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

[Kurtzisa]

Hi, which sensor are you using to monitor your sump level? I've tryed the DFRobot SEN0205
but I'm having problems since the probes are not waterproof and when the return pump turn off the sensor will be fully underwater...

Liquid_Level_Sensor-FS-IR02_SKU__SEN0205-DFRobot

wiki:This is a Arduino compatbile photoelectric water liquid level sensor that is operates using optical principles.

wiki.dfrobot.com

capacitor switch

i have found this, and it works perfectly! after 2 years its works perfectly

 

[Projects with Sam]

for the non Italian version

https://a.co/d/4TOW9ip

 

[Sral]

Ok, and how i can do this? because i have an ORP probe... the main problem is the documentation of Reef-pi project, probably i missing a lot of interesting stuff

You connect the ORP probe to a pH-board and hook that up to ReefPi as usual. For testing purposes you can also exchange the pH probe currently connected to your pH board with the ORP probe.

You install everything just like for the pH, but in the settings for this board on the pH tab you enter the tranform formula: (v-7.0)*59.16
That transforms the natively returned "pH value" back to the actually measured voltage on the board, as measuring pH is basically just a very fine voltage measurement. ORP is the same, just with a different probe. None of that is noted in the documentation though ^^

One caveat that I just noticed though: if you also want to measure pH, you will likely have two identical boards on the I2C BUS. That means you need to make sure that both boards have different adresses. Easiest might be to have one Atlas and one Robo-Tank pH board. You can also try 2 robo-tank pH boards, but have to connect only one first and change that ones address with the ssh console.

 

[Lingwendil]

So, i followed the install and setup guide here- but after looking it over again, it appears that it refers to a very old version of Reef-pi- and specifically the version for a Pi Zero-

In order to reinstall with a current version that is meant specifically for my Raspberry Pi 3B, do I open a terminal and simply adjust the script to point to the current version file, and then install over the top of the existing version, or do I need to uninstall first?

such as this?

"wget -c https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/6.0/reef-pi-6.0-pi3.deb

sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-4.3-pi0.deb"

 

[InactiveAcct]

@Ranjib by any chance are internal pull up/down resistors used on ATO (GPIO17)?
I am wanting to set this up with a floatswitch that I have now.
My circuit is below, I dont think I need anything other than a current limiting resistor with the switch, and then possibly the pull down.
Correct?
Thanks.

Thanks for asking my question for today 6+ years ago

 

[Schreiber]

Hi everyone, adding dosing pump to my pi4 with Leviathan 1.0 hat build and having issues getting dosing pump to turn on. Trying to check my ReefPi config without any hardware attached. I feel like I should be measuring 3.3V between ground (Pin 39) and GPIO18 (pin 12) when I calibrate the dosing pump but I’m getting 0. Assuming this is the reason my pump isn’t running. If anyone has suggestions or sees config errors please let me know, thank you!

Hey there Dan! Just happened to see this today. I haven't been on R2R much lately, sorry!

Configuration looks good at first glance. Yeah, you should be getting ~3.3V between those pins. It sounds like GPIO 18 isn't firing. Have you tried setting it up as an equipment relay control to see if you can get that GPIO to turn on at all?

I've had some Raspberry Pis throughout the years that will randomly have a pin go bad on them. Not something that happens every day, but it's common enough to where I'd check that for sure.

 

[Schreiber]

So, i followed the install and setup guide here- but after looking it over again, it appears that it refers to a very old version of Reef-pi- and specifically the version for a Pi Zero-

In order to reinstall with a current version that is meant specifically for my Raspberry Pi 3B, do I open a terminal and simply adjust the script to point to the current version file, and then install over the top of the existing version, or do I need to uninstall first?

such as this?

"wget -c https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/6.0/reef-pi-6.0-pi3.deb

sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-4.3-pi0.deb"

What version are you currently on?

I seem to remember needing to uninstall & re-install at some point, but haven't had to in years. If my memory serves correctly, I think any version of Reef Pi 2.0 or higher is fine to just dpkg the new install over without uninstalling.

As to the modifications for 0 to 3, yep, just change that part of the text (including the sudo dpkg, you still have pi0 in your example.)

 

[Lingwendil]

What version are you currently on?

I seem to remember needing to uninstall & re-install at some point, but haven't had to in years. If my memory serves correctly, I think any version of Reef Pi 2.0 or higher is fine to just dpkg the new install over without uninstalling.

As to the modifications for 0 to 3, yep, just change that part of the text (including the sudo dpkg, you still have pi0 in your example.)

I'm on version 4.3. I installed exactly as the Adafruit guide, which has code for a pi0 4.3.

 

[InactiveAcct]

Hey there Dan! Just happened to see this today. I haven't been on R2R much lately, sorry!

Configuration looks good at first glance. Yeah, you should be getting ~3.3V between those pins. It sounds like GPIO 18 isn't firing. Have you tried setting it up as an equipment relay control to see if you can get that GPIO to turn on at all?

I've had some Raspberry Pis throughout the years that will randomly have a pin go bad on them. Not something that happens every day, but it's common enough to where I'd check that for sure.

Hey @Schreiber welcome back! I’m pretty convinced it’s something going on with the software or I’m not smart enough to use it haha

I still could not get reef-pi to work with it after much, much consternation and ended up writing my own app for dosing ‍which has been working great.

 

[Kurtzisa]

You connect the ORP probe to a pH-board and hook that up to ReefPi as usual. For testing purposes you can also exchange the pH probe currently connected to your pH board with the ORP probe.

You install everything just like for the pH, but in the settings for this board on the pH tab you enter the tranform formula: (v-7.0)*59.16
That transforms the natively returned "pH value" back to the actually measured voltage on the board, as measuring pH is basically just a very fine voltage measurement. ORP is the same, just with a different probe. None of that is noted in the documentation though ^^

One caveat that I just noticed though: if you also want to measure pH, you will likely have two identical boards on the I2C BUS. That means you need to make sure that both boards have different adresses. Easiest might be to have one Atlas and one Robo-Tank pH board. You can also try 2 robo-tank pH boards, but have to connect only one first and change that ones address with the ssh console.

Thankyou! finally my two ph probe and ORP work perfetly!

 

[Sral]

Thankyou! finally my two ph probe and ORP work perfetly!

Nice ! What boards do you use and how does the data look ?

 

[Des Westcott]

I am having endless problems with my Reef-Pi installation including, but not limited to -
- Temperature probes randomly disappearing - I replaced all 3 yesterday and the problem persists - maybe even worse than before. Big issue is if a heater or something stays on.
- I cannot get Adafruit integration working - I keep getting told "invalid AIO key" and similar stuff.
- pH will not work - tried a new probe and still nothing.

I constantly have 50-80 errors in the "Error" tab. Clear them and more appear immediately - mostly from the AIO stuff.

My current system was set up early 2021 on a Rpi4. So the SD card is +- 3 years old. Could that be my problem? Would installing a small (128GB) SSD be a better call?

I am fast approaching the point where the constant admin of checking everything is OK is getting to be a bit of a pain. Would a fresh install help my problems?

Could I safely export the database and restore on the fresh setup? Or is there a chance I could migrate a problem?

 

[Sral]

I am having endless problems with my Reef-Pi installation including, but not limited to -
- Temperature probes randomly disappearing - I replaced all 3 yesterday and the problem persists - maybe even worse than before. Big issue is if a heater or something stays on.
- I cannot get Adafruit integration working - I keep getting told "invalid AIO key" and similar stuff.
- pH will not work - tried a new probe and still nothing.

I constantly have 50-80 errors in the "Error" tab. Clear them and more appear immediately - mostly from the AIO stuff.

My current system was set up early 2021 on a Rpi4. So the SD card is +- 3 years old. Could that be my problem? Would installing a small (128GB) SSD be a better call?

I am fast approaching the point where the constant admin of checking everything is OK is getting to be a bit of a pain. Would a fresh install help my problems?

Could I safely export the database and restore on the fresh setup? Or is there a chance I could migrate a problem?

Personally that sounds more like a hardware or software interface issue ... a fresh install should not hurt.
That's what the export and import feature is meant to be useful for.

I'd personally make a fresh install on another SD card (or SSD if you like) of a quality that you would trust and import the database there. If it doesn't work against all expectation, you still have the old SD as a backup.

Which version are you using ? It might be important to install exactly the same version you are currently using, just to be safe.

 

[yury88]

Hi folks.
May I ask- do we have some kinda standard for WEB/REST API hardware integration?
Because I'm going to add support of my project with smart doser to reef-pi and It's will be nice use same command structure for these kind of hardware, so far I'm trying to follow patterns in esp32, but appreciate for some advice.

 

[Des Westcott]

Personally that sounds more like a hardware or software interface issue ... a fresh install should not hurt.
That's what the export and import feature is meant to be useful for.

I'd personally make a fresh install on another SD card (or SSD if you like) of a quality that you would trust and import the database there. If it doesn't work against all expectation, you still have the old SD as a backup.

Which version are you using ? It might be important to install exactly the same version you are currently using, just to be safe.

Thanks Sral

The plan with the new SD is one that I already have underway at the moment. I have a new card and am busy doing a fresh install.

I am currently running 6.0. Started as 3.xx I think, but I will back up the 6.0 DB, install 6.0 and thenrestore the DB.

 

[InactiveAcct]

I am having endless problems with my Reef-Pi installation including, but not limited to -
- Temperature probes randomly disappearing - I replaced all 3 yesterday and the problem persists - maybe even worse than before. Big issue is if a heater or something stays on.
- I cannot get Adafruit integration working - I keep getting told "invalid AIO key" and similar stuff.
- pH will not work - tried a new probe and still nothing.

I constantly have 50-80 errors in the "Error" tab. Clear them and more appear immediately - mostly from the AIO stuff.

My current system was set up early 2021 on a Rpi4. So the SD card is +- 3 years old. Could that be my problem? Would installing a small (128GB) SSD be a better call?

I am fast approaching the point where the constant admin of checking everything is OK is getting to be a bit of a pain. Would a fresh install help my problems?

Could I safely export the database and restore on the fresh setup? Or is there a chance I could migrate a problem?

If you haven’t yet you can use the Prometheus telemetry guide (forum sticky) to get good insights into how hardware is performing.

I think there is a memory leak related to adafruit integration. I was having periodic dropouts daily associated with high CPU and memory activity. You can see the missing data and hardware activity in the Grafana screenshots below. Reefpi log was showing Adafruit errors at the same time. I turned off adafruit and have been running 2.5 days with no issues.

I am unclear why the Pi always uses >99% SWAP even when RAM is available. If your memory card is failing this could really hose you as the card would be acting as RAM.

I do run pretty heavy:
Pi4B 2GB RAM
Constant VNC share to iPad2 as monitor
Prometheus and Grafana running locally

 

[Lingwendil]

Is it possible to install to a USB drive to avoid using the SD as SWAP? I'd imagine the SD would last longer in such a case.

 

[InactiveAcct]

Is it possible to install to a USB drive to avoid using the SD as SWAP? I'd imagine the SD would last longer in such a case.

Good point on mine I decided to just disable it, see what happens

 

[yury88]

Is it possible to install to a USB drive to avoid using the SD as SWAP? I'd imagine the SD would last longer in such a case.

Hi, kernel is smart, even if RAM empty it can use SWAP for loaded in memory objects.
Just edit /etc/sysctl.conf and put the line:
vm.swappiness=0

By default it's not set and parameter=60

To apply without reboot:
sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=0

With these your raspberry will avoid using SWAP as possible.

And it's good idea to move swapfile to mounted USB and even increase it's size to 8-16GB+
Because memory leak's happening some times and it will give your system chance to survive before you will mention it

 

[Des Westcott]

If you haven’t yet you can use the Prometheus telemetry guide (forum sticky) to get good insights into how hardware is performing.

I think there is a memory leak related to adafruit integration. I was having periodic dropouts daily associated with high CPU and memory activity. You can see the missing data and hardware activity in the Grafana screenshots below. Reefpi log was showing Adafruit errors at the same time. I turned off adafruit and have been running 2.5 days with no issues.

I am unclear why the Pi always uses >99% SWAP even when RAM is available. If your memory card is failing this could really hose you as the card would be acting as RAM.

I do run pretty heavy:
Pi4B 2GB RAM
Constant VNC share to iPad2 as monitor
Prometheus and Grafana running locally

I would like to move to the Grafana / Prometheus setup, but I am still doing my research, as I don't fully understand the "installation guide". It seems to assume the reader has a more intimate knowledge of Linux etc than I do. Working through all the steps so I at least get a partial understanding of what I'm doing. Then I can abandon the Adafruit idea.

I'm also running a Pi4 2GB. I have just upgraded an old desktop PC, so have the old one sitting as "spare" - thinking to set that up as the server.