New to saltwater, might as well build a Reef-Pi as well

[sse1990]

I may be new to saltwater ( 90 gallon in wall tank with a 30 gallon sump), but I’ve used Raspbery-Pi for other reasons. I’ve built a few of my own 3D printers and use the Pi to control them remotely. I’ve also made something called a magic mirror and of course a retro-Pi.

While I’m waiting for the tank to cycle, I had to do something. So I’ve been looking into building a reef-Pi. Not sure how much control I will use it for. I do want it for reading parameters.
And of course, some pictures.

My 90 gallon cycling tank.

retro-Pi

Magic Mirror

Control box that housed 3 Pi’s for 3 different printers.

 

[sse1990]

Let the fun begin. I had a spare RPi 3B+. So I can start installing.

 

[Michael Lane]

I may be new to saltwater ( 90 gallon in wall tank with a 30 gallon sump), but I’ve used Raspbery-Pi for other reasons. I’ve built a few of my own 3D printers and use the Pi to control them remotely. I’ve also made something called a magic mirror and of course a retro-Pi.

While I’m waiting for the tank to cycle, I had to do something. So I’ve been looking into building a reef-Pi. Not sure how much control I will use it for. I do want it for reading parameters.
And of course, some pictures.

My 90 gallon cycling tank.

retro-Pi

Magic Mirror

Control box that housed 3 Pi’s for 3 different printers.

I like the rockscape! I'd like to build one of those magic mirrors one day too.

 

[sse1990]

Reading through all the info on reef Pi, I’m curious if there is a master parts list for everything required if I wanted to go all out and use all the functions available except maybe the ATO.

I would like to control dosing, lights, heaters, monitor PH and anything else I can.

 

[Michael Lane]

It's probably impossible to have a master list of parts since every build can be unique. Ranjib's guides on Adafruit are probably the closest you'll find.

We can narrow down the parts list by putting some constraints on your system.
1. What are you using for dosing?
2. What lights are you using, and how many?
3. How many heaters are you using?
4. Do you want WIFI based outlets, or wired outlets?

I see you've done some pretty complex projects, so I think you'll have plenty of options! I'm happy to share my experience and thoughts with you. I recommend having a backup SD card so you can always revert to a known good set up. I also prefer to have a back up rpi just in case.

 

[sse1990]

It's probably impossible to have a master list of parts since every build can be unique. Ranjib's guides on Adafruit are probably the closest you'll find.

We can narrow down the parts list by putting some constraints on your system.
1. What are you using for dosing?
2. What lights are you using, and how many?
3. How many heaters are you using?
4. Do you want WIFI based outlets, or wired outlets?

I see you've done some pretty complex projects, so I think you'll have plenty of options! I'm happy to share my experience and thoughts with you. I recommend having a backup SD card so you can always revert to a known good set up. I also prefer to have a back up rpi just in case.

1. For dosing I have nothing yet. I was going to buy a Bubble Magus BM-T11 3-stage unit until I seen the reef-Pi.
2. I’ll be buying 2 Viparspectra 165w lights.
3. I have 2 eheim heaters.
4. Wired outlets are probably more reliable.

Once it’s up and running, I’ll get a backup SD card for sure and a backup Pi 3 B+. I’ve had a few SD cards go bad while running Octoprint, but usually it happened when they were shutdown and booted back up. Always shutdown properly before killing power. It happens with the Pi.

I would also like to get the PH monitoring setup.

 

[Michael Lane]

1. For dosing I have nothing yet. I was going to buy a Bubble Magus BM-T11 3-stage unit until I seen the reef-Pi.
2. I’ll be buying 2 Viparspectra 165w lights.
3. I have 2 eheim heaters.
4. Wired outlets are probably more reliable.

Once it’s up and running, I’ll get a backup SD card for sure and a backup Pi 3 B+. I’ve had a few SD cards go bad while running Octoprint, but usually it happened when they were shutdown and booted back up. Always shutdown properly before killing power. It happens with the Pi.

I would also like to get the PH monitoring setup.

I'm using Jebao slave dosers, but any dc peristaltic pumps are easy to control with reef-pi. Stepper based dosers aren't directly supported yet.

I recently got a couple of Viparspectra lights. They are controlled via PWM, with an additional signal for on/off control. I have a thread about them here.

Wired outlets basically follow 2 paths. ADJ SRP8 is the off the shelf product, otherwise people usually connect a relay board to outlets and come up with an enclosure.

Bigtrout's thread has a bunch of good details, and also adds a realtime clock to help with SD card problems.

 

[sse1990]

Well went to order the Viparspectra lights and they were out of stock. So I bought 2 of the Philizon 165w full spectrum dimmable black box fixtures. I’ll probably upgrade to the Viparspectra later.

 

[sse1990]

I'm using Jebao slave dosers, but any dc peristaltic pumps are easy to control with reef-pi. Stepper based dosers aren't directly supported yet.

I recently got a couple of Viparspectra lights. They are controlled via PWM, with an additional signal for on/off control. I have a thread about them here.

Wired outlets basically follow 2 paths. ADJ SRP8 is the off the shelf product, otherwise people usually connect a relay board to outlets and come up with an enclosure.

Bigtrout's thread has a bunch of good details, and also adds a realtime clock to help with SD card problems.

With a bit of searching, looks like Robo-tank would have as close to all in one as I could buy. Do all the soldering myself and make my own 3D printed boxes.
is that my best option?

 

[sse1990]

Decided to open up one of my “black box” lights To see what is needed to be controlled from the reef-Pi. Time for some research.

 

[LRT]

This is awesome

 

[Michael Lane]

I'm not 100% sure, but the knobs and connectors remind me of SB Reeflights. The knob looks like it also has a switch on it.

3.3v PWM control is usually pretty easy. The problem is usually getting the light to fully turn off. Some black boxes want a connection to GND or some voltage, others look for a short to 12v, or an open circuit. A closer inspection of the knob boards might provide the answer (or simply setting 0v on the pwm might do it).

Keep us posted and I'd be interested in which specific black box you have.

 

[sse1990]

I'm not 100% sure, but the knobs and connectors remind me of SB Reeflights. The knob looks like it also has a switch on it.

3.3v PWM control is usually pretty easy. The problem is usually getting the light to fully turn off. Some black boxes want a connection to GND or some voltage, others look for a short to 12v, or an open circuit. A closer inspection of the knob boards might provide the answer (or simply setting 0v on the pwm might do it).

Keep us posted and I'd be interested in which specific black box you have.

To turn off completely, I can either use a timer or one of the controlled outlets I’ll have available if needed.
I have Philizon 165w lights.