Automated Aquarium

T

Tweak_IT

New member
Dear Forum,

This is my first new thread on the forum so please be patient with me and excuse any inadvertent wrongdoing.

I am trying to put together a design for automating an aquarium and as such I am in need of some information and guidance. I have read some previous threads regarding this general topic but they do not address the questions to which I need the answers. Some folk have expressed the opinion that this kind of automation is a lazy way to do things etc, however, in my case it's essential due to the fact that my work requires me to travel away from home at short notice for varying lengths of time and it's not fair to expect my wife to do all the work.

I can get help with the automation side of things but I've almost no experience in fish keeping. Basically, what I need to know is, which environmental conditions do I need to maintain? I intend to keep marine fish. I can have the system carry out various tasks e.g. partial water changes at set intervals, water conditioning (ph and temperature monitoring and control).

Thanks in advance for any help given.
 
Invest in an Apex; it will do everything you desire including feeding your fish. You can also use it to monitor your aquarium while you're away.
 
Also check out GHL Profilux. My setup is totaly automated with a lot of sensors/probes. It email/sms me when i need to add salt to my mixing station and to clean the skimmer.
You can do whatever tou want to with an advanced computer and hard cash.

Good luck :-)
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the very quick responses.

Ultimately I'd like to have corals but plan to start with fish. As for the controller, I'm planning to use a more industrial unit that I can tailor for my specific needs.

My aim is for the system to have a sump and water tanks separate from the main aquarium. The water parameters (temperature, salinity, ph etc) would be monitored in the aquarium and clean (rodi) water would be conditioned to the same levels in a separate tank. Once the parameters of the clean water match, the system would then drain off x amount and replace with the same amount of clean water. The drain valves and flow rates would also be controlled my the system.

I hope this makes some sense, it is Chriatmas Eve after all. ;-))

Thanks again guys.
 
Ghl = high end!
I have more or less the same system that you are planning to build.

Im in love with the unlimited posibilies with the Profilux 3!
 
I recently set up a larger aquarium with the intention of more automation & less maintenance time as a goal. While there are multiple things you can do to help this, I would highly recommend a good automated water change system. I have 80 gallons of RO/DI & 80 gallons of fresh saltwater made up every couple of weeks, if something goes wrong I can have someone do a large water change with the touch of a few buttons until I can get to the tank. My other recommendat,ion would be to install a backup for critical equipment, pumps, heaters, etc.
 
Tweak_IT
Everything you are describing and more can be achieved with an Aquatronica controller and specially with the new Touch unit the possibilities are endless.
 
Tweak_IT said:
Hi guys,

Thanks for the very quick responses.

Ultimately I'd like to have corals but plan to start with fish. As for the controller, I'm planning to use a more industrial unit that I can tailor for my specific needs.

My aim is for the system to have a sump and water tanks separate from the main aquarium. The water parameters (temperature, salinity, ph etc) would be monitored in the aquarium and clean (rodi) water would be conditioned to the same levels in a separate tank. Once the parameters of the clean water match, the system would then drain off x amount and replace with the same amount of clean water. The drain valves and flow rates would also be controlled my the system.

I hope this makes some sense, it is Chriatmas Eve after all. ;-))

Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...

This is a relatively common task, referred to generally as an Automatic Water Change (AWC) system. Salinity is the most critical variable, as alkalinity, calcium, and the other macro elements will roughly follow salinity.

Generally, temperature and pH are less important as most of these systems change small amounts of water on a regular basis (maybe 1-2 gallons per day for a 200gal aquarium). With that total spread over the day, it becomes negligible overall. If you are intending to do large water changes this way (maybe more than 10% of total volume), temperature becomes more important (easily controlled with heaters/chillers). pH is harder to control, since it's primarily a combination of alkalinity and dissolved CO2 in the water. So if your salinity is right, and the water is occasionally stirred, you shouldn't worry about pH.

The most difficult part of your plan will be automating the salt addition to your RODI. I've seen a few people do it with complex systems, but IMO, it's not worth it. I would just size your RODI and saltwater storage tanks to be large enough to cover your traveling (i.e. if you're gone for two weeks max, and you want to change 25 gallons over that period, maybe get two 30-35 gallon tanks, or more for safety). Then just add the salt yourself. Water changes aren't even that critical, given established nutrient reduction and appropriate dosing of macroelements. Some people go (and I'm not really recommending this) six months or more without water changes to no ill effect. Especially with fish only, it's less of an issue.

As has been mentioned earlier, the Neptune Apex or GHL controllers are very well established and will provide all of the command/control capability you need. Apex even recently came out with a great dosing pump with stepper motors (which could be used for a water change system). There's also a thread around here about a custom aquarium controller based on Arduino, I believe.
 
Raul-7 said:
Invest in an Apex; it will do everything you desire including feeding your fish. You can also use it to monitor your aquarium while you're away.
Click to expand...

This is your best bet. The apex is very easy to set up and will let you set up automated water changes,top off your system,etc. Like mentioned above you can also set it up so that you can monitor your system from any smartphone,tablet or pc,as well as turn things off and on like pumps,lights,skimmer etc.
 
kegogut said:
This is your best bet. The apex is very easy to set up and will let you set up automated water changes,top off your system,etc. Like mentioned above you can also set it up so that you can monitor your system from any smartphone,tablet or pc,as well as turn things off and on like pumps,lights,skimmer etc.
Click to expand...

+2

My tank is completely automated from top off to water changes to making RODI and even some of my feeding. The only things that aren't automated are adding salt to my mixing bin and cleaning the glass. I've been doing it this way for almost 5 years now and my tank is healthier than ever. At the heart of my system is the Apex. If anything gets out of whack, my system tells me. Things like too low of salinity or too high, PH changes, ORP changes, sump levels too low or too high, temps too low or too high, water on the floor etc. All things I monitor for. My Apex is priceless to me and my system.
 
Guys, thanks so much for the advice; it's great to get help rather than folks not seeing the merit in what I'm trying to achieve and trying to talk me out of it. I really appreciate your help.
 
I'm not sure what your background is regarding the development of your own control system, but I would not do it that way. Invest in an Apex, Profilux, Reefkeeper, or Reef Angel. There are just too many aquarium specific systems already available and built specifically for aquariums. They also have many ways that they can be customized for any unique scenarios that may pertain to your system. I can almost guarantee that anything that you possibly could want to include on your system has already been done and perfected by somebody else. No need to re-invent the wheel.
 
Ditto what Dave says, having exsperiance in PLC automation for commercial and public water treatment systems. Unless you just have the stuff laying around the cost to build a system would far exceed the cost of one of the available systems built for marine tanks. Also debugging systems remotly is a nightmare. I am looking at Digital Aquatics new Archon system when it is released. it may offer the best of both worlds a developed system written in a open language that can be tinkered with. That being said there is another DIY option available on this thread ( I have one on my bench) http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2332822 built on an Ardunio platform it offers quite a bit of flexibility, however I question the robustness of the platform. I am not questioning the designers software just most of the parts are hobbiest components and not sure of their longevity.
Bill
 
Last edited:
As someone who has a home built controller running his tank, I encourage you to look at, and work with in the (slight) limitations of a pre-built system. There are hundreds of buid threads on this board alone about Arduino (mine is Netdunio based) builds- the Reef Angel is Arduino based, check out the Archon system, look at your options and weigh your goals. Most prefer either one controller to rule them all (single point of failure) or separate systems (no interactions on logical events).

Good luck, what you want can be achieved with commercially available hardware/software imho.
 
Again, thanks for all your input.

Next big question is regarding pipe work and valves; should I be looking for PVC or ABS pipes etc? A number of threads I've read just refer to plastic. I'm sure this is a major no no but can I use brass valves?
 
Tweak_it

I am an automation tech and I am specialized in automation of various industrial applications such as batching, manufacturing and processing. You could use an industrial controller (PLC) to monitor water parameters, program alarm conditions, program inputs and outputs and redundancy.

The most cost effective option would be an Apex controller by Neptune Systems. I have one on my tank and it does everything.
It's fully automated except for feeding (I rarely feed flake or pellets)

If you are new to the hobby...here's some advice that my marketing teacher gave to the class back in the day.

She said: Dumb people do not learn from their mistakes. Smart people learn from their mistakes. And smarter people learn from other peoples mistakes.
 
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