Industrial Fish Tank Automation

[Dakwan]

Because I'm a giant nerd and clearly do all I can to avoid meeting women, i'm starting a project to automate my fish tank.

I'm an industrial automation engineer so this is going to be done to industry standards with industrial electrical equipment... no little dinky microcontrollers for me!

Luckily i think i'll be able to scrounge up enough stuff in our shop and by sweet talking distributors for samples that the only things i'll probably have to shell out for is the various instrumentation (looking at transmitters for temperature, salinity, nitrates and pH)

I thought i'd catalog my journey in this thread since this audience is likely the only one out there that would appreciate my efforts :D Even if you arn't into the technical side of things maybe pop in a see you can think of neat things that I can include into the system.

In the end this will allow me to have individual control of every piece of equipment that is powered by electricity. So i can get rid of my bazillion timers and all that and do some neat stuff turn my power heads into wave makers, or program in modes like feeding or waterchange where i turn off pumps, power heads etc. Also will let me do things like de-activate heaters automatically if the temperature rises too high. I can also log everything so that i can see what goes on through out the course of the day.

If by some bizarre chance there is someone in the same industry as me or is interested in PLC's, i'm going to be running everything off of a MicroLogix 1100 likely or possibly a ControlLogix L55.

For the electrical cabinet i'm going to use a wooden cabinet, so when you open it up you'll see all the electrical wiring mounted on a metal back pan.

I/O and Alarms List
http://www.dakwan.ca/IO&Alarms.xlsx
I/O drawings
http://www.dakwan.ca/io-model.pdf

 

[little_fish]

this is going to be cool! i wish i could put together something like this

 

[motorcyclereefer]

What no pictures yet? :) Sounds like this will be fun to watch happen.

 

[Sir Alex]

What kind of fish do you have in your avatar?

 

[Dakwan]

Alex - I think it's a lawnmower blenny or atleast a species related to it

I'm thinking this will be a fun little project! I'm hoping you guys can chime in with things that you think would be cool or useful...

Below is a screen shot of my i/o and alarm set points since in retrospect i'm sure most people don't want to download an excel spreadsheet for security reasons... I'm sure you guys can think of something to add...

also tell me if my low/high set points look reasonable

 

[little_fish]

I think you might want to keep a tighter range on your temp, and what kind of salinity measurement are you using?

 

[Dakwan]

http://www.pointfour.com/file_library/products/129_Oxy_salinityprobe_brochure.pdf

this is the salinity sensor/transmitter package i was looking at

 

[little_fish]

very cool!

 

[Dakwan]

This is the panel layout... so all this is being mounted on a metal panel which in turn is going to mounted into a wooden cabinet like a tv stand or kitchenette. Having a normal electrical panel might look a bit goofy haha

as you can see every device is fused, this has the advantage of if something ever fails and leaks voltage to the water, the fuse will blow (as my water is grounded like everyone's should be) instead of the gfci breaker tripping (which everyone should also have). So if something goes wrong just the device itself fails instead of shutting down the entire fish tank. Plus i know exactly what device is having issues.

 

[fastrd400]

Not to burst your bubble, because I think projects like this are really cool, but you are basically going to DIY a controller, be it Reefkeeper or Apex. My Apex can do everything you are trying to achieve.

 

[Dakwan]

Fastrd, Not really... The Apex is a neat little controller for sure and realistically speaking does absolutely everything the average aquarium keeper would need but you are still limited to the functionality that is included in the package.

Here's an example: I have two heaters in my sump like most people. I can add a third as a spare. Heaters A, B and C. Heaters A & B are running under normal circumstances and C is the back up. If I see a temperature drop or spike, i'll kick out Heater A and power up Heater C. If after x number of minutes the temperature doesn't return to normal and continues to rise/lower then i kick out Heater B and turn Heater A back on. I'll then get an email letting myself know that Heater B needs to be replaced. Or if it returned to normal i'll know that Heater A had the issues.

Even simple things like monitoring pump/powerhead run time and comparing to the expected meantime between failures so i get alerts letting me know when it's time to replace equipment. i can look at how long each light has been on for so i know when it's time to replace bulbs. I can take standards used by companies throughout the world that from their perspective reduces downtime but applied to our world of aquarium will help prevent loss of livestock and prevent tank crashes.

Overkill? Yes, but being in the industry I'm in where failure of equipment can cost lives and huge amounts of money It's how I look at things. And also i'm a giant nerd and these are the kinds of things I enjoy and find interesting.

It's also a little unfair to even be equating it to a DIY controller, even though functionally similar, the equipment i'm using is the same equipment that is used in process control in refineries, factories, mills, etc throughout the world. I'm not using a dinky little hobbyist arduino microcontroller, I'm using equipment that is more powerful and more reliable than any commericially available aquarium controller you can buy.

But regardless you are 100% right, If what i was looking for was a controller that would give me some simple alerts, some basic inputs turning on outputs and a web interface then i would be buying something like what you have because It would be easier and certainly cheaper but i think you are missing the point: I'm doing this for fun, and part of the fun is having zero limitations in what i can accomplish and having the end product come out as something equal to or better than what is commerially available.

edit: I wanted to clarify i'm not poopin' on prepackaged aquarium controllers, because alot of them, especially apex, look pretty incredible. I just wanted to get my point across that you are comparing apples to papayas... sure they are both fruit but not really the same thing

 

[fastrd400]

I truly am not trying to piss on your parade. Like I said, it sounds cool. I am in no way capable of arguing your points as far as the difference in equipment between your controller and one like the Apex, that is your field of experience.

That being said, yes the Apex does everything you described yours being able to do except keep track of hours used on bulbs. However, simple math can give me that. Return pumps and powerheads run 24/7 as well. Does the Apex give me alerts, absolutely. Yet like you I can shut off, or turn on any one of 16 different pieces of equipment either from the head unit on the aquarium, from the computer at the house, or from my cell phone anywhere in the world that I have service. So, yeah, it Linda is the same thong, just on a much smaller package.

And as far as me referring to it as a DYI controller, you put it in the "do it yourself" section on this forum.

Again, I think of sounds really cool. And I totally understand the sense gained from building something from scratch that is as technical as this, and making it operate properly to mirror the vision that inspired the project.

 

[Sir Alex]

Here's an example: I have two heaters in my sump like most people. I can add a third as a spare. Heaters A, B and C. Heaters A & B are running under normal circumstances and C is the back up. If I see a temperature drop or spike, i'll kick out Heater A and power up Heater C. If after x number of minutes the temperature doesn't return to normal and continues to rise/lower then i kick out Heater B and turn Heater A back on. I'll then get an email letting myself know that Heater B needs to be replaced. Or if it returned to normal i'll know that Heater A had the issues.

But can't it get to the right temperature just on heater c?

 

[Dakwan]

But can't it get to the right temperature just on heater c?

I have a 180 gallon tank so depending on the time of year it might struggle to heat all that water

 

[Dakwan]

So, yeah, it Linda is the same thong

This typo made me laugh :mrgreen::mrgreen:

I think we are kind of arguing the same point :D - There is no need for this project other than the fun and accomplishment involved. So i'll just drop it here and dazzle(bore) you with pictures when i get construction underway :)

 

[Wes888]

Here's an example: I have two heaters in my sump like most people. I can add a third as a spare. Heaters A, B and C. Heaters A & B are running under normal circumstances and C is the back up. If I see a temperature drop or spike, i'll kick out Heater A and power up Heater C. If after x number of minutes the temperature doesn't return to normal and continues to rise/lower then i kick out Heater B and turn Heater A back on. I'll then get an email letting myself know that Heater B needs to be replaced. Or if it returned to normal i'll know that Heater A had the issues.

Even simple things like monitoring pump/powerhead run time and comparing to the expected meantime between failures so i get alerts letting me know when it's time to replace equipment. i can look at how long each light has been on for so i know when it's time to replace bulbs. I can take standards used by companies throughout the world that from their perspective reduces downtime but applied to our world of aquarium will help prevent loss of livestock and prevent tank crashes.

Everything you described above can be easily done in Apex. As a matter of fact, I have my Apex doing the heater A, B, and C, very similar to what you described. In the winter time, since my sump is in the garage, often just heater A & B can't even keep up the temperature and I programmed it to have C to get on to keep the temperature constant as well.

Everything Apex run can also be query as xml from anywhere via IP address. Anything you ever need to know can be compiled into an Excel file remotely and you can analyst it however you want it.

 

[Dakwan]

:) Clearly commercial controllers are more advanced than I thought but regardless I'm doing this for fun.

Maybe i'll be able to stroke my own ego somewhere along the way and i'll be able to implement something that fastrd and Wes go "oh cool!" to :D. But maybe not... and at the very least I can grill you guys about the Apex to steal ideas :D

 

[Wes888]

lol. That's the spirit! :D

There are only limited ports for the base unit. One temp probe, 1 pH, 1 ORP. If I want another temp probe, I need to add an extension unit that cost like $100. If someone can make a unit that allow multiple temp and multiple pH probe connections... ;)

 

[fastrd400]

Like I said, I think it is cool, and believe me, it I had your knowledge I would have loved to do it myself. I in no way mean to appear like I am putting you or your project down.

And leave Linda and her thong out of this, LMAO.

 

[Shane1]

I think this will be very cool so hurry up with the pics.
On a side note how acuarate is the ph tester your automated systems are using? A name brand would be nice to have as well.
TIA