DIY aquarium controller

[firefightered]

Dose anyone know if there is a good step by step post here on R2R about how to build one of these things. I have found several others on other sights but have been searching R2R and have found very little on my favorite site (R2R).:cry:

 

[Young Frankenstein]

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I don't know what you call a controller, but here is my DIY. Its being modified trout the years. Here is what it does.

Low water sump alarm
Auto top off on selection
MG doser
Lime doser
UPS 8 hrs on main circulation pump
Main pump amprobe with alarm (Hi and Lo)
System voltage
PLC to control 8 points including lighting
RO 15,30,45,60,180 minutes
Temperature control with alarm (Accurate and calibrated with lazer meter)
Temp to control fans etc 80 deg lights shut down


too many features to list, sometimes i forget some LOL

coming soon voltage detection and alarm including power head shut down and reset.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Ah cleans the skimmer with waterfresh water injection and turns on secondary skimmer pump to overflow skimmer.

waters my orchids in yard.

 

[NanoNathan]

Omg that's insane lol

Sent from my tank using tapatalk

 

[Young Frankenstein]

 

[Young Frankenstein]

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Every controller is something personal, different and totally unique. Post what you are building and what you want to control. Questions on obstacles and we will find an answer. I personally guarantee it !!!

 

[Mpfaff77]

That is impressive!! How Bout a pic of what she is controlling??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[sokarber]

This is way cool, Ive been looking around my self tying to come up with ways to control everything all on 1 board. I will be watching this as it move forwards.

 

[Reef Keeper 18]

I'd be interested in how to make one because I'm awful with building anything lol

 

[fyrfytr]

I too am wanting to do a DIY controller. All I want to do is control the lights(day/sun, moon, and sump/fuge), temp, and ph....for now. As I get better with the tank and gett more in-depth obviously I will probably want more.

 

[quigimon]

First and foremost i understand how you came to your name Frankenstein, and love the aquarium cockpit. I myself am constructing an Arduino aquarium controller, it's not entirely for the weak of heart since it does require some programing know how(or copy and paste from the internet into the IDE), and some understanding of electronics(again something that can be copied, but soldered from the internet). The beauty behind using the Arduino which is a programmable micro controller, is that it's limits are based not solely on it, but your imagination, Temperature, Salinity, PH monitoring. For controlling the sky is the limits, pump operation, turn your power heads into wave generators complete with oscillating(if you have multiple power heads), light control(on, off, dimming/fading(led or incandescent only)), auto feeding. And then it can be monitored by several different methods, LCD display, Touch LCD Display, directly on your computer if connected to the controller, VIA Ethernet or wireless. it takes a little know how but there is tons of information available on the web for help with most of these things which are fairly simple aside from the network items but it's out there, obviously it's not an en devour for everybody BUT with a basic Arduino Uno only costing around 30$ USD vs. some of the controllers i've seen around it's worth at least just playing around with.

 

[Mcreefer]

I think when your comparing this to an arduino controller the sky is not your limit. Your EEPROM is. Good luck finding an elegant way of writing all of this in a very small c++ sketch.

 

[quigimon]

I think when your comparing this to an arduino controller the sky is not your limit. Your EEPROM is. Good luck finding an elegant way of writing all of this in a very small c++ sketch.

Very true, there are some ways around that, with the R3 you can program a chip, remove it and drop them into the circuit drop another on the arduino and repeat using code for each scenario you wish for the chip to perform, diagrams on how to install the chip on a circuit board sans arduino board are abundant, not the most ideal situation but if you don't want to spend the money for a embedded micro system(IDE, and programmer in which case you could just go out and by a few controllers) all for about 10$ an expansion and enjoy the hands on experience its not an impossible option. There's also the MEGA which has pretty decent EEPROM size that some folks are using for an aquarium controller complete with touch screen, menu, and decent accessory plugins. Personally I enjoy it so its not a deal breaker for me, but some may not see it worth the trouble in which case I'm all for reef controllers from the market.