So that's me away to the Rig for my first 3 week trip since setting the system up.
Things seem pretty settled and stable so far. I've got a CCTV camera pointing at the tank and can monitor a few things, but planning some extra things over the next little while for further piece of mind.
I also run a Smart Home system, Homeseer which is a reliable always on system. I use a combination of Zwave and WiFi devices for this.
I've only just moved into this house (Rental while i save for the next place, which should be 12-24 months) and am building my smart home from scratch with the parts removed from the old house.
So plans are;
1. Install new connected Thermostat and TRV's. - Away mode will keep the rest of the house at a lower temperature. The Hobby room will however stay in the range of 19-21 degrees to minimise evaporation and protect the tank incase of heater failure.
2. Flood Sensors - Install Flood sensors behind tank on unit, and in base of cabinet. Have Email and App alerts for this. Possibly turn off filter automatically in event of leaks, but more likely leave this as manual switch after verifying on CCTV that the tanks water level is still high or if it has dropped etc. Can also send the email to my girlfriend who has a key and can call one of friends who understand aquariums for assistance.
3. Weigh water drums - Using Arduino and Mqtt I'm going to build a scales for under both the Freshwater and Drain water drums. I can import these values into Homeseer for both displaying on the tablet on the front of the tank, but also I can then see them when away, setup alerts for when either needs refilled/drained and also can use an alert system if more water seems to be going into the tank that out of the tank. This is either too much evaporation, or a possible undetected leak.
4. Micro Switch Cabinet Front - I still need to build a front panel for the cabinet and get it painted up. I'll add a micro switch for the cabinet lighting when i do this so it comes on as soon as the panel is removed.
5. TDS Meter - Again Arduino based with MQTT. Constant monitoring of TDS & Temp fed to Homeseer. Less so for alerts and instantaneous checks, but more so for long term logging. Temperature can alert and turn off the heater (Ehiem Thermo Filter has separate plug for the heater so this can be turned off via a Zwave plug if needed).
6. PH Meter - Again Arduino based. will be interesting to see in a graph how the PH swings, and maybe even set alerts. Reading up Milk can be used as a calibration reference regularly (6.5 to 6.7ph).
7. Auto Feeder - I was looking into "hacking" the Ehiem feeder so i could feed the tank at intervals longer that 24 hours, simply as using the ehiem with a small pellet/flake i believe it overfeeds. When looking I found a feeder that is actually USB Powered and WiFi controllable for £16! The WiFi part/smart components are made by Tuya who actually make fairly decent Smart kit so I'm going to roll the dice on it.
Tuya Smart Life stuff intergrates with the Homeseer system, so I can use the smart home system to change feeding intervals etc.
Plan is to replace the small pellet and flake in the Ehiem feeder for large algae wafers, and adjust it so only one or two fall out per day (one feeding per day being min feed). Then use the small stuff in the Tuya feeder, and feed it every couple of days.
Having this redundancy means if one feeder fails the tank is simply lean fed for the duration. The likelyhood of a feeder failing and continuing to rotate dumping all it's contents are very very minimal so not concerned on that front.
8. Overhaul Control Tablet - Android Tablet is running fairly old version of android. Fluval App works, and my Home Automation App and launcher work fine, unfortunately the D-D/Kamoer app doesn't work correctly.
To remedy this I'll have to install a newer third partly ROM to the tablet so i can run a newer version of android. Also I need to replace the USB Cable with a 90 Degree usb to tidy it up, and also possibly make a 3D printed surround or make one from wood (Routed).
Resources for projects;
https://www.instructables.com/Arduino-Bathroom-Scale-With-50-Kg-Load-Cells-and-H/
https://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/libraries/mqtt-client/
https://how2electronics.com/tds-sensor-arduino-interfacing-water-quality-monitoring/
https://how2electronics.com/ph-meter-using-ph-sensor-arduino-oled/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-3/development/official-xenonhd-7-1-2-t3605172