How can I create flow in a tank controlled by a raspberry pi

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kevinp

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 24, 2013
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South Africa
I am currently in the process of building a 3.6 meter long 2000L plywood and glass reef tank
along with DIY lighting & Protien skimmer.


The lighting will be controlled by a Raspberry PI
It will also be used to controll / monitor the temperature


what I would also like it to do is controll the flow within the tank.


I would very much like to hide whatever it is that I use to create the flow
while at the same time being able to easily replace it should it break down.


I imagine most people use powerheads to create flow.


I have read it is not a good idea to keep turning power heads on and off (which could be done using relays).
and I have not found any cheap powerheads that can be controlled using pwm.




So I am thinking more along the lines of a number of pipes which could more easily
be hidden / built into a DIY background and not need any maintenace once installed.


with a single easy to access pump connected to all of the pipes with some device
that can switch the flow between the pipes by some kind of electrical signal.


My Question(s) is there such a device ?
Has anyone else come up with a different solution ?
 
I can't remember what it is called but they make a device that you plumb inline with an enclosed loop system pump or your main return pump and it will change which pipes it returns the water through and change between 2 or 4 different pipes you can plum in anywhere. Best when it's an enclosed loop and you can plumb them into the floor of the tank or in rock work really well. It's kinda like a slow rotating valve shutting off water to one return then changing to another and back and forth over and over. But if you are looking for something interesting and cheaper look into the jebao wave makers and see what you come up with

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Thanks, are you actually using these power heads and turning them on and off and if so how often and how long have they been running ?
 
Thanks, sounds like what I am looking for so if anyone has a name for this kind of device I would be grateful.

The jebao wave makers are also interesting in that they are controllable but since I want to control them using the PI I would have to ditch their controller
which seems a bit of a waste. Also so far all I can find is user manuals nothing that tells me what kind of signal they use. So if anyone has more details on how they work, I would be grateful.
 
I'd love a detailed write up on how oyu plan to control lights and temp's with the pi, custom made software? on what OS?

I'd love to use a Pi to tie a webcam into it and run a website for my aquarium :)
 
kevinp said:
Thanks, sounds like what I am looking for so if anyone has a name for this kind of device I would be grateful.

The jebao wave makers are also interesting in that they are controllable but since I want to control them using the PI I would have to ditch their controller
which seems a bit of a waste. Also so far all I can find is user manuals nothing that tells me what kind of signal they use. So if anyone has more details on how they work, I would be grateful.
Click to expand...
They're dc powered, so controller is also the power supply. voltage is varied for reef like turbulent conditions. To create a standing wave it goes through a 5 step on off and what looks to me one of those steps the pump actually reverses rotation to create that wave. The dial controls the duration it switches from on to off to tune it to your tanks length.

I have a couple them running I can answer questions about the unit but I'm against pulling apart the wiring or anything to test them.
 
With AC motors (like the ones driving (most) aquarium pumps, you can't vary the output power using PWM. There are a couple of ways to do it, but in general they all involve using TRIACs and adjusting the length of the AC wave that goes into the pump. Think of it as a switch that only opens part way through the sine wave which keeps the power at 60 htz, but effectively lowers the power input by only allowing 50% or whatever of the sine way to get to the motor.

Google "how to control AC motor with microcontroller" and you'll find a lot of DIY pages on how to do it.

I have a similar (arduino) setup in my tank, and I control the flow by just turning pumps/filters on/off using relays. I have 3 canister filters and a powerhead, so by turning any number of them on and I can roughly control the flow.

Also, if everything is plumbed together with a single PVC output from your filtration system, you can measure the flo
 
Not cheap but you could use electric pvc ball valves.

The valves themselves could be mounted under the tank and the pipe run to wherever you want it. Easy maintenance if you ever need to.

[video=youtube;558LJrjd2u8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=558LJrjd2u8[/video]
 
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