New Project - Monitor Fish Tanks

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

I have 2 fish tanks that I grow fish in to eat, Aquaponics...

At this time I am using a Foscam on each tank and I can monitor the water level and water flow which tells me if the pumps are working or not. the Foscam are send to my router then sends to my dns service. I then monitor them from the internet using my Iphone, Ipad or computer from any where in the world when I travel.

What I want to do now is monitor the water temperature, PH and maybe the oxygen level. I have done some research and I know that I can get these sensors.

What I dont know, is there a wifi module I can use to send the information to my router, which I can the forward to my dns and the to the web.

Thank you all

2

You just need a wifi module. All the rest (sending to router.. dns.. blah blah blah) is just a matter of configuration of relevant equipment.

3

As previously mentioned there are 2 tanks to get data from. Can I use one Arduino with the appropriate probes, shields, and the one WiFi shield to monitor both tanks?

Any information what I will require would be greatly appreciated also.

Thank you

4

There have been some impressive aquarium projects posted in the past. Check below. The arduino wifi shield appears to be somewhat issue prone. I got a foscam a while back and the cam includes a free dynamic ip address service provided by foscam.

https://www.google.com/search?as_q=aquarium&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.arduino.cc%2Findex&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=&gws_rd=ssl

5

Only mainly worried about the temperature monitoring and send that over the wifi to my router. Any thing else is a bonus

6

and send that over the wifi to my router

The project would probably be easy with a wired ethernet shield. Since you want to use the wifi shield, then below would be previous discussions to study.

https://www.google.com/search?as_q=wifi+shield&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.arduino.cc%2Findex&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=&gws_rd=ssl

7

Has any one used this? WiFi Shield V3 RPSMA (802.11b/g/n) It looks like what I could use as it will send over my network to my router.

8

So what I am thinking is a Arduino UNO Rev3, WiFi Shield V3 RPSMA (802.11b/g/n), a temp shield and Waterproof Digital Thermal Temperature Temp Sensor Probe DS18B20 Connector.

Any thing else I would need?

9

You can stretch your imagination quite a long way on a project like this. Local backup recording and local display are two obvious temptations, and backup recording inevitably means including a real time clock. God only knows what a temperature shield is, don't bank on simply plugging things together, and it could simpler to make your own shield.

I would be more inclined to use an Ethernet shield feeding a WiFi repeater than a WiFi shield. The combination is more useful, a hell of a lot cheaper, and less likely to cause you grief. The repeater has other uses beyond the WiFi shield, and an Ethernet shield includes an SD card slot.

If you follow this sort of path, you are likely to find the Uno has insufficient memory, and I submit you may be better off getting a Mega 2560 to start with.

Picture shows small shield with RTC and headers for DS18B20s, bluetooth and I2C display etc.

10

Not really interested in recording anything but would like local displays

11

You can wire DS18B20s directly into the arduino - I'm not sure what the temp shield is for. You mention sending temperature data to your router - what is it going to do with it? Normally, I'd expect it to be going either to a web server you control or some kind of on-line service such as Xively.

12

Thommoperth:
Not really interested in recording anything

I bet you will be eventually. If you need to know at all, you need to know always.

Remember where you heard it first........

13

wildbill:
You can wire DS18B20s directly into the arduino - I'm not sure what the temp shield is for. You mention sending temperature data to your router - what is it going to do with it? Normally, I'd expect it to be going either to a web server you control or some kind of on-line service such as Xively.

Does Xilely have a cost?

I already have a website hopefully I can get the info through that or from my dns server.

Nick_Pyner:
I bet you will be eventually. If you need to know at all, you need to know always.

Remember where you heard it first........

Yes there is a case for saving temp data so you are right.

Nick_Pyner:
You can stretch your imagination quite a long way on a project like this. Local backup recording and local display are two obvious temptations, and backup recording inevitably means including a real time clock. God only knows what a temperature shield is, don't bank on simply plugging things together, and it could simpler to make your own shield.

I would be more inclined to use an Ethernet shield feeding a WiFi repeater than a WiFi shield. The combination is more useful, a hell of a lot cheaper, and less likely to cause you grief. The repeater has other uses beyond the WiFi shield, and an Ethernet shield includes an SD card slot.

If you follow this sort of path, you are likely to find the Uno has insufficient memory, and I submit you may be better off getting a Mega 2560 to start with.

Picture shows small shield with RTC and headers for DS18B20s, bluetooth and I2C display etc.

Would like local read outs on a local display.

Lots to consider on this project before I even choose which Arduino to use it seems. Probably do it in a series of small projects.
1 Arduino with temp reading to local read out, then
2 add wifi to send data over the internet, then
3 add some way of saving data, probably with SD Card Shield.

What I need to know now is what sort of Arduino can handle the above with some spare capacity in case I want to add other stuff?

What program will I need to read the data from the sd card? Maybe excel or something like that?

Thank you all that have contributed to this project so far.

Hopefully I can get this build under way in March or April.

14

I have had another thought to add more stuff.
Think I might like to have my grow beds empty of water a few times a day to airate the roots. The inlet would be shut of with a valve controled by the Arduino for a bout 15 to 20 minutes 3 times a day. As there are 2 growbeds on one fish tank I would have them emptying at different times about 20 minutes apart.

15

didn't know it was possible, I'm new at this stuff, but this post was very useful, thanks! I was always fond of aquariums and sea creatures in all. Weirdly, I've never had an aquarium of my own.. But now I wanna buy myself one with a lot of various fish species and different decorations. A friend of mine has an amazing fish tank and he said he bought everything he needed from this site Bobbit Worm - Eunice Aphroditois, The King of Polychaete Marine Worms . I' ll chek it out and hope I'll be satisfied with the result