wot_fan

My DIY tank control is still a work in progress, but I thought it was far enough a long to share. At this point I have the filters on both of my tanks and most of the lights hooked up.

I guess I should start with the setup. I am using a program on my Mac Pro called Indigo 4 to control Insteon modules that my tank lights and filters are plugged into. Indigo turns devices on/off (and dims incandescent lights) based on time (including sunset & sunrise), remote controls or web pages.

I have my tanks set up so the moon lights turn on an hour before the main lights. They turn off when the main lights turn on. They turn on again a couple minutes before the main lights turn off. An hour later they turn off.

I have also made a webpage that is formatted for my iPhone. This turns my iPhone into a wireless remote for my tanks . Since it is just a web page, I can use it on any of the computers in my house as well. Here is what it looks like. (The preview is squashed, click the thumbnail for a properly formatted version).


The far left of each section shows the current on/off status of each device. It also will toggle the status if tapped. The red round buttons labeled 5 & 10 turn off the filters for that tank for 5 or 10 minutes. When active the button turns green and the number counts down the minutes until the filters turn back on. I like turning the filters off when I feed. So depending on what food I am using I just press one of these two buttons and don't have to worry that I will forget to turn the filters back on .

The buttons with 60 on them are used to change the time my lights turn off. My main lights are scheduled to turn off at 10 and my moon lights at 11. If I want to have a light turn off an hour later, I press the button for that light. When the extend mode is enabled the ring around the button turns from red to green. When the lights are actually being kept on passed their normal time (ie 10:01 for the white light) the button turns green and the number counts down the minutes until the light turns off.

The modules are kind of pricey so I have been adding stuff a little at a time. My next addition will be the main light on my 29G. Right now that is controlled by a standard plugin timer. After that I will probably have more tanks to control . If not I will add modules for individual filters. Now all the filters on a tank are plugged into one module. It would be nice to stagger the filters when I turn them back on (ie after feeding turning on the sponge filters a couple of minutes before my AQ HOBs on my 29).

Well that's my setup. I will post updates as I add to it. How soon will depend on the cash situation and whether or not I setup a 20G dwarf puffer tank .

Here is my 29G with just the main and just the moon lights on. The moon lights are bright enough to make the tank into a great night light but not bright enough to affect the fish .

Nate McFin

Unreal! What a great set up. There have been many times I would like to have remote access when I wasn't home. I do alot of this manually right now and it is a huge pain!Thanks for sharing.

ray_sj

Nice project! I use the Insteon modules to control my tank lights as well. They work great.

pepetj

I tip my hat to your work here!

Pepe
Santo Domingo

wot_fan

for the comments

ray_sj: How do you turn your modules off and on?

ray_sj

I use an old RS-232 X-10 controller and I control it with a software package called Heyu running under Linux. Heyu also supports Mac. There are several packages that work with heyu to allow web control as well.

I currently just have a script that turns the lights on and off at the right time.

Nate McFin

Anyone know of any apps that would work for Windows XP?

wot_fan

ray_sj: I used to use that same controller when I was using X10 stuff. Thanks for the info

Nate McFin: Years ago I used to use a PC for home automation. I used a program called Homeseer. I know it works well with X10 hardware. I am not sure about Insteon though.

mbuna13

HomeSeer supports Insteon... says so right on the website.
under the the software tab

"Includes all HomeSeer software add-ons ('plug-ins') for use with a variety of technologies, devices and programs. Many supported technologies are free, such as Insteon."

HomeSeer is not the cheapest software out there, but very expandable and very flexible, especially if you are using it for more than just your tank, or if you have more than 1 tank.

T