Monitor Aquariums

[mloebl]

Anyone use HS for monitoring fish tanks? I have a couple salt water tanks that right now I'd love to be able to monitor the tank temperature in order for HS to be able to turn a chiller on/off based on the indoor temp and aquarium temp. I already use one-wire devices, but not sure of a way to monitor the water temp as I don't believe any of the 1-wire sensors are waterproof. I could put it against the glass, but not sure how accurate that would be. In the future I'd love to be able to measure ph and gravity as well, but not as important as the temp. I know there are a couple of tank monitors that will issue X10 commands, but not report conditions I don't believe.

Thanks!

-Mike

[Rupp]

Mike,
I use a one wire temperature sensor to measure water temps. I found a really small test tube and soldered a temp sensor to the end of some cat5 cable. I then inserted the cat5 and sensor into the tube and filed the entire tube with clear silicone. It takes it a short period of time to adjust to the ambient temps but has worked well for almost 3 years. I often wondered if the silicone acted as an insulator but it didn't seem to.

[mloebl]

As always, thanks for the suggestion Rupp! Are you using this for a pool/spa or a fish tank? Just curious as if you used a special silicone or not. Do you fully submerge the tube, or just the end where the one wire sensor is?

Thanks,

-Mike

[JeffCharger]

I have used a 1-wire temperature guage submerged in both lake water, and a hot tub with great success. I, like Rupp, connect to CAT5, but then waterproof it by "dipping" the connection and device itself in the stuff you dip tool handles in. This has worked fine for a couple of years for me.

[mloebl]

I have used a 1-wire temperature guage submerged in both lake water, and a hot tub with great success. I, like Rupp, connect to CAT5, but then waterproof it by "dipping" the connection and device itself in the stuff you dip tool handles in. This has worked fine for a couple of years for me.

That's not a bad idea either, I'll have to see what's it's made of. The key is I have to keep it to materials that are reef safe and not toxic. Unfortunately being in an enclosed enviroment, something toxic just circulates around opposed to floating away to be someone else's problem like in nature.

-Mike

[Rupp]

Mike,
The one I used was in an aquarium so I used aquarium sealer. I submerged them to within an inch of the top as to keep the cat 5 cable dry.

[Mikhael]

I was just thinking about this. My idea was actually for water levels, but I stopped once I couldnt figure out how to automate treating the water.
Basic idea is when the water drops below a certain Lvl, the water auto fills back to the acceptible Lvl. only how would one get the water treated prior to filling?

[greenfishkeeper]

I use 1.Fully submersible automatic aquarium heater (100W or 200W)
2. Digital Thermometer
The aquarium heater keeps a constant temperature to the aquarium and the digital thermometer keeps a close monitor to the temperature of the aquarium.

you can find more informtion from the below source:
http://www.thetankaquariums.com
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tank aquariums

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