[Chiefston]

Chemical injection

So, after a couple trips to Ace, I got some good advice from one of the guys there. Instead of trying to cobble together a bunch of fittings, why not just use the same idea as the CO2 into the cerges reactor? So, I simply drilled a 3/16" hole in a 1/2" PVC plug, and pulled some air line tubing through. Add a couple check valves, and now my dosing pumps can pump into the filter line after the cerges reactor.

 

[sketch804]

Great project you have going on here! I would like to do something similar. Definitely following.

 

[Chiefston]

Thanks sketch! It has been a very long journey. I have everything hooked up now, however since I mounted my project box, it is now in close proximity to the capacitance sensor, and I am getting the ghost readings again :icon_frow So now I will have to move the sensor board again... Oh well. In better news, the tank is being put back together. Since I intend to have such a pronounced slope, I am going to use egg crate under the substrate to help with erosion. Work has begun on that part, and I intend to flood the tank sometime this week

Underneath the tank. Still a little messy, but I'll do some cable management down there soon.

Closeup of the chemical injection port. I drilled a 3/16" hole in a PVC cap and pulled some air line tubing through. There is a check valve just outside of it. I have two lines running into the top cap, as I didn't really have room for another PVC "T" fitting. I will run micros into the single port, and macros into the T fitting to keep them from mixing and precipitating. I also was able to calibrate the pumps today.

Shot of the tank with the egg crate being built. I need a couple more levels of the crate and then I start scaping!

 

[redfire123au]

G'day was wondering if you could re upload the Arduino code?

 

[PhysicsDude55]

Very cool build. Nice use of an arduino.

 

[Chiefston]

Heres a new link for the code. Mind you, its rather messy...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9sjpbdw5ih743q4/LCD_and_RTC.ino?dl=0

 

[kman]

Been quiet... how's it all working?

 

[Notorious93]

mind if i steal your inline dosing invention? lolol it was exactly what i was looking for

 

[Chiefston]

Notorious, I'm glad my posts have helped someone! I haven't had any problems with my dosing setup since I started using it. I have mL markings on my bottles, and it's been injecting 15mL rock solid since the initial calibration.

kman, I'll have to get some new pics up soon. I replaced the Ray2 with a Ecoxotic E-series recently, as my previous RGB led setup was not built to withstand the test of time. Been looking at AnotherHobbys setup, and have to reprogram my controller to use those IR codes.

Thanks for the interest!

 

[Notorious93]

im making my version slightly more compact, and using quick connect adapters to connect the dosing line so its much more convenient. if i decide to add an ATO i might add a third line for it and see how if it works

and this gave me an idea to do an inline water changer if the inline ATO works

 

[Dead2fall]

hamato, I went ahead and ordered the ds18b20 myself. I looked it up, and there seems to be a one-wire library that is available for it, and it seems pretty easy to use. I am thinking that I will keep the thermistor, and use it to regulate the temperature inside the project box via a 12v computer fan.

I made quite a bit of headway in the programming today. I now have the RGB strip lights working, and have the ability to program the light timers and RGB values for morning, daytime, evening, and moonlight. I was also able to get the capacitive sensing working and tested. It appears that I will be able to use the capacitive buttons through the 3/4" plywood of my stand. This makes me happy, as I no longer need to figure out a way to have buttons unobtrusively stick out of my stand

I ran out of time today, but I'm hoping to get a quick video of my progress up to this point posted tomorrow. It'll be nice to have a video snapshot of the project for when I get it all finished, and maybe I can get some constructive criticism from the folks who've already blazed this trail.

Until then, enjoy planting tanks!

What capacitive buttons are you using? I'm thinking of setting up some controls like this myself. Was curious about them.

 

[mrpreston]

Wow Chiefston, great job here, i decided to grab a mega and started getting to work replicating this project as it is what i was envisioning myself anyways and had all the other parts(code from post 66). I have the code uploaded along with connecting the rtc, lcd, DS3231 and some buttons, the problem i am having atm is setting the fert levels and testing out that part of the code. I am able to get to pump settings 1 2 and 3 then the problem starts, i can set ml amts for pump 1 ONLY, and on top of that no amts are showing when i return to home screen, and this is where i get stuck..

Hopefully this message reaches you or anyone else that has used this sketch, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks,
Matt

 

[ichy]

what a project! Nice work!

 

[jbullfrog]

Quite impressive. That takes quite a bit of research to get everything wired safely in addition to learning how to code the Arduino. Nice code by the way! I only looked at the most recent upload but its very clear and easy to follow from what I skimmed of it. That, after all, is all that matters after functionality!
I was wondering something though. Sorry if you answered it already but you have a lot of power going into the box and I was wondering how you delivered power to the lights, filter, heater, pumps, co2, etc. Are you using the 12V power supply to power all of these parts?