Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I work FIFO and my aquaponic assistant who minds things when I'm away isn't quite as likely to check on the fish as I am... though manages to feed them reasonably regularly.

So I find it very handy having my seneye device send an alert to my phone or by email when pH drops enough to need attention or ammonia spikes (dead fish in SLO)... and particularly recently when the water level dropped dangerously low when I was on the other side of the country.

What probe are you using for Ammonia?

http://www.seneye.com

not cheap but worth it for me. From memory a bit less than $150 for the basic device but slides cost a bit more and so does wifi setup.

Does free ammonia, pH, temp and, for extra $ some light readings that I don't understand. Also has an out of water alarm which works very reliably.

The pH readings are a bit dodgy... apparently doesn't like low kH and I can't get mine up however hard I try. But the ammonia and the temp correlate well with API test and a thermometer.

The ammonia reading seems so sensitive/accurate, that I reckon I can tell when my assistant forgets to feed them... though I'm not brave enough to make the accusation over the phone

Comes with usb connection to computer or wifi to the cloud.

When I get better at Arduino, I'll have a stab at setting up something home made.

True, but how many of those countless folks could have avoided a mass fish kill because they get an email when the pump fails.

Is it necessary? definitely 100% no. But for those of us that can't check on our systems everyday, a little monitoring can mean all the difference. I go away for business for weeks at a time and I'm comfortable that with the amount of data available to me, I can diagnose any issue that can arise and instruct the wife how to fix it or at least where to start.

I looked very closely at the Seneye system for one of my aquariums. There are a few cons which I felt were deal breakers. The base model ($140USD) requires the Seneye to be tethered to an internet connected PC which is on all the time. If you want to do away with the PC, you can get the webserver and WIFI module but that is an additional $260USD. The biggest negative is the slides. They cost $33USD and only last 3 months. Also, the reviews on the aquarium forums are not all that positive in regards to accuracy. They are essentially just test strips and the module has a colorimeter to read the color.

My questions is how long is the 400 nitrate probe accurate for? If it burns out in a year that would suck. I can't see spending this much money unless the probes have a long life to them.

Those nitrate sensors last max 3 months

Do you have any special sensors you use?

From memory, I'd say none. Ryans at the farm daily, and tests water as needed. I think he's been doing it so long now, he can just tell by looking, smelling, and tasting if everything is OK. Maybe exaggerated a bit on the tasting.

I know he has a very pricey hand held and testing lab set up in his house. Think it's just PH and maybe ammonia?? Can't recall, I was too busy looking at all the cool stuff!