mcdonaldjosh7
Coral!!!!
Alright, so being a computer science major and a tank enthusiast, I have decided to try and build my own "reef controller".
I don't know if anyone is familiar with the arduino, but I think that is the microcontroller I will be using. Using this, I will write my own code to allow the tank to automate itself, as well as relay information to me. I am on the other side of the country for college, so the more information I have at my fingertips, the more I can put my mind at ease. Programming won't take too much more than a bit of C, and the cost of the entire process won't top $500 (or at least this is a fantasy I would like to continue to live in ;D)
So, first off I plan to just automate the auto top off and the ro/di shut off. ro/di will fill 1 55 gallon barrel for this part. A separate autotop off system will transfer water from this barrel into the tank when that level starts to drop.
All in all, this is a pretty simple system and wouldn't technically need any sort of computer system to work. I do, however, want to test the sensors I will use for later parts of the automation process. At this point, if something goes wrong, then one thing overflows or something doesn't fill up like it should. Worst case: water on concrete floor or a pump runs dry. Not ideal, obviously, but not catastrophic.
Furthermore, this stage will allow me to test my emergency system idea. Each container being filled with water (barrel and tank) will have a back up sensor above the main sensor. Should this read water at any time, it will shut off both ro/di and ato pump and alert me via text.
A few months after I get this working, I will work on the water change system. Still working this part out, and hopefully I can find an easy way to be constantly changing out small amounts of water. I am hoping a 55 gallon barrel will take about a month to change out. This will lead to a full 100% water change over the course of about a month and a half.
I am looking into automating a salt mixing system, though this might be too elaborate and risky to try. Regardless, I am not shutting out the idea yet.
If you have opinions or thoughts on any of these ideas, simply let me know. I am sure this idea will change and evolve as I actually get to the part of doing it. Given our boards don't have a lot on microcontroller setups and such, I figured a separate thread on it might be interesting.
I don't know if anyone is familiar with the arduino, but I think that is the microcontroller I will be using. Using this, I will write my own code to allow the tank to automate itself, as well as relay information to me. I am on the other side of the country for college, so the more information I have at my fingertips, the more I can put my mind at ease. Programming won't take too much more than a bit of C, and the cost of the entire process won't top $500 (or at least this is a fantasy I would like to continue to live in ;D)
So, first off I plan to just automate the auto top off and the ro/di shut off. ro/di will fill 1 55 gallon barrel for this part. A separate autotop off system will transfer water from this barrel into the tank when that level starts to drop.
All in all, this is a pretty simple system and wouldn't technically need any sort of computer system to work. I do, however, want to test the sensors I will use for later parts of the automation process. At this point, if something goes wrong, then one thing overflows or something doesn't fill up like it should. Worst case: water on concrete floor or a pump runs dry. Not ideal, obviously, but not catastrophic.
Furthermore, this stage will allow me to test my emergency system idea. Each container being filled with water (barrel and tank) will have a back up sensor above the main sensor. Should this read water at any time, it will shut off both ro/di and ato pump and alert me via text.
A few months after I get this working, I will work on the water change system. Still working this part out, and hopefully I can find an easy way to be constantly changing out small amounts of water. I am hoping a 55 gallon barrel will take about a month to change out. This will lead to a full 100% water change over the course of about a month and a half.
I am looking into automating a salt mixing system, though this might be too elaborate and risky to try. Regardless, I am not shutting out the idea yet.
If you have opinions or thoughts on any of these ideas, simply let me know. I am sure this idea will change and evolve as I actually get to the part of doing it. Given our boards don't have a lot on microcontroller setups and such, I figured a separate thread on it might be interesting.
