ambitious DIY aquarium controller

[eleontie]

The 2 55's are in the living next to each other, against the kitchen wall.
The drain and water supply go through the wall into the kitchen ( I modified the original pipes to accommodate this extension)
The holding tank is a Home Depot 5 paint bucket placed under one of the tanks.

Eugen

[chris_todd]

Very cool stuff, Eugen!

Question: You're using 1-wire ds1820 temperature probes - did you have to coat them in epoxy to make them water proof? Or do you perhaps have them attached to the exterior of the tank?

I'm really interested in this system, as I don't think I can afford the Neptune controller, as feature rich as it might be.

[krisw]

Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I really am impressed by your ingenuity!

[eleontie]

Very cool stuff, Eugen!

Question: You're using 1-wire ds1820 temperature probes - did you have to coat them in epoxy to make them water proof? Or do you perhaps have them attached to the exterior of the tank?

I'm really interested in this system, as I don't think I can afford the Neptune controller, as feature rich as it might be.

I first waterproofed some sensors myself. I used some heat shrink tubes and aquarium silicone + telephone wire. That worked ... for a while :)
That was quite an effort and finally some water reached the sensor. So I decided to buy the probes already wired and isolated from ebay (6$).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Thermal-pro ... 3806wt_958


I looked at the Neptune controllers briefly, and although it is more convenient for some things ( like attaching all kinds of different probes), it will not allow such flexibility ( like the air pump-based dosing).

Having the computer as the controller is the best thing in my opinion. Considering you can use any old computer or a cheap laptop ( and EEPC is 200$ or less). You can run any higher level library or custom code on it and can have remote access from anywhere to check the status of things.

When I will leave on vacation I will probably attach a webcam as well to make it easy to visually check if all things are in place.

[Rick Dotson]

With a webcam you could tell your fishsitter that they are feeding too much!

Actually I don't feed my fish when on vacation and they do just fine.

[Rick Dotson]

Something I posted on PVAS.

Here is an interesting site from a guy who also used an Arduino

http://www.reefprojects.com/wiki/Main_Page

I have automated water changing on my sump tank but I used an Idec Smart Relay. It changes about 60 gallons a day and auto doses the dechlor. I also added a stop/feed function and a top off.

http://us.idec.com/Product/Programmable ... Relay.aspx

I find the extra time saved not doing water changes allows me to keep a few extra tanks.

I have also use an Aquacontroller Jr. on my 75gallon for daily water changes. It has worked wonderfully for the last 8 years. The Aqua Jr also has pH and Temp control.

http://www.neptunesys.com/

It also looks like they have finally updated their product line. It seems the cost of these controller is coming down.

Eugene, Nice job on your controller.

[Rick Dotson]

Ambitious DIY aquarium controller!!

I would say this in an understatement. +10