I have been working a bit on my reef controller and I have gotten far enough to show it off.  So far everything works just fine except the RTC, it will spit bad data back from time to time.  I ordered a replacement chip just in case.  Othere than that, here we go:

Here is the boards and wiring.  Still need a pretty box to put it all in.


This is the power control unit.  It uses 8 SSRs on an American DJ unit.


Here is a mandatory tank shot:


Right now the Arduino controls:
Temp (heater, fan, kills lights if too hot)
Water level (uses float switch)
Power heads (kills pumps for 5 min for feeding)
Displays pH
**Light timer (once the RTC errors are resolved.)

Next component on order is a keypad.

Read about all the details and code at:
http://reefprojects.com

It does monitor pH.  Ammonia and salinity are difficult to monitor as far as my research goes, so probably not.

As far as your 12v pump, I would be worried about it leaching heavy metals or other chemicals into the tank.  Also, corrosion will be an issue.

Nice tank,

I have been looking at your code for some ideas for my controller, At the moment i have a profilux looking after most of the stuff but im builing my own led lighting and the arduino seemed perfect for what i wanted to do.

So far i have the rtc,lcd and temp almost working

Just thought i would add pic of my puddle

Hey Jener8tionx - I hadn't figured out what I was gonna do for a power supply yet. I'm glad you brought it up, I most likly would start the same way you did with the 9v's but I'm gonna need to check out that sparkfun tutorial again because I need to power a few different designs now.

Charlie

I finally finished the enclosure for my controller.

I actually want to have a aquarium just to replicate this... I think my brother has a small aquarium somewhere... hmm

Thanks for posting this! I was thinking about doing something similar. I was looking at building an LED bank for the lights. I wanted to do an scr pwm controller connected directly to the mains to power the LED's. I thought it would be very power efficient but would need to be carefully done so a failure didn't fry the fish/cause a fire.

That's pretty cool. I've been thinking about LED lighting, but with the saltwater it has to be a bluish color. Figured I'd use RGB leds so I can control that. Of course than the cost goes way up.

Anybody else with a saltwater thought about how to do this?