Monitoring and controlling an aquarium

Projects Discussion and Showcase Home Automation
1

I am thinking of building an aquarium system.

It would ideally monitor:

Ammonia
Nitrites
Nitrates
TDS
pH
Temperature
Water level
Water filter operation
Lights on/off

For ammonia/nitrites and niotrates I use a chemical kit. I am not sure if an electronic sensor exists.

For TDS and pH I use electronic tests bought on ebay, so I am sure there will be an appropriate sensor and a way to interface to an arduino

For water level I'd need maybe a water sensor for min/max (not a floater)

For temperature it's easy I'd use a NTC thermistor (got dozens in my drawer)

For water filter operation I'd need maybe a sensor on the outlet to detect water pressure. Not sure.

For lights on off, a relay controlled by the arduino based on time.

Overall I would need an RTC and maybe a GSM module to allow the board to SMS me if things go wrong.

I would like to hear from anyone who has worked on such a system.

In terms of priority, ammonia and nitrites can kill the fish within hours, so they are the most important to test.

2

i actually looked into a system like this for my own tank. i have already automated by snake's cage Automated Reptile Control System(webserver, Data Logging, RTC and much more) - Home Automation - Arduino Forum

the issue i ran into when i was researching the design was how to get an electrical sensor to measure the ammonia and nitrites and i was coming up short. i was able to find a few devices that can measure those substances, but they were hand held units and not stand alone sensors. they were also very expensive. because of these reasons i decided not to continue.

i will keep an eye on this thread to see if anyone has any suggestions as i am still interested in building a project like this.

3

I've played around with the stuff from Atlas-Scientific. Saves me time.

Now they've got a bunch of true UART and I2C enabled stuff... so I guess I'll have to give that a shot in a future design.

Anyway, I remember someone (it wasn't PracticalMaker)... that was developing probes for measuring ammonia and nitrates... I've lost the links. I remember sending the links over to Jordan at Atlas-Scientific, so that those guys could have a look at what the dude was developing. But, I can't find that email to Jordan either... Bummer.

4

Ammonia and Nitrites are the killers and are "a must have".