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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Aquarium (or general purpose) controller
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Mixtel90 Guru  Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Not just yet. It might be better to have a pic with some fish (probably Ember Tetra) in it. :) It's not been running all that long and some of the plants are only just getting going (I chose slow growing species due to the size of the tank). [Fish Mode] It's a very small tank at 20l (about 5 US gal). You have to be careful with tanks that small as it takes very little to upset the balance in them. There simply isn't enough volume of water to act as a buffer so things can go wrong very quickly. They are often sold as beginners tanks but a beginner would find a 10 or 20 US gal tank far easier to maintain! Unfortunately I had to get a tank to fit the available space. That also limits me to a very small choice of fish for it. Some people say that 20l is too small to keep *any* fish in - that will thrive anyway. I don't think Ember Tetra will be unhappy providing I always keep 6 or 7 in it as they very rarely swim in straight lines for any distance. The main difficulty with them is food. That have tiny mouths yet are carnivorous so you have to feed them a variety of foods, but all very in very small sizes. They can't manage flake food very well at all. [/Fish Mode] Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
Automate feeding ? Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Nope. It can be done but it's a bit fiddly, especially with a tank this small. You depend on having some bottom feeders to eat stuff that the top and mid feeders miss (many fish tend to ignore food that isn't in their feeding zone). This tank isn't big enough for catfish, loaches etc. I might be able to add a small shrimp or two later. Automatic feeding can work pretty well on big tanks. I'll probably have to feed these very small amounts two or three times a day to prevent the bottom of the tank accumulating rotting food. That breaks down to produce ammonia. That, in turn, becomes nitrites then nitrates. The plants are part of the cycle to clean the tank, using the nitrates and some of the nitrites. Both ammonia and nitrites are pretty poisonous to fish even in tiny quantities. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2075 |
you might want to consider a TDS monitor for water quality... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315075190211?itmmeta=01HV6QA2S2WWGECH09M6Y94Z1K&hash=item495bf1ddc3:g:IgwAAOSwXD1ll5h~&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4Fwb6w9d7GHEIPApQ%2BEqW%2BxZR0xlqqbS5a4uWLsn7HMeIjmvFVaYwlnh8B8CaaXJY7a3ClRRi%2FCrjscqYTft4%2Bs925L4ICPuFeG3B0aAuTOHbHX%2BuSVfKUeAQrmiL1vt4umFVCMHZlkWIg%2FB0j2u0CwNnRPP6eOQo5zMWnO1Hh0EZ2uLbruTYSDcSsRyEeyZPi8EUlmBuC3FseVMyn8KxJF1u4RpnUxhdkYBI8zMndnwlb6ygWTSFjd3eXh0aGX851nktLRG6YprMhLBbHm0KAbe0ZrUd89iyffrbnX8ov07%7Ctkp%3ABFBM1qyo19lj |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Nice idea, but (there is always a but) knowing the TDS isn't of much use unless you know what you are looking for. Eg. it's normal to have high levels of calcium in some aquaria. 100ppm would be tolerated by most fish but would give a high TDS reading. On the other hand, 5ppm of copper would give a low TDS but would kill most fish. If you know the initial water condition then a change in TDS (without any water changes) might give an indication that something is going wrong but wouldn't indicate what. You should always test for ammonia, nitrite and the pH value very regularly in small tanks anyway. You should also keep on top of regular 25%-30% water changes to get rid of excess nitrate build-up (it also vacuums up excess food, rotting plant bits and fish poo). If you are doing those things then adding TDS seems a bit like gilding the lily to me. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Malibu Senior Member  Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 228 |
A great project Mick, one that tweaked my interest when you first put this post up. Similar to a project I'm working on, but I'm looking at Hydroponics for the Mrs indoor Herb/Vege patch instead. (I'm suspecting it's a similar sort of control regime to an Aquarium) [Cheaper to buy a jar of parsley I recon... but what do I know? I don't get a vote  )I can relate to your 'fun' list with the WiFi problems, because I'm ready to toss the WiFi control in as well, down to the frustration at the same problems you describe. My suspicions is that it's a chip and/or driver problem, with a lot of references to WiFi errors on many RPi/MicroPython sites. It seems the general thoughts is that it's a conflict between the USB and WiFi. Maybe... maybe not... but that's the best understanding I could come up with for now. I'm still trying a few things here to get a better notion of what's happening. ATM, I'm running the web server where it ONLY closes the connection with a TCP request. So far, it's been 5 days and 600+ hits later, with not one hiccup. Thanks for posting your project, I like what you've done  (I might need to 'pinch' a few of your good ideas for my project too. Hope you don't mind  )John |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
Mick, There. Are 3.81mm pluggable terminal strips, male and female, that can be used for 240v. Also 90 degrees. I recall Phoenix makes them and Weidmuller. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
The ones I used are PTR Hartman (Link). My problem is that I have 240V leaving the PCB so that half should be female and PCB mounted. I couldn't find any sensible ones that would do that. I compromised by using 3-pole recessed male connectors (there is no projection of the pins and the centre pin has no connection) with push-fit female plugs (where the insulation can be pushed into the plug so there is no chance of copper being exposed or there being terminal screws to cover). The other reason for using 3-pole connectors is that I couldn't find 2-pole in push-fit. I could have used pluggable terminals inside the case and just brought the leads out, but I need to be able to unplug things without opening the case. Incidentally, TPL7407L doesn't seem to be available in a PDIP package, only SMD so I can't use it as a direct upgrade. :( @Malibu Please feel free to use whatever you like from the design - except for the relay footprints because they are wrong on my original boards. :) . Edited 2024-04-13 00:49 by Mixtel90 Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
Hi Mick, Happy Fish ....??? Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Well, I've finally got six little Ember Tetras swimming around in there. :) They are still pretty tiny (they usually only grow to about 25mm max anyway). They appear to be happy but they aren't saying much. Probably too young to talk yet. I tried to get a pic yesterday but was plagued by reflections. I'll try again today before we start to get sun in here. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
Mick, Watch out with sun. It is a catalist for algae. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Oh, how true.... :( The tank is located where it doesn't get much sun. It's just that at the moment something strange is happening to the Lancashire weather and it isn't overcast or raining. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Mick, On my systems screen (ASUS notebook, Win 7, 1366 x 768 resolution) the lines in your posts always go way off the right edge of the screen and it's a bit of a pain shifting the screen to read it fully. Any way you can fix this? I remember that happening quite a bit a couple of years ago for several members but yours is the only one for a while that seems to do it. Greg |
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atmega8 Guru Joined: 19/11/2013 Location: GermanyPosts: 722 |
Same problem here on IPad….. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
It's doing it here too, but it didn't on the first page of the thread. I've not changed anything and I always use the normal built-in text box - I very rarely copy and paste anything into this forum unless it's code. I wonder if the [/Fish mode] screwed the display up? I've added CRs into this post... Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Malibu Senior Member Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 228 |
Happens here too, but I put it down to the 4th post on this page from CaptainBoing and the Ebay link text. First page, no problems  John |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
The width of the window is caused by the text in the link of CaptainBoing. Normally you give the link a shorter name, and the URL is hidden behind it. CaptainBoing used the URL as name, and as URL. Once we add e few posts to this thread, we go to the next page of 25 posts, and all will be restored to previous. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Are we allowed to send the Captain for a short walk on the gangplank? ;) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2075 |
guilty as charged I'm afraid, soz bout that chaps - I will self-pugilate later Edited 2024-04-18 18:09 by CaptainBoing |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
On another forum that I've used long links are trimmed at the maximum line length, but only for the display. The full link is still there if you bring your post up for editing. It works very nicely. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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