Sunday, October 16, 2011

Introduction

The following is a labor of love to build a saltwater aquarium that looks great but also doesn't require nearly as much maintenance as a typical fish tank.  This is accomplished by using automation powered by Arduino

I did the carpentry work on the cabinet as well as the electronics.  I didn't photograph the carpentry portion of the project, but this blog is mostly about the electronics used to automate the tank.

I originally posted this blog back in 2011, but have recently updated it with a few more pieces of information.  The aquarium is still running strong in 2022 with a few powerhead pump replacements along the way, and it's in the exact same place because it is very heavy.


The video below provides an overview of the tank, but the details are in the pages of this blog, so please check those out! 


If you are ready to jump into the guts of the controller I suggest you move on to the Controller page, or maybe you are more interested in the software that runs everything.  There are many other pages with more details:
Along the way, I have highlighted some Lessons Learned with the 💡icon.

31 comments:

  1. Congratulations Roger, when I grow up I want to be like you. Could you explain what materials used to automate your aquarium. The automation of my tank is my project for this year and would like to use their methodology. I am new to arduino and would like to make your project as a starting point to mine. This is my email (emiliobandeiralima@gmail.com) if so, kindly send your email so that I can also take some questions.

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    1. I am terrible at keeping up with posts on this blog. I encourage you to keep on tinkering and building! I hope you are still at it!

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  2. Complementing the previous post, I am Brazilian and I live in Sao Luis, in Maranhao State, and participate in a national group of amateur aquarists with over 8000 members. If you consent, I would like to introduce you to this group. We have some discursões in the group on automation of aquariums. Honestly, I'm impressed with your aquarium design automation (DIY - Do it yourself).

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    1. Thanks for the post Emilio. I am sure you have made great progress since you have posted here. Let me know if there is anything I can share with your group.

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  3. Hello Mr. Roger
    I mean that from now is a fantastic project and very successful.
    For the final proof of my course I'm doing a similar project.
    He could give me information about your project so I can improve my so that it is optimized to take some doubts if possible
    Sorry for bad English.
    If you can answer here is my email: rfalkao@live.com.pt
    Thank you for your attention
    greetings
    Ruben Falcao

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    1. Ruben, apologies for the extremely delayed reply. All the information I have on my project is posted here. Let me know if you have a specific question.

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  4. That's a fantastic looking aquarium. I would love to build something similar to that and put it in our den. I think it would look great and give the room a nice calming feeling.

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    1. I hope you went ahead and built it! Best of luck!

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  5. Awesome tank! Just great looking. Any more details on the equipment ?

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    1. The equipment is pretty standard saltwater aquarium stuff. To get started you'll need a return pump and a protein skimmer at a minimum. Best of luck!

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  6. Wow. Thanks for all the very nice comments! I just discovered all of these. For some reason Blogspot didn't email me when they were posted, so apologies for the delayed response. I've meant to add some text to this blog for a very long time, but got wrapped up in yet another Arduino project. Last weekend I added a lot of text to a blog about that project. You can check it out here http://arduino-coop.blogspot.com/ There are definitely some similarities, so may be useful to you. Soon I'll be adding text to this blog that will hopefully help in your own aquarium controller projects. Also, a few weeks ago I updated the Source Code to Arduino 1.0 if you want to get the latest.

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    1. good day Rodger i noticed you have the source code available fir your reef controller but i was wondering if you had a list / diagram of the shields and sensors you used if possible .
      wesleykite0@gmail.com

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    2. Hi Wesley, I'm sorry, but I don't have a diagram of the wiring or sensors. I recommend that you take each circuit one by one. Let me know if I can point you in the right direction for any of them.

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  7. Hi,

    I would like to give this code a try, but couldn't find the libraies for it. Can you point me a direction to download?
    specially .

    Thanks.

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    1. I believe I zipped up the libraries and posted on github awhile back. https://github.com/RogerReed/Arduino-Aquarium/blob/master/AquariumControllerLibraries.zip

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  9. Hello, I have been trying to make a simple controller to take care of my nano tank that needs to turn two lights at separate times, read out the tank temperature and adjust when needed.

    I am extremely new to Arduino and the code it uses and I have been all over the internet trying to look at the code people are using and try to make a extremely simple cut down version for my self. this has also proven to be a struggle for me as when ever I try to compile anyones code I get errors. mostly down to me not being able to find the correct library I expect!

    I would be extremely happy if you could help to point me in the correct direction as I feel this one is getting away from me!

    I currently have a Arduino UNO and basic Serial 16x2 LCD, LM32 Temp Sensor and all the relays to go with it. I have no problem with the hardware side of things, I just get extremely confused when it comes to the Sketch.

    Thank you again I hope you can keep this project alive for me!

    Russ
    ruspea@googlemail.com

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  10. Hi Roger,

    Fantastic project and something I would like to build for my marine tank. However, I've not been able to locate two of the include files, namely FormatDouble.h and Arduino.h

    If you could either provide these for download on your site, or provide a link to their location it would be welcome.

    Thanks

    Malcolm

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  11. Could you describe the components of project

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  12. Malc or Roger I'm also wondering about libraries, specifically FormatDouble.h?

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  14. Great home aquarium. Did you set it all up? Or did you buy the equipment?

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    1. Hi Heather, I bought the equipment and set it all up. If you're new to saltwater aquariums you'll need to start with a return pump and protein skimmer. Good quality lights are also very important. I hope your build is going well!

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  15. Congratulation Sir Roger for your great project! I really want to be like you too. By the way I am a student and I am new user of arduino and my final project is also an automated aquarium. If its OK to you could you help me make my project, its getting hard for me when it comes in coding, it always take an error. I have:
    16 key membrane keypad that plugs right into the LCD I2C controller
    BLUELCD 20 X 4 BL ( Character LCD w/ backlight )
    DS1307 Real Time Clock Mini Board
    GSM Mobile Shield
    Stepper Motor
    Arduino 320
    LM32 Temp Sensor
    My goal is to feed the fish scheduled everyday using the stepper motor that will plug in to LCD “Feed Fish” and when its already fed it will send an SMS to the owner that the fish is already fed, a real time clock to keeps track of the time, a temp sensor for water temp monitoring to be plug in to LCD, a keypad that can use for settings, and a sensor that can sense if the water is already dirty that needs to clean to be plug in to LCD also.

    My email is:

    greeny.frogy2218@gmail.com

    Thank you hope you read this and help me.

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    1. Hi Antonio, Check out the source code I posted on this blog https://github.com/RogerReed/Arduino-Aquarium and also for my Chicken Coop https://github.com/RogerReed/Arduino-Coop. I hope this helps. I recommend commenting out everything you don't need to just get one piece working and then build up from there. Good luck!

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  16. yes he did I had a fun journey tracking down Roger's email to ask him for the missing ones I couldn't find and he was kind enough to post them for me and everyone else that stumbled on to this page I never did make his fish tank controller but now I have a chance to make the Arduino-coop (never had a live chicken before :))

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    1. Good to hear from you Dale. I hope you get to build a coop! The automatic door started as a novelty, but as my neighbors' chickens have been picked off by bobcats and coyotes, it has been a lifesaver! I highly recommend some kind of automated door to lock them up at night.

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  17. anyone currently on here can email me for Rogers library files or go to his GitHub page. It might have Gist. in front of the GitHub if so just back space over it and you will be at the page you want just click on Arduino-aquarium or on Arduino-coop and you will see the library files and the .ino files

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  18. almost forgot email me at rott@buckeye-express.com

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  19. You there, this is really good aquarium plants here. Thanks for taking the time to post such valuable information. Quality content is what always gets the visitors coming.

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