reefiris blog

When did I last change out my activated carbon?

That is a simple question which should have a simple answer, but for many reef keepers finding that answer means either relying on their memory or finding their tank notebook.  Since my goal with reefiris is to provide a tool to help people keep track of their tanks, providing a logbook which is simple to use fits in nicely.  To start adding notes to your tank, simple edit your tank and click on the “Notes” section.

Adding notes to your tank is easy

Simply type whatever you want and click ‘Save’. Your note will will appear both on this page, as well as your main tank page. To delete a note, simply hover over it with your mouse and click the delete icon which appears. Two features which I have planned but are not yet implemented are the ability to search your notes and creating a note for a specific date. (All notes are currently created for “now”)

So how is this a new kind of maintenance log for your tank?  Putting your logs online simply saves you from keeping a notebook near your tank, which by itself is not that important.  But another goal of mine with these notes (and everything else on reefiris) is to change the way aquarists think about and interact with data.  How many times have you seen a forum thread about an algae outbreak?  Can you guess what the first reply will ask for?  My guess is “How often do you do water changes?” or “What are your parameters?”.  It happens in every thread, and only serves to waste time; time which could be spent actually discussing the issue.  What if the answers to those questions was simply a click away?

Imagine that your tank notebook is available to be read by anyone at anytime.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how users take advantage of this.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve added the ability to query Aquatronica controllers for data.  A user brought to my attention that I did not support querying the device via the uservoice support forum and was extremely helpful by allowing me to connect to his device in order to integrate it with the site.

Since the current implementation is based off of a single device, there may be configurations which I am not aware of and which may not work with the site.  If you add an Aquatronica controller to your tank and have issues retrieving data (especially related to redox or conductivity probes), please contact me.

I created this site around a singular vision: to automatically fetch data from my aquarium controller and store the data online.  But some parameters aren’t yet able to be measured electronically, or it is cost-prohibitive to do so.  Many parameters such as Nitrate/Phosphate, Calcium and Alkalinity are measured using test kits.  When I found myself writing down my numbers in a notebook, I knew what the next big feature of reefiris should be. :]

On the edit screen for your tank, check out the new “Parameters” section.  Simply choose what things you want to keep track of, and add as many or as few measurements as you’d like.  I plan to heavily polish this screen, but the current version should be usable enough to get your, and my, data out of notebooks and onto the web.  (Currently you are unable to delete a bad measurement if you make a mistake.  This is on my list to add)

A quick note, I’ve broken out the tank editing page to allow more details such as lighting, supplementation and circulation.  The idea here is to give aquarists their own “Tank of the Month”-esque page which they can keep updated without having to create their own web page or be selected by a commitee

Currently it simply supports free text, but in the future I hope to enable processing markup syntax such as Markdown, Textile, and BBCode.

I’m glad to announce that I’ve added the ability to fetch data from Profilux aquarium controllers.  Due to the modular design of the controller, implementing this was quite interesting.  The part I’m most excited about is my discovery mechanism; you never have to tell me what probes you are using.  My code will scan your controller and configure your account appropriately.  You can even do a manual re-scan if you add new devices via an extension port, or choose to deactivate ports which are installed but you are not monitoring.  For a live example, check out my data page.

Also, while I was at it, I added the option to convert temperature probe readings between Celsius and Fahrenheit.  The AquaController and Profilux controllers both return data in degrees Celsius, but due to the fact that I live in the US, I like my temperatures in Fahrenheit. :]

Now that Profilux support is added and my aquarium is sitting in my apartment (!), I should be back to updating the site regularly, since I’m sure I’l find more things I need in order to share my tank (and hopefully help you share yours) with the world.