reef-pi :: An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi.

[Sral]

Thank you for your reply! I understand the Pi has some limitations. Do you think my project is doable, or would I be best with either two ReefPi builds, or simply manually maintaining the freshwater tank?

Thanks again!

-Fish Fan

Sry if that hasn't been clear from my previous post: yes, I think that is absolutely doable.

Depending on the capabilities that you want you can do it easily, or have to put in more work by designing a PCB for example to make sure all components work nicely and reliable. Example might be Robo-Tank using very localized and short I2C bus lines on a PCB to connect 1 or 2 PCA9685 ICs. Natively those are made to put out PWM signals, but you can easily use them as simple Digital Outlets with 0 or 1 signals to, for example, control AC sockets or other equipment. Another way might be to use Kasa power strips controlled via WiFi, but you might not like the dependency on WiFi for certain critical operations.

Personally, I have just about squeezed all my desired capabilities out of the Pins of my Pi using the kind of suboptimal breadboard HAT used in the Adafruit guides.

Here is a short overview of what I did with the pins exposed on the Adafruit Perma- proto HAT:

So I still have 5 unused pins, 8 in total if you count those that are not well exposed. On a "custom" PCB you would have those as well.

Another note: the 2 Temp I have noted are 2 Temperature pins, where you should be safely able to connect 3 DS18B20 sensors each, so 6 temperature sensors in total.

 

[Fish Fan]

Sry if that hasn't been clear from my previous post: yes, I think that is absolutely doable.

Depending on the capabilities that you want you can do it easily, or have to put in more work by designing a PCB for example to make sure all components work nicely and reliable. Example might be Robo-Tank using very localized and short I2C bus lines on a PCB to connect 1 or 2 PCA9685 ICs. Natively those are made to put out PWM signals, but you can easily use them as simple Digital Outlets with 0 or 1 signals to, for example, control AC sockets or other equipment. Another way might be to use Kasa power strips controlled via WiFi, but you might not like the dependency on WiFi for certain critical operations.

Personally, I have just about squeezed all my desired capabilities out of the Pins of my Pi using the kind of suboptimal breadboard HAT used in the Adafruit guides.

Here is a short overview of what I did with the pins exposed on the Adafruit Perma- proto HAT:

So I still have 5 unused pins, 8 in total if you count those that are not well exposed. On a "custom" PCB you would have those as well.

Another note: the 2 Temp I have noted are 2 Temperature pins, where you should be safely able to connect 3 DS18B20 sensors each, so 6 temperature sensors in total.

Great! Thanks for the reassurance about my project. I have been out of both the saltwater hobby as well as all things Raspberry Pi for a few years now, so I'm rusty at both. I am currently going through the introductory build modules, but I appreciate knowing that my project is at least possible.

Thank you again for your help!

-FF

 

[Sral]

Great! Thanks for the reassurance about my project. I have been out of both the saltwater hobby as well as all things Raspberry Pi for a few years now, so I'm rusty at both. I am currently going through the introductory build modules, but I appreciate knowing that my project is at least possible.

Thank you again for your help!

-FF

You're very welcome !

If you need any assistance, you might think about starting a build-thread (like mine here, I also made a Github Readme since that is more easy to have a single editabe overview with resource links). That way you can document your progress and planning and people might be able to answer questions more precisely if they can see what you are doing/thinking.

The Adafruit guides are a bit outdated, but are still usefull. In general you are still able to do everything you see there, just that the UI looks a bit different now

 

[diegolo8]

Hola, soy nuevo en esto y quiero hacer modificaciones personales al código. ¿Alguien puede ayudarme con algunos enlaces sobre cómo puedo compilar y liberar Reef-pi? ¿Tengo que usar un IDE o algo así?

Translation:
Hi, I'm new to this and I want to make personal modifications to the code. Can anyone help me with some links on how I can build and release reef-pi? Do I have to use an IDE or something?

 

[Fish Fan]

You're very welcome !

If you need any assistance, you might think about starting a build-thread (like mine here, I also made a Github Readme since that is more easy to have a single editabe overview with resource links). That way you can document your progress and planning and people might be able to answer questions more precisely if they can see what you are doing/thinking.

The Adafruit guides are a bit outdated, but are still usefull. In general you are still able to do everything you see there, just that the UI looks a bit different now

Thank you again for your reply! I will absolutely check out your build guide!

I am going through the Adafruit build guides and realizing that they haven't changed too much since I last looked into this in about 2018, and I emphatically DO NOT in anyway mean that to sound negative at all towards Ranjib, the Reef Pi project, or anyone else here. To the contrary, I am very grateful for all the work all of you do. But I know things have to have progressed, and I have so many questions like, is there anyone 3D printing enclosures for all this stuff nowadays. Is this what Robo-Tank is doing, or am I mistaken?

And I'm going through the first build guide (which I did complete and build back in 2018, though I did not complete any of the subsequent module builds), and it specifically says, "Pi Zero, 2, 3 any Pi B+ will work". Well, I have several old RPi Model 3B's in my parts box. I don't have a B+ specifically. And I looked and I see that the RPi now comes in a version 4 (and I pooped a little at the price of these things these days lol!). Can I use my old RPi Model 3B's, or do I need a "+" version, or should I be looking at a version 4? What would you guys suggest?

Thank you very much for your help!

-Fish Fan

 

[Sral]

Thank you again for your reply! I will absolutely check out your build guide!

I am going through the Adafruit build guides and realizing that they haven't changed too much since I last looked into this in about 2018, and I emphatically DO NOT in anyway mean that to sound negative at all towards Ranjib, the Reef Pi project, or anyone else here. To the contrary, I am very grateful for all the work all of you do. But I know things have to have progressed, and I have so many questions like, is there anyone 3D printing enclosures for all this stuff nowadays. Is this what Robo-Tank is doing, or am I mistaken?

And I'm going through the first build guide (which I did complete and build back in 2018, though I did not complete any of the subsequent module builds), and it specifically says, "Pi Zero, 2, 3 any Pi B+ will work". Well, I have several old RPi Model 3B's in my parts box. I don't have a B+ specifically. And I looked and I see that the RPi now comes in a version 4 (and I pooped a little at the price of these things these days lol!). Can I use my old RPi Model 3B's, or do I need a "+" version, or should I be looking at a version 4? What would you guys suggest?

Thank you very much for your help!

-Fish Fan

There has definitely been progress, though I could not tell you from the top of my head what that was
You might have a look at the Release LIst.

There have definitely been a few people 3D printing cases, @robsworld78 has definitely been one, there have been a few in between like this pretty one. Just do an advanced search for threads with the terms "3D print" in the Reef-Pi subforum and you will find a couple.

After having a quick look for the differences of the Pi3B and Pi3B+ I don't see anything inhibitive on first glance. The pin-header is there and the System should be able to handle it from a load perspective without a problem (as far as I guesstimate). If you have it lying around anyway: just try if you can get it running on a 3B, if you can get the ReefPi page out of it and can for example control an LED to flash on a pin, as in the guides, you should be fine.

[Amendment to my earlier post]: I finally remembered what kind of Display I was thinking for that Serial port: a Nextion display. Simple Serial interface, but quite a bit of coding involved to get that to work.

 

[Fish Fan]

@Sral Thank you again for your help! I did in fact have Reef Pi installed on one of my old RPi 3's, so as long as nothing drastic has changed I think it should work now too. I have been doing a lot of thinking today, and my plans for a display tank is now changing, lol! However, I know that I want to have a couple of quarantine tanks this time around and I thought I could get them going now, even while I finalize the plan for a display tank. These will inherently be simpler systems, and I think I can cobble together a working Reef Pi install and try it out on the QT tanks (before adding livestock, of course). This way, I can reacquaint myself with the RPi and Reef Pi, and then add on to Reef Pi as I learn more and need more functionality.

I have no less than a million questions, but I feel bad adding to an already long thread. Let me get some tanks going and get a working Reef Pi install, and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

Thanks again for your help!

-FF

 

[Sral]

@Sral Thank you again for your help! I did in fact have Reef Pi installed on one of my old RPi 3's, so as long as nothing drastic has changed I think it should work now too. I have been doing a lot of thinking today, and my plans for a display tank is now changing, lol! However, I know that I want to have a couple of quarantine tanks this time around and I thought I could get them going now, even while I finalize the plan for a display tank. These will inherently be simpler systems, and I think I can cobble together a working Reef Pi install and try it out on the QT tanks (before adding livestock, of course). This way, I can reacquaint myself with the RPi and Reef Pi, and then add on to Reef Pi as I learn more and need more functionality.

I have no less than a million questions, but I feel bad adding to an already long thread. Let me get some tanks going and get a working Reef Pi install, and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions.

Thanks again for your help!

-FF

You‘re very welcome again !

Feel free to ask, that is what this thread is for. If you are uncomfortable doing so, you might just start a dedicated „ReefPi 6.0 questions“ thread and ask everything there. That way we have a nice collection of questions that we should probably include in the „official documentation“ on GitHub.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello again! I dug up one of my old Pi 3's, did a fresh install of Raspbian, and I have Reef Pi up and running. I'm following through the Reef Pi guide 1 and everything installed well. I decided to skip the test lighting of the LED's just because I didn't feel like digging the breadboard and everything out of storage. I am up to the point of trying to set up email and texts alerts, and I am stuck. I cannot get it to send me a message either by text (preferred) or email. Here's what I've done, could someone let me know if I have all these correct please?

I checked the "email alerts" box on the Reef Pi Telemetry page
I have Yahoo email, and I put my yahoo mail username in the Adafruit IO user name box
I go here and generate a one-time password and copy/paste that into the AIO Key box
I leave the prefix box blank as shown
Based on this, I enter smtp.mail.yahoo.com in the smpt server box
Limit per hour =10
For the port, I've tried both 587 and 465 based on the smtp server link above
From = [email protected]
To = my full Yahoo mail address - [email protected]
Password = my real Yahoo mail password
I click "update" and that shows no errors
I reload Reef-Pi
I click "send test message" and I get an error about a username does not exists. I think this is the Adafruit IO username at the top. I used my Yahoo mail username, but maybe I need some kind of Adafruit account and username to enter there? Could someone please help me through this part of the setup?

Additionally, for the upcoming power controller build I need to order the power strip, and I just wanted to ask if the one linked to in the Reef Pi build docs is still the best way to go. I know there are all kinds of "smart" power strips nowadays, and I thought maybe there's an even better choice than the American DJ, but if not the ADJ strip is fine. This is what I'll order unless another is suggested:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EYHBVQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AFD3YB3MPK3U3&psc=1

Thanks in advance for the help!

-FF

 

[Fish Fan]

Hey guys! Is there anyone who can help me with configuring my Reef-Pi build to message me when something gets out of whack? I don't think I have the setting correct on the Telemetry tab, and if someone can help me get this sorted out, or point me to an example or guide, I'd appreciate it very much. Getting notifications is for me one of the cooler and more important features of this controller project, so I'd really like to get this working for my build. Please let me know what info you guys would need to help me.

Thank you in advance for your help!

-FF

 

[Sral]

Hello again! I dug up one of my old Pi 3's, did a fresh install of Raspbian, and I have Reef Pi up and running. I'm following through the Reef Pi guide 1 and everything installed well. I decided to skip the test lighting of the LED's just because I didn't feel like digging the breadboard and everything out of storage. I am up to the point of trying to set up email and texts alerts, and I am stuck. I cannot get it to send me a message either by text (preferred) or email. Here's what I've done, could someone let me know if I have all these correct please?

I checked the "email alerts" box on the Reef Pi Telemetry page
I have Yahoo email, and I put my yahoo mail username in the Adafruit IO user name box
I go here and generate a one-time password and copy/paste that into the AIO Key box
I leave the prefix box blank as shown
Based on this, I enter smtp.mail.yahoo.com in the smpt server box
Limit per hour =10
For the port, I've tried both 587 and 465 based on the smtp server link above
From = [email protected]
To = my full Yahoo mail address - [email protected]
Password = my real Yahoo mail password
I click "update" and that shows no errors
I reload Reef-Pi
I click "send test message" and I get an error about a username does not exists. I think this is the Adafruit IO username at the top. I used my Yahoo mail username, but maybe I need some kind of Adafruit account and username to enter there? Could someone please help me through this part of the setup?

Additionally, for the upcoming power controller build I need to order the power strip, and I just wanted to ask if the one linked to in the Reef Pi build docs is still the best way to go. I know there are all kinds of "smart" power strips nowadays, and I thought maybe there's an even better choice than the American DJ, but if not the ADJ strip is fine. This is what I'll order unless another is suggested:
Amazon product

Thanks in advance for the help!

-FF

Sry for not answering earlier, but I think the most common ways for the AC outlet control are (not in order):
- self build from an 8 channel relay board
- American DJ strip
- Kasa WiFi power strip
- Robo-Tank power bar
- Tasmota single smart sockets

 

[Fish Fan]

Sry for not answering earlier, but I think the most common ways for the AC outlet control are (not in order):
- self build from an 8 channel relay board
- American DJ strip
- Kasa WiFi power strip
- Robo-Tank power bar
- Tasmota single smart sockets

Thank you for your help! I have otherwise heard of the Kasa WiFi strips and I found a video of someone who did the power controller with regular duplex outlets and a relay, but I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet:


I'm going to do a little more research into this tonight if I can.

Any idea why I can't get Reef Pi to send me an email or text notification? Do I need to have an Adafruit IO account?

Thank you very, very much for your help!

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello again! I am sorry to be posting so much, but I am getting seriously frustrated and I'm at one of the earliest steps - Grrrrrr lol!!!! I hope someone can please help me, I would be very grateful

I am still trying to understand and setup notifications in Reef Pi. One of the most important things any controller could do for me would be the ability to get some kind of notification when parameters go out of line. At fist I was unsure, but it seems like I definitely need an Adafruit IO account, so I made one. As per this guide, I'm now putting my Adafruit IO username in the correct box under the Reef Pi Telemetry page. The guide and other sources then tell me to generate an AIO key by clicking a link that says, "View IO Key". I am signed in at https://accounts.adafruit.com/settings/ and https://io.adafruit.com/*MyUserName*/overview and I simply CANNOT find anyway to generate or view the key. Can someone please, please help me understand how to set up notifications on Reef Pi?

A million thanks!!!!

 

[iamdan]

Hey

Have you played around with the i2c baudrate? Those 0 values (or near zero after calibration) are from failure in i2c communication with the pH board ime. The change in 6.0 is that failed communication, instead of not showing up at all, shows up as a 0. From the graph, does a dosing pump kick on in those pH valleys? Maybe that's electrical interference from the pumps power line onto the i2c lines.

If you can't fix the communication, you can make the spikes smaller visually in the graph by putting a cutoff function in the transform function field that replaces those near zero values with a constant like 8 or whatever. That would clean up the graph, just shouldn't forget that you did that and that those aren't real readings.

Hi @Ranjib I know you are very busy just wondering when the next release with some bug fixes would be out

 

[Fish Fan]

I have been doing more research on the Reef Pi project, and I'm more sold than ever I know I may sound like a dummy, but I know I can figure this out ;-) I really do have a decent background for this, I'm just rusty with electronics stuff, and would appreciate some help.

My research has led me to both Robotank and the Leviathan board. I know the owners both are members here (I don't want to tag them in on a Sunday evening). I also know there's a Goby board and possibly others exist, but at least the Goby board appears to be out of stock at this time.

Could someone give be a quick run down on going the Robotank route verses using the Leviathan board? At first glance the Leviathan looks cheaper, but from the start I've wanted a nice looking install, and the Robotank stuff with its 3D printed parts looks absolutely sweet to me

I am competent at soldering electronics, so I'm looking at the Robotank DIY kits. If I get the Robotank deluxe DIY kit, what else do I need to make it a functioning Reef Pi controller (my most pressing and important thing would be the ATO function, so any of the modules that are required for the ATO module)? Would there be 3D printed parts for the power bar and any other enclosures?

I am looking to get at least one Reef Pi controller going as soon as possible, again, largely for the ATO function at this time (with other modules down the road). Would the Robotank or Leviathan board do this for me?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Fish Fan]

Finally some success! I don't know what the heck I was doing wrong before, but I re-wiped the MicroSD card, reinstalled Raspian, and went through the Reef-Pi Module 1 Install guide. I realized I had been blindly copying/pasting code from the Reef-Pi git-hub guides and installing Reef-Pi version 4.3. I upgraded to 6.0 without an issue. I also got the email/text working without much trouble. I have no idea what I had been doing wrong, but that's one of the most important features for me, so

Knowing that, I have placed an order for all the electronic parts I need to build the power controller, temp controller, ATO, and Kessil Light controller. The pH monitor and dosing pumps I hope to add later, on my display tank.

Right now I am hoping to control two 10 gallon QT tanks, and I'm going to go the full DIY route, meaning using all the parts I just ordered from Adafruit and Amazon, and cobbling a home-brew build together.

In the future, I hope to control a 40 gallon display tank using either the Leviathan Board or a Robo-Tank build, as I'd like a very nice looking install on my DT.

That's all for now! I feel like I am making real progress on my project, but adding needlessly to this already long thread. Would it be best to start my own thread?

If anyone has any advice, tips, or suggestions, by all means please let me know, I would be very grateful

 

[Sral]

Finally some success! I don't know what the heck I was doing wrong before, but I re-wiped the MicroSD card, reinstalled Raspian, and went through the Reef-Pi Module 1 Install guide. I realized I had been blindly copying/pasting code from the Reef-Pi git-hub guides and installing Reef-Pi version 4.3. I upgraded to 6.0 without an issue. I also got the email/text working without much trouble. I have no idea what I had been doing wrong, but that's one of the most important features for me, so

Knowing that, I have placed an order for all the electronic parts I need to build the power controller, temp controller, ATO, and Kessil Light controller. The pH monitor and dosing pumps I hope to add later, on my display tank.

Right now I am hoping to control two 10 gallon QT tanks, and I'm going to go the full DIY route, meaning using all the parts I just ordered from Adafruit and Amazon, and cobbling a home-brew build together.

In the future, I hope to control a 40 gallon display tank using either the Leviathan Board or a Robo-Tank build, as I'd like a very nice looking install on my DT.

That's all for now! I feel like I am making real progress on my project, but adding needlessly to this already long thread. Would it be best to start my own thread?

If anyone has any advice, tips, or suggestions, by all means please let me know, I would be very grateful

Great news !

My personal opinion can be found in the following posts:
Robo -Tank vs Leviathan thread
ReefPi what do I need to get started ? Thread
Main ReefPi thread

Those can be found under Advanced search when you are searching for „ Robo-Tank Leviathan“ under all that has been posted by me or by anyone in general.

Sry for the short answer, but I‘m currently slightly off track right now, if you catch my meaning. That does put my words in a bad light, but as a somewhat insightful man once said:

I would not fall for someone I thought could not misbehave.

Have a nice day and read you tomorrow after the first liter of coffee or so

 

[Fish Fan]

Hey guys! I've made progress, but I find myself stuck again. I have built my power controller circuit and began trying to test it. In Reef-Pi I setup some outlets and test equipment as described in the power controller build guide. The problem I'm having is I can turn equipment on and off in Reef-Pi, and I'm getting expected 3.3v coming out of the RPi's GPIO pins and going right into the legs of the ULN2803 Darlington, but I'm getting no output on the other side of the ULN2803.

For example, when my "Test Equipment 1" is off in Reef-Pi, I get no voltage on pin 1 of the ULN2803 as expected. Turn this equipment on in Reef-Pi, and I get an expected 3.3v at pin 1 on the ULN2803, but no voltage on pin 18 of the ULN2803. Shouldn't I be getting 12v at pin 18 when "Equipment 1" is on?

I am getting 12v at pin 10 (com) on the ULN2803 as expected, as well as 12v at pin 5 on the DB8 connector as expected.

Is there something I'm missing? Is it possible my ULN2803 is faulty?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Sral]

Hey guys! I've made progress, but I find myself stuck again. I have built my power controller circuit and began trying to test it. In Reef-Pi I setup some outlets and test equipment as described in the power controller build guide. The problem I'm having is I can turn equipment on and off in Reef-Pi, and I'm getting expected 3.3v coming out of the RPi's GPIO pins and going right into the legs of the ULN2803 Darlington, but I'm getting no output on the other side of the ULN2803.

For example, when my "Test Equipment 1" is off in Reef-Pi, I get no voltage on pin 1 of the ULN2803 as expected. Turn this equipment on in Reef-Pi, and I get an expected 3.3v at pin 1 on the ULN2803, but no voltage on pin 18 of the ULN2803. Shouldn't I be getting 12v at pin 18 when "Equipment 1" is on?

I am getting 12v at pin 10 (com) on the ULN2803 as expected, as well as 12v at pin 5 on the DB8 connector as expected.

Is there something I'm missing? Is it possible my ULN2803 is faulty?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I don’t think it’s broken. The ULN2803 is basically a switch, it doesn’t provide current itself.

Internally one channel looks about like this:

As soon as you apply a signal on the input, current can flow from the “Output“ to GND.
Internally this is done by taking the input, amplifying it with the first transistor and the resistors, and activating the second transistor with this amplified signal.
So if you connect a load to the „output“ and 12V, the OUT should be at 12V when there is no signal.
If you apply a signal the channel becomes conductive, the load activates and OUT goes to a voltage somewhere between 0 and 1V.

The protection pin is simply a diode that protects the circuit from overvoltage spikes that inductive loads like coils in a motor can create when you switch them off.

 

[Dave's Reef]

Has anyone had luck getting an ESP32 inlet working? I have tried two different Pi a 3+ and a 4 with two different esp32 chips on the serial monitor I see the inlet change from 0 to 1 but I can't get it to control anything. I can get outlets to work fine and temperature to work as well. But can't get an ATO with an inlet to control an outlet. I can get an ATO (inlet) hooked directly to the Pi to control a outlet on the ESP32 but can't get a inlet on the ESP32 to control a out let on either the Pi or the ESP32. Even though in serial monitor it shows the inlet changing. I have tried all pin outlet/inlet combinations possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance