Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Nice set up you have there.

I need to get back into the Arduino. I have not used it since before V1.0 of the IDE came out. Late 2011 ish.

Thanks for sharing. I will be following your progress.

Very nice indeed.

We have been working on similar things. I just got off a 5 week break where i was planning on having my system installed. But then i left it over 6 hours drive away with no way to get it back! Doh!

What did you use for your diagrams?

I typically use Eagle for schematics and PCB. But since this is a FOSS project, I used Fritzing as it is the defacto standard for arduino projects.

AP system drawings were done with SketchUp

great setup... may I ask roughly how much you've spent so far on all the Arduino gear and sensors?

Thanks. All prices are listed in this post.
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=22607#p469911

i think it's neat when people ask questions you've already answered because they cant even read a 2 page thread before responding.

I don't mind. It is a forum after all...

All in all, the cost is quite minimal for the insight you can gain into the system. There are cost you can minimize as well. My 40x4 LCD is pretty pricey compared to a smaller module. I just wanted to see everything at a glance and not have to deal with display flipping. The biggest cost is, or course, the pH and DO probes.

pH sensor cost can be reduced as well.

It is not mandatory that the Atlas Scientific Module be used with their probe. You can use any probe you want. There are many cheaper alternatives out there but I can not comment on stability, calibration drift and duration that the probe can be submerged.

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Scientific-CIRCUIT-FOR-ARDUINO/dp/B00641R1PQ
http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Hydroponic-controller-Electrode-Connector/dp/B00DI5PM7A
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Scientific-Calibration-Solution-10-0/dp/B0063MWYMQ
(Need a BNC female socket)

These three items come to under $65 and should work just as well as the full Atlas Scientific kit.

Yes I read the whole thread and the individual item prices, but from having built projects like this myself I know first hand the final cost often ends up more than expected (eg on extra gear like casing, cabling, connectors, fuses, switches, batteries etc) hence my question

I think it would be neat if you lost your grouchy attitude mr cotton and not jump to conclusions.. it makes this forum not so fun to visit anymore

Everything else, I already had in my junk box.

Stuff like:
Project box
Fasteners
Connectors
Jumpers
Prototype boards
Relays
Resistor
Capacitors
Terminal blocks

The only other thing I plan on buying is:
12 car battery for the backup
GFCI adapter

cool, thanks... must be a fun little project

Looks Awesome, can' wait to see how it all works out

Hi Chiumanfu

I have similar setup running with the Atlas PH and DO probes. You will find that your readings will be way off once you have both probes in the water. I tried to separate them into two separate tanks bot that did not effect the error at all.

Atlas claim it is the DO probe that needs to electrical isolated. They do sell a module for this with data, serial and power line filtering. I have used the module and it did reduce the error to about 50% of what it was. So now I am going to completely isolate each module from each others serial and power lines one at a time in a cycle to see if that ha any effect.

The DO runs about at about 12 when it should be reporting around 7-8. The PH probe reports a PH of about 9 when it is 6.8. Both probes will calibrate correctly because you calibrate then in isolation.

Each probe works faultlessly on its own but unfortunately not when both are on.

I hope this information may help you when you get both working together. Then again you may not have any issues. For now I will test alternating each probe on one after the other for about 15min to see how it goes.

Thanks Johny5. Good to know.