Reefin' 9to5 - Welcome to the machine

[kekke1082]

I really love the creativity and planning that went into this! And those pipes look really cool and will only look even more fascinating once they have aged in the system. 

[Maas101]

A seasonal update from the machine, wishing a not so fond farewell to the covid ridden dumpster fire that was 2021.

 

Current FTS:

 

There's a grand total of 2 corals and a cleaner shrimp in there atm. My lfs's selection of corals is pretty poor and their frag tank looks like an aiptasia farm 😧. We took a drive a bit further afield but very little on offer floated my boat. I came home with just a red monti digi which the sales guy assured me was a forest fire that just needed to colour up. I didn't believe him then and still don't but it was priced very reasonably so I wasn't fussed. Also purchased was a Jingle Bells cyphastrea. I really wanted a meteor shower to grow over the weir section but they didn't have one.  Mail order is a no-no atm given the winter temps and lack of delivery drivers. When the situation eases a bit I'll start stocking some of the pieces that I really want.

 

Meanwhile the DIY frenzy has continued. Fitting all of the electrics and control into the tiny cabinet bent my brain 😖 In the end I decided to fabricate a power 'cartridge' for want of a better term that would slide into the cabinet and be controlled by my reef-pi. It has 8 power sockets, 7 of which are controllable, the last is power for the Pi itself. I used 7 SPDT switches that allow me to set the default on or off function in case the PI dies or a relay fails and a single SPST illuminated switch which is master power for all of the sockets. The single non-controlled socket is also wired to this.

 

 

It's connected to the PI by a DB9 connector

 

 

A shot of the cartridge in place with the PI and a DIY doser nestled beneath. I've yet to plumb in the doser but I really don't think the current coral load is going to require automated dosing any time soon. With a bonus photo bomb from shrimpy dude 🙂

 

 

  And, fresh from the dept of 'just because' a slide-n-hide touchscreen to control the whole shebang

 

 

 

I'm now pretty much done with the DIY however I am thinking of building a canopy from the same ply the stand is made from so the whole thing looks like a monolith with a glass centre section. The only trouble is I don't have any left, the stand was made with leftovers from another job and buying it in anything less than 8 x 4 sheets is ruinously expensive. I'm currently remodelling the downstairs bathroom and did try and convince the wife that plywood furniture was all the rage and a plywood vanity would be really cool but she was having none of it . I guess I'll have to wait for a better reason to come up...

 

Other than that I just need to concentrate on maintenance and stocking.

 

Thanks for reading and wishing everyone a prosperous and dino free 2022

 

The Machine..

 

 

[kekke1082]

Looking really good! 

[Maas101]

Thanks Kekke, I admit that the addition of the touchscreen was a bit OTT especially as there are 2 laptops and a desktop with 6 feet of the tank but I had it lying around and thought why the hell not. It is nice to be able to open the door and check temp & ph with a touch and to kick off feed mode without having to log into applications. My main tank has both Ecotech and Maxspect for flow and I have to log into two separate apps on my phone just to kick off feed mode which I hate.

[aclman88]

30 minutes ago, Maas101 said:

Thanks Kekke, I admit that the addition of the touchscreen was a bit OTT especially as there are 2 laptops and a desktop with 6 feet of the tank but I had it lying around and thought why the hell not. It is nice to be able to open the door and check temp & ph with a touch and to kick off feed mode without having to log into applications. My main tank has both Ecotech and Maxspect for flow and I have to log into two separate apps on my phone just to kick off feed mode which I hate.

Looks great!  How have you found reefpi to be?  I have a respberry pi lying around and ahve toyed with the idea of making a controller, but I do not have much experience with anything like that, and I would also need to buy additioanl hardware to make it usable.

[Maas101]

I think reef-pi is great, for me it falls into the category of 'if it didn't already exist I would build it myself'. You do need to add additional hardware but you will end up with an Apex equivalent controller at a fraction of the cost. Considering how much we spend on coral frags I consider the investment in a control / monitoring solution to be well worth it. The adafruit guides give really simple instructions on how to construct the various subsystems and even links to buy the bits & bobs on Amazon.

 

Go for it, you won't regret it 👍

 

Edit: And if you need any help guidance on building one get in touch, I'll be happy to help out

Edited January 5, 2022 by Maas101

[kekke1082]

On 1/5/2022 at 12:37 PM, Maas101 said:

I think reef-pi is great, for me it falls into the category of 'if it didn't already exist I would build it myself'. You do need to add additional hardware but you will end up with an Apex equivalent controller at a fraction of the cost. Considering how much we spend on coral frags I consider the investment in a control / monitoring solution to be well worth it. The adafruit guides give really simple instructions on how to construct the various subsystems and even links to buy the bits & bobs on Amazon.

 

Go for it, you won't regret it 👍

 

Edit: And if you need any help guidance on building one get in touch, I'll be happy to help out

You guys have me considering this route for a controller and here i was ready to pinch and save for an apex. 

[Maas101]

8 hours ago, kekke1082 said:

You guys have me considering this route for a controller and here i was ready to pinch and save for an apex. 

Go for it, it's a fun little project and if you follow the adafruit guides very simple. However, if you live in the US there is a company called robotank who have put together all the bits for you, just add a PI and plug in. It works out slightly more expensive than the DIY route but still way cheaper than apex.

[Maas101]

Things have been ticking along, there was a bit of a fail on my part when building the power cartridge. I forgot that it would be controlling switched mode power supplies that when switched on can draw many times their rated current for a fraction of a second which can spell death to mechanical relays. This manifested in the ATO, the relay welded on and the pump emptied the entire contents of the reservoir into the sump. Fortunately it didn't overflow the sump and I caught it quickly enough to restore the salinity before any harm was done. A new relay board was fitted and current limiting circuit added to prevent repeats.

 

Other than that the system has performed remarkably well although the jury is still out on the BM QQ2, it skims well enough however it can be really noisy. I've stripped it down multiple times but can't find why for no reason, it goes from being tolerably quiet to rattling like an old tractor. I've put it on a timer at the moment so during office hours when I'm working it's off. If anyone knows a of quiet skimmer that can operate in 4" of water let me know.

 

Since the last update a few corals have been added, I've updated the stocking list on the first page along with a tailspot blenny who has been christened Murgatroyd, dunno why but the name seems to fit. I also took Seabass' suggestion and added a Talbot's damsel however after a week of being fine in the tank and eating readily I came down one morning to find him dead, stuck to the powerhead. I have no idea why he died all water parameters were nominal so I'll write it off as one of those things. I've no plans to replace at the moment but we'll see.

 

Current FTS - I will take better pictures when I get a chance..

 

 

[Maas101]

Had a bit of time to dust of the SLR today, most of the corals are sulking because the lights are really low for acclimatisation but I decided to snap a few of them

 

Acorpora millepora

 

Pavona maldivensis

 

Acropora cerialis

 

Acropora loripes

 

It will be a while before they fully colour up and settle in but so far so good

[kimdawg]

Good luck in the contest.  Can't wait to see a full tank shot.