with a simple LCD screen connected, like >this< or multiple LED displays, like >these< for example.

I'll definitely be wanting your help if that's ok :D
 
I've only breifly looked into displaying the info on a screen and the answer is i'm not 100% sure. Almost certainly not the LCD screen as it requires a lot of pins from the Pi header to be used and i think i am already using some of them. This is why i went with making a Star Trek Screen as it lends itself to a touchscreen that isn't directly attached to the Pi itself. The LED screen might be an option, i'll hjave a further look into it as that is what i wanted but i've been trying to get the webpages correct.

The next thing to work on is to get the results from the database to show the PH drop from lights on to CO2 on so you can have a quick visual to see what PH drop you are getting. However that is more difficult than it sounds.
 
All that board does is make it easier to work on as it is a break out board. It doesn't actually give you more pins to work with! The new Pi does so will look into what extra that gives you. Here is mine:

IMG_0755_sml.jpg


I don't have the lights on mine as i use the TMC tiles and have a controller on it that does it all for me. Mine was simply designed to monitor however relays and LED drivers can be added. I have thought about looking into that but i don't have a requirement to do that at the moment.
 
All that board does is make it easier to work on as it is a break out board. It doesn't actually give you more pins to work with! The new Pi does so will look into what extra that gives you.

Ah I see, so you can connect 5 meters to it in total?

TBH that would probably be enough for my needs, depending on how many the display uses, but obviously may as well get the newest one out. I'll go and have read now and price things up.

Thanks for the help, no doubt I'll be back :D
 
Sorry what do you mean by 5 meters? The break out board allows you to connect the pins on the Pi to a breadboard. It make it easier for testing and putting things together. Mine has a 30cm ribbon cable!

The Pi's use GPIO pins, these allow you to send and receive signals. The sensors also require power, either 5.0v or 3.3v and ground. The Raspberry Pi has a limied number of pins. I'll look into the LED display as that might be quite useful!

Whilst building this i have learnt so much. I didn't know how to code in Pyhton or PHP and i hadn't soldered anything before!

I've got a prtotyping board however i can't use this until the PH Circuit carrier board turns up! https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-p...uit-prototyping-pi-plate-kit-for-raspberry-pi
 
Yeah i need to get it on a prototype board and into a case but am waiting for the PH Circuit carrier board as they shouldn't be soldered directly to the board, however these have been unavailable in the UK for two months. It should be with me next week!. The FishBits case that is holding the probes is the same as what i have got just not in a case. I can also add a TDS probe on mine instead of the PH probe which might suit the Shrimpers amongst us. Pretty sure if i add an Arduino board i can run both PH and TDS.
 
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