Reef Angel Forum

Hi all,

One of the many things I like about the RA system is the flexibility to make custom settings and of course monitor the system. I prefer, where applicable, to be able to see a report of the environment rather than the report of what is supposed to be on. Usually when I have an issue, the equipment (for instance, a powerhead or heater or bulb) has failed somehow and not the RA system directions. The thermometers cover the heating and cooling well. I've been trying to add things like flow meters & lux meters (photoresistors) to monitor that the pumps are working and the bulbs are really on. Recently, I had a powerhead fail and I didn't notice it until I was home watching the tank. I really don't know how long it was off.

So, this got me to thinking about a fun little DIY project to put some kind of small 'paddle' in the tank to see that it is swinging back and forth (with the waves). I thought I would throw this idea out here and see if anyone had a good idea about how to do it. Maybe I could hack a Wii nunchuck to sense a direction change? Any ideas?


Thanks,
Jon

Cool idea.
Let me know if yo ever get it to work

Making a flap in the tank out of some thin plexiglass or something would be easy, but measuring the angle may be a bit tougher. Examples on the net use potentiometers or even joysticks but they require a pretty good force to change the signal. I 'd imagine I'll have to use a gyro or accelometer to sense the change in the angle of the 'flap'.

Jon

there's a terse description of a 1-wire based flowmeter at http://www.jjoseph.org/misc_projects/1_wire_sensors and http://www.jjoseph.org/water_cooling/cu ... ter_cooler. uses a DS2423 to track motion of a paddle wheel. Could something like that be used with the 1-wire bus on the reef angel and used to monitor wave activity?

Basically all you need is a feedback signal, and there is a bunch of OW components specialized in that, they monitor if the device is really ON or OFF.

As for wave making, doing the same as the TUNZE controller or the VORTECH might be easyier.
The only real thing I know about reef tanks is : what ever mecanical solution you use, it will fail (salt, snails, etc...)

Thanks Jason, what is OW? I agree with your thoughts about mechanical solutions. I guess I was hoping two failures (powerhead & sensor) are less likely to both fail at the same time.

I am currently using Koralia powerheads controlled by the RA and it seems to work well and was a cheaper alternative.

-Jon