From: tom@visix.com (Thomas Carstensen)
Date: 28 Jan 92 17:10:31 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Computerized Tank
After some interest regarding details of my computerized Reef and FW
Tank, I though I'd make a general posting describing these tanks.
I have been in the Aquarium hobby for about 4 years, with mostly FW
tanks. About a half a year ago, I decieded to set up 2 full blown,
computerized tanks, both for my own enjoyment of building and running
these systems, and also to take a look into the feasibility of marketing
a computer controller. This arcticle describes the FW tank. If there
is interest, I'll describe the computerized Reef tank as well - although
I'll include a summary at the end describing the additions to the system
for a Reef tank.
The Tank
--------
The tank setup consists of a 120 gallon 2' x 2' x 6' TruVu acrylic tank, with
a completely enclosed oak stand and open-top hood. There is a 10 gallon
trickle filter, with reactors for C02, Carbon, MA Disks and an empty one
for whatever I may want to put in it at a future date. There are 2 pumps,
one returns water through the bottom of the tank at both ends of the tank,
and the other runs the reactors. There is an corner overflow box that
brings the water to the trickle filter. There are also 3 hanging MH lights
with 175W 5500K bulbs. There is a vat with vitamins and fertalizer, etc.
that gets added to the sump of the trickle filter via a metering pump. There
is also 2 additional 35 gallon vats located in the adjacent room. They are
connected to the tank via 1/2" pvc pipe coming through the wall. All
connection are hard piped with gray PVC schedule 40 pipe.
The Computer
------------
The computer is a 8031 microcontroller, which runs on its own, but is
connected to a Mac (or any other PC with a terminal program) via the RS232
serial port to program the controller, or download measurements. The
controller has a 4 digit LCD display, which will show on a continuos basis
any 1 of the following: pH (location #1), ph (location #2), water temp,
air temp, time of day (for the Reef tank, 2 ORP and 1 conductivity reading
is also given). There is a button on the controller to rotate through the
various readings. The controller is connected to an external power strip,
which the controller can individually turn on/off any of the 12 outlets.
The outlets are assigned to:
1. Pump #1 7. Heater(s)
2. Pump #2 8. Chiller (optional)
3. Light #1 9. CO2 solenoid
4. Light #2 10. Drain Pump
5. Light #3 11. reserved
6. Water changing pump 12. reserved
The controller also has plug-ins for 2 pH probes, and a water temperature
probe.
The controller can be programmed in any fasion, via the Mac or PC to control:
a) Lighting schedule, turning individual lights on/off at any time
of the day
b) Control the pH, buy indicating the ph value to mainting. The controller
will turn on/off the solenoid accordingly.
c) Taking Measurments: Programs the 2 times in the day to make measurments.
These measurments are stored in the system, until you connect your Mac
or PC and download the measurements.
d) Water changing: Program the time of day to begin water changing, and the
amount of time to keep the water changing pump on. The controller
turns on the water changing pump, located in the 35 gallon reserve water
vat, which goes into the sump of the trickle filter. The trickle filter
contains 3 float switches, high, low and normal. The water changing
process will raise the water level, eventually to the high level mark.
When this happens, the drain pump, located in the sump, will turn on,
and pump water in the the 35 gallon drain vat, until the water reaches
the normal level again. The 35 gallon drain vat also has a float switch
on it (high level) which sets of an alarm (in the controller) to alert
you that the drain vat needs emptying. The water changing vat can be
any height. I have a solenoid connected to the output of the water
changing pump the is NC. The pump and the solenoid are connect to the
same outlet. This prevents the siphoning of all the water in the water
changing vat.
I suppose if you had a tank with out a trickle filter, or corner overflow
box, the float switches would need to be in the tank itself, to maintain
a proper tank level.
e) Top-off: Top offs can be incorporated into the daily water changing.
The controller will automatically pump water in from the
water changing vat if the water level in the sump reaches the low point.
It will pump in water until the water level in the sump reaches normal.
f) Temperature: The controller maintains a speicific temperature by turning
on/off the heater and chiller. The chiller is necessary if you can't
keep the water cool enough.
g) Feed Switch: Turns of the pumps for a specified period of time during
feeding.
Other Notes:
------------
The reserve water vat contains properly prepared water, and is heated to the
same temperature as the tank. There is also an air pump with an airstone
in the vat. The water used is RO, DI water, and sodium bicarbonate used
to bring the carbonate hardness to ~6dKH, and calcium carbonate to bring
the general hardness to ~5dKH.
I also have a completely graphical Mac application the interfaces with the
controller. This is a replacement to the "terminal" interface.
The Reef System
---------------
The reef system is the same as above, with the addition of alternating
pumps and powerheads (wave making), control of ozone to mainting ORP,
measurment of ORP in 2 places, and conductivity, control of brine and
reserve vats to maintain salanity, control of water change and top-off vats
individually and
This a description of the prototype. Over the next year, I hope to refine
and perfect the controller. The main idea for me, was to have fun building
the system, and then to have beautifual tanks that require minimal maitanence.
Thomas Carstensen
(If mail does not get through - I can also be reached at 703.758.2741
or 703.255.6999).
From: greg@enterprise.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Greg George Area SSE - Midwest Area)
Date: 30 Mar 92 13:09:26 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Tank timings
If you want to do things automatically, go to your local
Radio Shack or Heathkit store and ask them about X-10. These
are little devices that can control virtually anything in your
house from either your home computer, a handheld remote, or
a wall switch. There are outside lights based on X-10 that
will turn on an inside light if someone is near your house,
or chime a bell. There are also very easy to install burglar
alarms base on X-10.
I use X-10 to control the light intensity and lenth of time the
tank is lit. I also have my filters tied to another X-10 circuit
so I can turn them on and off from a remote control when I want
to feed the fish or clean the tank. Check it out!!
greg
From: mark.stephens@gsfc.nasa.gov (mark stephens)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: computer to control aquarium?
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 1994 14:12:31 -0500
Drop a request for info to
autoreef@Alice.Wonderland.Caltech.EDU
It's a mailing list. They are putting together a reef tank controller
using, I believe, an off the shelf commercial PC card. The card contains
A/D converters and ports to turn things on and off.
I'm taking a different route. I'm desiging my own board using a small
8-bit microprocessor (68HC11 from Motorola). It's actually to control a
terrarium, but the hardware/software will controll most anything. I've
been studing electronics, including analog and digital design, for the
past two years. The journy has been/is wonderful.
If you go this route, pick up "The Art of Electronics", by Horowitz and
Hill. A great book. However, purchasing the PC card will be cheaper
(under $500, some perhaps for $100) and, while a little electronics is
necessary, you don't need to spend two years acquiring it!
mark
In article , gam@lanl.gov (Graham
Mark) wrote:
> Hi.
>
> There's a remark in the alt.aquaria.faq about someone using a computer to
> monitor and control aquariums. I suppose this means that the computer
> turns the light on and off, and monitors and controls temperature and
> elements of water chemistry like pH.
>
> I want to try doing this, but I don't have a clue about how to start. I'm
> a programmer; I don't know very much at all about electronics or about
> using computers as control devices. Can anyone give me some hints about
> how to get started?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Graham Mark
From: rcheng@atl1.america.net (Robert C Cheng)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: computer to control aquarium?
Date: 7 Dec 1994 13:57:56 -0500
gam@lanl.gov (Graham Mark) writes:
>There's a remark in the alt.aquaria.faq about someone using a computer to
>monitor and control aquariums. I suppose this means that the computer
>turns the light on and off, and monitors and controls temperature and
>elements of water chemistry like pH.
>I want to try doing this, but I don't have a clue about how to start. I'm
>a programmer; I don't know very much at all about electronics or about
>using computers as control devices. Can anyone give me some hints about
>how to get started?
Hi Graham,
A friend of mine is in the computer controlled aquarium business. He has
designed a piece of hardware that monitors pH, temperature, redox
potential, etc.... It's a stand-alone unit that you can call remotely
with a modem to download information or make changes. You can email him
at: mustang@america.net
THe name of the business is KSH Technologies and you need to speak with Dan.
--
----------------------
Robert Cheng
rcheng@america.net
From: caryho@aol.com (CaryHo)
Newsgroups: sci.aquaria
Subject: Re: (Q) Aquaria and Computers
Date: 26 Nov 1995 06:08:43 -0500
Sean Basford writes:
snip
>. This device sounds
>great, but I was wondering if there is a way to do this with ones home
>computer. Or at least devise a way to montior these things and feed it
>into the computer for constant updating of how the system is doing.
snip
The manufacturing industry uses a broad line of I/O cards with modules
that can accept just about any type of electrical input. These can be
connected directly to a computer, in which you can write a control program
or set up with a local controller which would control all operations but
report to a computer. How you wish to configure the system is totally up
to you. You would have to get the sensor probes, dosing pumps etc... and
hook them to the system. What you are considering has been done many times
over in industry. The biggest factor are these things are not cheap. I'm
not sure what the octopus costs, but most likely its much cheaper than
designing your own system using industry control cards unless you're going
to control multiple tanks. One company producing such products is OPTO-22
and they get about $100 for each analog input module, digital I/O costs
about $10 each, these have to mount to the brain cards (more$$$), I thnk
you get my point. Then you'll also need a little electrical knowledge
related to proper hook up of low level signals and AC lines. Learn what
typically is a proprietary programming language, which you'll also need to
buy (for some older systems its free). I guess what I'm saying is, what
you desire to do is totally possible but may be more costly and time
consuming than you'ld expect. And I should know, I design automation
systems for a living.
Cary Hostrawser
From: crd8212@vms2.tamu.edu (CHRIS DAHL)
Newsgroups: sci.aquaria
Subject: Correction - DIY pc to control accessories - www url
Date: 8 Jan 1996 19:54 CST
sorry for the inconvienience.
i have moved the web page to the same site as the ftp site
http://astro.tamu.edu/chris/index.html
the ftp site is still
ftp astro.tamu.edu
anonymous login.
it is switch.zip in pub/chris/
all should be working now
chris
