Developing a Reef App for school need your input!

[sailfintang]

Hey guys I am developing a web application for school next semester to aid in tracking the overall status of a tank. There are existing apps out there that do this for free or for purchase already but I wanted to develop one based on what hobbyists actual want/need.

I want to have something hosted in the cloud for 24/7 access, allow for photo uploads and report generation etc. Part of my requirements is to gather input form those that may use the application, so I call upon you reefers out there to provide any functionality you would like to see in the application.

Here are some general ideas to get you going:

FUNCTIONAL
-log of water tests
-track live stock purchases
-water change schedule
-

NON-FUNCTIONAL
-accessibility
-security


I will be sure to include your feed back in my reports and although I may not be able to include all your ideas there may some I implement.

Thanks.

 

[Danzig]

Very cool im surprised no one else commented. Good luck.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[michaelr]

Sounds great. honestly there arent many good apps out there for reef keeping. One thing i think it should include is lightbulb replacement schedules. because currently i am trying to remember when the lights were last changed. Oh good luck and definitely tell us what the name of the app is if it is ever made

 

[Nm767]

Very cool

 

[cjk76]

Annual (clean pipes, powerhead/pump/skimmer deep clean) and semi-annual (MH bulb replacement, RODI filter change) schedules. Allow for notifications to an email or simply within the ap? Also, allow us to change what we need to be notified for (remind us about our bulbs, but don't send an email for a weekly water change...) You should be able to find some guidelines for water params. Make the numbers we enter green, yellow, or red, depending on how far they are off (10ppm nitrate is yellow, 40 is red). Allow for export to excel for graphs. Or show graphs for the past 2 weeks for reference.

 

[cjk76]

And if you make the ap for sissy iphones, be sure to make it for droid too

 

[jong11]

an ipad version would be great. i really like the idea of colors representing how far off our levels are. i think you should allow the user to edit those to match their needs. for example, if i had a cold sw tank, i would want to change the temp. alerts set to an email, sms, and/or a notification popup on the device would be nice to let me know of any scheduled maintenance. bulb changes, water changes, equipment cleaning, and anything else i might want to add reminders for. also a section to do simple journaling or quick comments or observations about the tank.
take a look at some of the spreadsheets that are being passed around on here for ideas.

 

[imolaragazzo]

Couple of ideas:
1 - be able to separate between multiple tanks (i.e. bedroom tank, living room tank, etc.)
2 - some sorts of calculators for whatever like how much needed to raise calcium to a certain level, or calculating tank volumes from dimensions
3 - maybe separate each item/accessory so you can have a log for each that you can view so you know last time it was cleaned or replaced

 

[Nm767]

I wish I had this app now!

 

[HHIreefer843]

hahaha im wiht Nm767 dont wait until next semester do it now hahaha no seriously just like other stated
Bulb replacement
calculators would be awesome
even cooler if you could sync up a RK,or any other controllers

 

[racedout]

Great ideas. I have been wanting to make a reef keeping app for a while now also. Tank tracker looks to be the most popular.

 

[aleonn]

Webcam functionality. I also like the dosing calculators and calendars features mentioned.

 

[sailfintang]

Couple of ideas:
1 - be able to separate between multiple tanks (i.e. bedroom tank, living room tank, etc.)
2 - some sorts of calculators for whatever like how much needed to raise calcium to a certain level, or calculating tank volumes from dimensions
3 - maybe separate each item/accessory so you can have a log for each that you can view so you know last time it was cleaned or replaced

Like the idea of calculators in the app.

 

[sailfintang]

hahaha im wiht Nm767 dont wait until next semester do it now hahaha no seriously just like other stated
Bulb replacement
calculators would be awesome
even cooler if you could sync up a RK,or any other controllers

Now that would be AWESOME!!!

Great input keep it coming.

 

[Devaji108]

can access the app form your PC/Mac as well as iphone/droid.

 

[sailfintang]

Great ideas guys putting this together this semester Doubt i will get of the more advanced stuff in but we will see.

 

[Yinzer]

Have it perform our water changes. That would be nice.

 

[lighthouze08]

lets say someone were to write this app the way you guys wanted, how much are you willing to pay for it?

 

[D-Nak]

It would be nice if the app could tie into a reef controller such as an Apex. I know that AquaNotes is available, but I would like to tie the information available from the Apex (pH, temp, etc.) with the tests I do manually (calcium, alk, etc.) so I have all of my tank parameters available to me in one spot.

In terms of cost? Probably less than 5 bucks. I wouldn't mind it if was ad supported.

 

[lighthouze08]

It would be nice if the app could tie into a reef controller such as an Apex. I know that AquaNotes is available, but I would like to tie the information available from the Apex (pH, temp, etc.) with the tests I do manually (calcium, alk, etc.) so I have all of my tank parameters available to me in one spot.

In terms of cost? Probably less than 5 bucks. I wouldn't mind it if was ad supported.

I highly doubt that they would allow you to interface with their controller without a cost. i work for a software company and every time a vendor touches our data they would have to pay up. Everything is possible when it comes to coding but it's just time and money.