Jump to content

Datalogging my tank


nightwlf

Recommended Posts

In my current line of work, I manufacture dataloggers for a wide range of environmental conditions. Having recently set up my new 19L tank at work, and cycling the water a bit (before I return from holiday and stock the tank, heee) I decided to monitor the temperature of my tank, vs the ambient temperature.

The computer at work is set to ftp the realtime readings from the logger up to a website, which you can see here - though I am having some problems with our software on the new Windows 7 system so it crashes, and seeing as I'm off on holiday then the page isn't going to update for five days or so, but just as an example; http://nightwlf.trutrack.com/tank.html

The datalogger is also putting away a reading every 5 minutes, of the ambient temperature and the tank temperature, so I can get a historical graph of what the traces have been doing - but I don't have an example of that at the moment.

All in all, at cost, this setup is probably worth about $200, maybe a wee bit more, so its not exactly a hobbyists tank accompaniment, but if anyone is particularly interested or has any questions, feel free to bombard me with them =)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was looking at a system the other night that does the same thing but can upload to twitter

Need to poop! - Goldfish 6:30 4/8/2010

Poop is coming out! - Goldfish 6:35 4/8/2010

All done. - Goldfish 6:50 4/8/2010

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi looks :o good

can this be set up on mts :hail::hail:

We have dataloggers which can log 3 analog channels (ie temperature) and a kind of godzilla logger which has up to 8 channels, so I suppose it depends how severe your mts is =)

This is an example of the trace data which results from logging over a period of time, which I have taken from my tank. You can see around sample 200 where I did a 50% water change on the unstocked tank, and the time to recover the two degrees back to thermostatted 24°C. It's also interesting to note when the ambient temperature climbs above around 21°C, the water temperature rises slightly. This may be a side effect of direct sunlight striking the tank during this time period - I may need to install blinds! The trace tonight should let me know whether this is the case, as it is very cloudy at home tonight.

19Ltank130410s.jpg

(higher res available at http://nightwlf.trutrack.com/fish/19Ltank130410.jpg)

Our firm doesn't build pH sensors as they are a bit black-box tech for us (more complex than it is worth us figuring out our own ways to do it) but they are available through other outlets, and our loggers can be configured to accept their output, quite easily if it is a millivolt or milliamp output.

I was looking at a system the other night that does the same thing but can upload to twitter

If the system is constantly connected to a PC, you can set it to send you emails when certain conditions are breached, like the temperature on tank A goes over 26 degrees or tank C goes under 20 degrees, pretty much set any conditions you like. If you have the logger connected to a cellphone modem, you can have it SMS a txt message to you with a warning saying whatever you like. It all starts to mount up a bit, but it can certainly be done. Suppose it could text the international tweet number and update a twitter for you, hadn't really thought about it =)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of reef tanks use similar systems. You can do some really cool stuff with them. Reefs have a lot more things to monitor and the system is a lot smaller percentage of the overall cost though. But even in FW it would be cool to have a computer running the lights and temp, you could even have it monitoring the PH and dose with an acidic or alkaline solution to maintain it in the set range. Just not really as cost effective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NOT fun. My labmate was looking at the effects of pH on a species of anemone. He had a system like that set up for the control animals. Those computers were fussy as heck! Countless times they were beeping and acting up even he figured out how to use them!

Fun tho if you can scratch up the bits :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...