Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm searching, though not really finding what I want.
What I'd like is a wired live webcam I can mount in the FT. It would be nice if it had infrared night vision, but daylight only would be fine too. Our school of Brook trout are getting big and fun to watch and we plan to go for a full year with them.

I do know that waterproof and underwater are two different things. This one is the right layout. Pan and tilt would be better.

I could mount it so the antennae was above the water I guess. POE (Power over Ethernet) really is what I need. I mean there is already a power wire, why not have an Ethernet cable too?

I think you would have a lot more camera options if you could put the camera outside the tank... maybe something like this in the side of the fish tank for a pan, tilt, zoom camera to view through?

http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Dome-Plastic-Hemisphere-Diameter/dp/B00XI6Z0MQ

We're putting ours above the tank, underwater cameras just seem like too much trouble.

You need an IPX rating, IP66 isn't for underwater. I had a bit of a look last year, but didn't find anything, might have another look to see if there is anything suitable now.
I wanted underwater rated plus wireless to connect to my house network, so that I could check on things when not at home, but not costing a fortune.

I am curious about the best angle or placement for the camera. Would you put it at mid tank so you can see the side of the fish to check health better or would yo put it on the bottom looking up to see the belly?

Looking up from underneath probably wouldnt give a good view, the undersides of the fish would be too dark to see properly due to the bright background. Generally this sort of camera is unlikely to have a high enough dynamic range to cater for the huge range of brightness between sky and fish belly, unless you want to spend a large sum on it.

The sky and day light as a back ground would mess up the cam for sure. Wonder what would be the best background Colour? White?

How about using clear pcv pipe as a water tight encasement for the camera an put it close to the feeder. To check in on them.

http://www.amazon.com/Esky-EC135-05-Wat ... 900&sr=1-1

Something like a Reverse cam for a car. (the images will be reversed though) but looks like a viable option.

great thanks for the replies. It seems we're on the cusp of many technological advances these days. It makes a bells and whistles kind of guy like myself so very happy to be alive. As far as angles and enclosures, reflections are not friends of photography.

I've found that if I can see a reflection the camera won't get a shot of anything else. Hey, but wouldn't this be awesome mounted on the side of our fish tanks? Until it turns green, right?
I really would like to have infrared, but like Gary suggests true waterproof and underwater rated are a must and this is priority one. So probably pan and tilt aren't reasonable because of the mechanisms.
So this next one is exactly what I want except in underwater rated. Tall order?

Sports cams seem to be where the money is, so that is what's available on the cheap. Perhaps I could retrofit a power cord and Ethernet cable along with a homemade turret mount, but seems like a rpita.

looking at this "Waterproof" situation: From https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/2ga2jq/water_proof_water_resistant_ip68_what_does_it/
TL/DR: consider all current water resistant devices vulnerable to anything more than rain/washing hands. IP67/68 is a gimmick. I am sick and tired of reading “This is water resistant! Not water proof!” so I decided to make a little write-up about water protection.
So first of all, “waterproof” or “water resistant” by itself means nothing. Nothing. It’s not like “water resistant” is against splashed and “waterproof” is for submersion. “Waterproof” does not mean that water damage is covered by the warranty. Furthermore, standards for watches, ISO 2281 and subsequent 22810 prohibit the use of term “waterproof” as confusing.
So let’s focus first on IP code which comes from IEC standard 60529. We all saw the marking IP67, IP68 etc. So what those number mean?
First digit is for solid particle protection. 0 is no protection, 1 to 4 is protection from objects larger than 50, 12.5, 2.5 and 1 mm (I will use metric units, sorry). Number 5 is “dust protected” which Wikipedia, for confusion I think, calls “dust proof”. Standard states that “Ingress of dust is not totally prevented, but dust shall not penetrate in quantity to interfere with satisfactory operation of the apparatus or to impair safety”. Number 6, highest level of particle protection, means no dust what so ever in the enclosure. Easy.
Second digit is trickier. 0 for no protection is fairly obvious. 1 is equivalent of light rain. 2, 3 and 4 are different degrees of splashing water. Think washing your hands with different degree of sloppiness. Numbers 5 and 6 is water jets with specific flowrates. My back of the envelope calculations show that 5 is equivalent to my water tap in the kitchen that’s open in full. 6 is much stronger.
And now the popular numbers – 7 and 8. First one is up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. It does NOT mean that it will start leaking after 30 minutes. It just means that this is the test that was done and passed. Number 8 means test done for more than 1 meter (has to be specified) for a specified amount of time.
Now what is important about this, that if you have a device with IPX7 or IPX8 protection it is NOT automatically compliant with neither IPX5 or IPX6 – the water jets test!
You also need to remember, that all those tests are carried out at temperatures between 15 and 35 degrees C. (60F to 95F). This means that hot tub or a steamy shower is outside of those conditions. Higher temperature means softer rubber means less protection.
Let’s have a closer look at watches now. This industry has a long history of making water resistant watches. My Casio is rated at 20 bar for example. Per ISO 22810 it means that it was tested at 125% of this pressure -25 bar. This is equivalent to 250 meter deep water. Now that makes your 1 meter deep rated Xperia look silly. And you know that is even funnier? Look at the suggestions from watch manufacturers on what those ratings mean. Very often 3 bar (30 meters) rating is described as “everyday use. Splash/rain resistant. NOT suitable for swimming, snorkelling, water related work or fishing”. Other website describes 5 bar (50 meters) as “Suitable for everyday use and swimming but NOT poolside diving, snorkelling or water sports.” Oh – and you are required to service your watch every year and preferably pressure test it, because seals degrade over time.
Again, compare it to 1 meter (0.1 bar) rated Xperia… So what does IP67/IP68 mean? Not much. Mostly marketing and that it is slightly better than water-splash resistant.
Please keep your IP-whatever rated devices out of your showers, water taps etc. – they are not rated for that unless IPX5 or IPX6 rated. Keep your IP rated devices from the swimming pools, as 1 meter rating is very low. When you move your phone underwater you will generate dynamic pressure due to movement. Washing hands/rain is ok.
Warranty? What warranty. It is impossible to prove that you had all your flaps closed and even flap-less models can be easily water damaged under the sink – remember, no water jet rating. You may start to see water damage covered under warranty if it is 10 bar / 100m rated because then it actually is fairly difficult to damage such phone at home.
I hope you enjoyed the read. Drop me any questions that you might have.
edit: as pointed out in the comments, Xperia Z series is actually tested for IPX5 as well. This is tap like water jet. This makes it tougher than I originally thought, but still it is nowhere near the level of waterproofing seen in watches.
edit2: Sony (and later Samsung) by waterproofing their flagships made an awesome step change. My next smartphone will be at least IPX7. I am not bashing them for doing a lousy job, I am just saying to take the waterproofing for what it really is.

Just a heads up...

There's a $50 waterproof camera that's being sold all over the place. It claims to be 5 megapixel which would be pretty cool for a $50 camera but it only has a 1.3m sensor on it. It then just extrapolates the missing pixels so you get big but crap quality images.

It's a bit like taking a 1.3meg image, stretching it to 5meg, and then blurring it a little to fill in the gaps.

I bought one, then returned it when I found it's secret, then bought one again a few months later because I needed it for some crazy project I was working on.

Any underwater stuff I've posted is from this camera.

Anyway... Look for the specs on the sensor, not the size of the outputted image if you're buying some crappy no-name camera.

Also, when buying a not so good quality camera, the depth that it says it can cope with is based on gently lowering it into the water. Something rated to 10m deep will get wet if you dive into a pool from a diving board with it, and only go 5m under.

ie it's rated to pressure at that depth, not necessarily actual use at that depth.

I hope that makes sense

Any luck Brian? I don't recognize anything that is going to be underwater rated without going in to sport type cameras or cameras with big housings for scuba diving. I have my GoPro which works great, but it isn't connected all the time, only when I dunk it underwater and take some video. It has wifi on it but as soon as it goes underwater the camera is no longer capable of transmitting over wifi.

I think your best option would be to put a pan/tilt/zoom camera in a bubble. I don't think you will have an issue with reflections underwater like you do above water. The housings don't show up in the pictures once they are immersed in water. My thought was to make a clear acrylic box that could be mounted at the surface to keep it from floating around and keep the top open out of the water so you can get the wires in to it then just have the box extend underwater... I don't think you would really see much of it in the image once it was underwater.

Maybe you should have made a bigger window to see in there better then you could use an external camera =)