HELP: Hardware Design

[RebelHero]

Hello,
First of all let me tell me who I am, and why I am here. My name is Niels. Im from Holland and I study at the University of Twente. I study Industrial Design and our latest assignment is to build an aquarium caretaker. And we need your help. To make sure it's user friendly and fishsafe we need your expert opinion on this topic. We have made a short list with questions and we hope you would be friendly enough to take a little time to fill out these questions. Off course all help will be greatly appreciated. This is your chance to get the perfect system. We have to build a smart product, capable of taking various tasks.

Let's Begin:

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes?
2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium?
3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they?
4. How big is the tank?
5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank?
6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend?
7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day?
8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system?
9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ?
10. How much space would you have for a control system?
11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions?

Great Thanks

 

[Ob1]

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes? 2 years
2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium? normal (tropical water)
3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they 30 fish 5 species?
4. How big is the tank 100uk gallons
5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank? -
it depends on what level you are talking about for example
my heaters have built-in thermostat, my lights are on a electronic timer. I have no plc type devices
6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend? Carry out a large water change or several small one throughout the week before.
7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day?
Flakes, tablets. Some frozen bloodworms
8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system? No
9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ? Scraping the glass to remove algae.
10. How much space would you have for a control system? 12(h) X 10(h) X 10(d) inch
11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions?

Water changes (fully automated) inc a VAC system which will not block up with waster material.

Cost effective PH,Temp, water level, system with can control both ways i.e if PH drops below a target – an air pump can be switched and if the levels rasie above a second target the CO2 system kicks in

Cable manager– I must have over 15 X 13 amp plugs. I have plugs coming out of my ears…..

2 filters
1 water pump
1 UV
2 Heater
1 cable heater
5 Lights
1 Co2 solenoid
1 air pump
1 night light

 

[TwoTankAmin]

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes? Going into 5th year
2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium? 14 fw tanks
3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they? About 250-300- Discus, angel, barb, rasbora, tetra, pleco, cory, SAE, montezuma swordtails, killie, betta imbellis, clown and sidthimunki loach
4. How big is the tank? Range from 5.5 - 75 gals
5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank? No
6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend? No special care- fish allowed to starve if less than 5 days except for fry
7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day? Fry- 3-4 times/day all others once/day with a starve day 2-3 times/month. Foods include: Flake, spirulina flake and pellets, algae wafers, sinking pellets, earthworm sticks, FD daphnia, FD brine, FD blood worms, FD plankton, Frozen mysis shrimp, frozen blood worms, frozen brine, zuchini, canned green beans, live red worms, bbs and Cyclop-eeze
8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system? It is not possible to automate fish tank care unless you can build an intelligent robot to vacuum planted tanks, pull and rinse filter media, prune plants, return sucked up fry, replace light bulbs, change fertilizer dosing based on changing plant load, examine fish for diseases, etc etc. No way I would even consider it.
9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ? Vacumming planted tanks and rinsing out prefilter and filter sponges.
10. How much space would you have for a control system? Little to none
11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions? Quit now on this project as it is not possible to come up with a viable system-some fish like oscars etc would have a great time ripping apart any system you might devise- heck they wreck havoc with a simple heater

 

[abstract]

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes?
6+ years off and on (since i was a child)

2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium?
3 freshwater tanks

3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they?
50+ (barbs, danios, tetras, cory cats, rasboras, blue rams (cichlids), plecos)

4. How big is the tank?
one 46 gallon, one 20 gallon, one 10 gallon

5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank?
"Control system" is slightly vague term that could use clarification, but not that i know of

6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend?
do a large water change before, and do not feed for duration of vacation. if it is long term i will have someone care for my fish or use an automatic feeder in the worst case scenario

7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day?
i generally feed fish oncer per day, a varied diet of frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp, flakes, sinking/floating pellets, wafers, and fresh (cooked) veggies
guppy fry are fed from 3-5 times per day with crushed flake, fry bites, and frozen baby brine shrimp

8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system?
no

9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ?
water changes are fairly easy when using a python (hose with faucet attachment used to syphon and then fill the tank), so I really do not mind maintenance

10. How much space would you have for a control system?
not too much, I live in an apartment - again, i am unsure of exactly what you mean by "control system"

11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions?
if you give us some ideas on what you intend to develop I am sure i would have a ton of suggestions for you

hope this helps!

 

[vantgE]

1. 2 years
2. Freshwater Aquariums
3. 4 maylandia lombardoi, 5 Melanchromis johanni, 4 Pseodtropheus elongatus, labidochromis caeruleus, 24, Maylandia lombardoi fry, 3 Long tailed comets, 20 long tailed Comets fry, and a betta
4. African adults(First four) in a 90 Gallon Aquarium, Maylandia lombardoi fry in 20 gallon, comets in 60 gallon, comet fry in 10 gallon, and betta in a ten gallon or 4 gallon.
5. No unless you mean a filters.
6. Away for a short weekend or holiday requires no feeding or extra measures, for more than about 5 six days a relative has come over to feed.
7. Three times a day, pellets, flakes, vegetables(mostly zucchini), krill, mysis shrimp, bloodworms
8. No might use it but only when needed, most likely would continue regular maintenance
9. Vacumeing, If you set up a good powerhead system you could go without
10. I don't think space would be problem
11. If you mean a minimal maintenance system. Powerheads setup to blow fish crap into filter tubes, and plumbing to empty and fill the tank(incomeing tank watter would need to be treated with watter conditioner somehow), plus autofeeder, light timer, possibly integrated doseing equipment and ph controlers, co2 systems for planted tanks. Algae glass scrpers like windshield wipers You couldn't make the system totally no maintenence because filters would require the media to be rinsed and cleaned or replaced. Thats asumeing it's what you mean otherwise maybe clarify and I'll get somemore

 

[RebelHero]

Thank you all for your replys. They will prove to be very helpfull.

Since everyone doenst seem to understand what I mean by Controlsystem let me explain.:
The control systems oversees all systems in the tank. You get a display where you can enter all values like water temperature, how many feedings a day etc. This controlsystem will then monitor the environment in the aquarium and whenever a certain condition is met it will take actions to get everything to the values it should be.

I hope this will be shed some lights..

 

[Dorkhedeos]

will this vacuum our tanks too?

 

[sammydee]

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes?
About three years.
2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium?
I have one freshwater running, and one saltwater under construction.
3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they?
Err... I had a bit of a disaster so I only have two surviving fish left - both neons (characins).
4. How big is the tank?
Salt and fresh both 20 gallons.
5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank?
Not really. I can't afford one.
6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend?
Just leave it running. I got my lights on a timer, fish can last ages without being fed much.
7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day?
Flakes and sometimes other stuff like earthworms or egg yolk and once a day.
8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system?
Hmm... If I had seen it working for a few weeks. I would like to be sure it could cope with power cuts.
9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ?
I don't mind it but I guess it's just general bother. I suppose automatic water changes would be nice.
10. How much space would you have for a control system?
A cubic foot. Would be better if it was cube shaped rather than thin and long.
11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions?

You need a separate clock run by a lithium battery so you don't ge the wrong time in power cuts. It would be nice to have a big LCD screen which you program it with that displays all stats like pH, temp etc.

An automatic control system would have to be connected to the tank and plumbed in with water circulating through it - you have to figure out a way to do this simply and easily. It would need to do weekly water changes, and have a CO2 function where you could connect pressurised/DIY CO2 to an inlet valve which leads to an injector somewhere in the system. The pH meter could control this and with DIT co2 let it vent out, with pressurised CO2 stop it running (you could enter this on the control screen.

Another idea - have an internal mechanical filter that is easy to replace, and when flow speed drops below a certain point, it beeps at you to replace the filter. If the flow speed drops below a critical point, it bypasses it completely.

You could have a whole external filter/heater/feeder/CO2 injector in one.

 

[sammydee]

Just re-read my post... I don't think it is possible to do what you are trying to do. It would be too complex, too liable to go wrong and too expensive.

Just my own opinion.

 

[SarahBravo]

1. For how long have you been keeping fishes? 10 months
2. Do you own a salt or normal water aquarium? Tropical Freshwater
3. How many fishes do you own, and from roughly which species are they?
15 loaches, 1 betta, 28 tetras, 11 dwarf cichlids, 7 catfish, 2 corydoras, 11 malawi cichlids, 8 rasboras, 13 livebearers, 3 peacock gobies, 2 badis badis, 4 applea snails, 20 malaysian trumpet snails, 2 singapore shrimps, 6 caradina, 6 tiger, 6 cherry shrimps
4. How big is the tank? 1 x 180L, 1 x 125L, 2 x 120L, 1 x 54L, 1 x 40L, 1 x 25L.
5. Are you already using a controlsystem to control the environment in the tank? No
6. How do you take care of your aquarium when you go on holidays, or away for the weekend? If under a week, clean thoroughly before hand and leave, over a week, get a friend to fish-sit.
7. What food do you feed your fish and how many times each day? 1 or 2 times a day, one day a week no food. Flake, pellets, wafers, frozen, live, veggies.
8. Would you entrust you aquarium to a fully automated system? Yes, but only with human oversight on a daily basis.
9. What would you rather not do involving cleaning etc. ? Vacuuming a planted tank.
10. How much space would you have for a control system? As much as necessary.
11. Do you have any Idea's or Suggestions? A control system that would work for multiple tanks via wireless control systems, or a basic control panel per tank, linked wirelessly to a master system on pc. It would be great to have each tank plumbed in so water changes could be automatic or a constant flow of fresh water, but that would be too expensive.
Edit: Plus a cheap, dimmable sunrise/sunset lighting controller

 

[Lateral Line]

RebelHero:

What you need to do is explain how your proposed system is likely to be better then any of our existing systems.

Heaters are controlled by thermostats.
Lights are controlled by time switches.
Food is dispensed by the owner.
pH is controlled by their CO2 system. I could go on.

A simple PLC type system is old science here. What are you proposing that will be of benefit to the average aquarist, I don't see anything that is not already commonly used, or avoided.

The "chores" of looking after a tank require considerable manual dexterity, beyond the scope of any robotic system that could at the most extreme stretch of imagination be cost effective.

I think you may be looking to "automate" a system that already is as automatic as is financially viable.

If, however, you have a large research budget and require a test subject that can apply sensible applications of advanced technology at no cost to themselves, PM me......

 

[RebelHero]

Thanks. You all are a great help. We basically do reasearch about the subject. Come up with a possible design. Then we build a pure working model to test it, we then design the product digitally. And we present it to everyone who wants to come. Sometimes people from real companys come to take a look and they might be interested in our products. If a team comes up with a really great product they might take it a step further and get it produced . We'll take all your advice into account even the robot eating oscars . We must go on with this project, because its an assignment we got, there are 20 teams that are competing for the best system. It's a requirement to continue with our study, so quitting won't be an option. We are just goin to try to make the user-friendliest oscar proofest cool looking most complete system. We just have to see if it will be cost-effective. We'll keep it in mind, but it might not be possible.

Niels

 

[RebelHero]

Hello again,

Thank you for your previous replies. We have discussed the outcome and we have come up with a few features we could think of that might be handy. We would like to know, on a scale from 1 to 5 ( Where 1 = SUCKS! 5 = GREAT!), how much you would appreciate a new device on the market that has on of these functions:

A device that can clean the inside of the glass (1-5):

A device that can clean up the soil (1-5):

A device that gives a warning (lights up a LED or something) when the filter needs cleaning (1-5):

A device that automatically replaces water continuously (1-5)::

A device that can measure and display the nitrate/Fosfate levels (1-5):

A device that can measure and display the O2/CO2 (1-5):

A device that can measure and display the PH (1-5):

A device that can measure and display the temperature (1-5):

A light timer with dim function for sunset/sunrise (1-5):


Thank you once again!

PS The Nitrate level and the Fosfate level interact with each other. When a certain balance is reached Algae are rarely formed.

 

[Yenko]

Hello again,

Thank you for your previous replies. We have discussed the outcome and we have come up with a few features we could think of that might be handy. We would like to know, on a scale from 1 to 5 ( Where 1 = SUCKS! 5 = GREAT!), how much you would appreciate a new device on the market that has on of these functions:

A device that can clean the inside of the glass (1-5): 4

A device that can clean up the soil (1-5): You must be able to disable it, 4

A device that gives a warning (lights up a LED or something) when the filter needs cleaning (1-5): 5

A device that automatically replaces water continuously (1-5):: 5

A device that can measure and display the nitrate/Fosfate levels (1-5): 5

A device that can measure and display the O2/CO2 (1-5): 4

A device that can measure and display the PH (1-5): 4

A device that can measure and display the temperature (1-5): 4

A light timer with dim function for sunset/sunrise (1-5): Most aquaria are lit with florescent tubes, 4


Thank you once again!

PS The Nitrate level and the Fosfate level interact with each other. When a certain balance is reached Algae are rarely formed.

I edited the quote.

The fuctions that would be useful to the average aquarist are the temperature, nitrate levels, water replacement, filter cleaning and light timer. Many aquarists do not worry about their PH, and in a properly set up tank oxygen levels are not an issue. PH, O2, and CO2 levels are a concern to people with planted aquariums, however. I can only think of a few situations where a gravel cleaning system would be acceptable, and a glass-cleaning system seems impossible.

Nitrate measurements could be eliminated if you use an automatic water changing system; the user would have to calibrate the flow rate using a seperate chemical nitrate test kit, but it would be much cheaper that way.

If your model controls CO2 levels, then it should work with an electrically controlled regulator on a CO2 tank.

Instead of using a probe to actually measure the CO2 levels, you could use a system that measures the level of Carbonate ions in the water (google search "Karbonate Hardness"), which can be compared with the PH reading to produce the CO2 reading.

 

[vantgE]

A device that can clean the inside of the glass (1-5): 2 I think this is my idea but doubt it's feasible and would be in the way or look ugly

A device that can clean up the soil (1-5): 5 consider following a integrated undergravel jet design

A device that gives a warning (lights up a LED or something) when the filter needs cleaning (1-5): 5 Most heaters have sytems

A device that automatically replaces water continuously (1-5):: 3 Continuessly would be wastefull or expensive but good and be complicateing with heating issues if it could monitor nitrates and change watter triggered by readings over 10 ppm it would be fantastic

A device that can measure and display the nitrate/Fosfate levels (1-5): 5

A device that can measure and display the O2/CO2 (1-5): 3 intresting but not overly useful, most of us wouldn't know how to interpret and as long as it's adequate would make minimal impact

A device that can measure and display the PH (1-5): 4 tends not to change often but a good gadget if it can also control the ph which there are devices availible it would be usefull for many aquarists

A device that can measure and display the temperature (1-5): 5

A light timer with dim function for sunset/sunrise (1-5): 5