A Pointless thread ;)

[Oblio]

Hi all

I currently have a 125 US G tank with a mix of ~11 Glofish (Black Skirt?) (DW request), 7 Buenos Aries Tetras, 4 Spotted and 4 Albino Corys, 1 Mystery Snail (DD request). Looking at Aquascaping and have planted a few Kleiner Bar Swords. There is a history to the setup, but too long for an intro.

I'm 62, nearing retirement, and an Electrical Engineer (at least for now) so I may have to hack my latest LED light purchase

-Chris

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

 

[itiwhetu]

Not pointless, we already know a little about you. A DIYer that likes weird looking fish. Welcome to TFF, enjoy.

 

[MonsieurLaGrenuoille]

Welcome Oblio, to know some electrical Engineer in this forum couldn't be wrong.

 

[FishHobby99]

 

[FishHobby99]

Not a pointless thread by any means! I look forward to following it.

What do you mean by hacking the LED lighting? My only hack is to run to Amazon.

 

[Oblio]

Not a pointless thread by any means! I look forward to following it.

What do you mean by hacking the LED lighting? My only hack is to run to Amazon.

Create a custom controller to allow additional functions, e.g. more granular control of RGB values, scheduling, intensity ramping. Also create a webserver so you can control via WiFi and display parameters on phone or PC. I'd also be interested to know if any of the commercial lights have addressable LEDs that would allow zone lighting. That 'might' be useful to increase growth for a plant while not flooding the entire tank with high intensity light. Once the input wiring to the LED board is decoded, the rest is pretty simple.

 

[Colin_T]

Not pointless, we already know a little about you. A DIYer that likes weird looking fish. Welcome to TFF, enjoy.

He should fit in well here

 

[FishHobby99]

Create a custom controller to allow additional functions, e.g. more granular control of RGB values, scheduling, intensity ramping. Also create a webserver so you can control via WiFi and display parameters on phone or PC. I'd also be interested to know if any of the commercial lights have addressable LEDs that would allow zone lighting. That 'might' be useful to increase growth for a plant while not flooding the entire tank with high intensity light. Once the input wiring to the LED board is decoded, the rest is pretty simple.

Dang, Dude, you are light years ahead of me on these things!

 

[Colin_T]

Dang, Dude, you are light years ahead of me on these things!

He's an electrical engineer, what do you expect. Electrical engineers are the people that designs computers, tvs and electronic things that don't always work the way they should and make you want to throw them at the wall

 

[Oblio]

I also want to make an automatic water test kit sample evaluator. Squinting at test tubes and sample charts is making me nutty.

 

[Colin_T]

I also want to make an automatic water test kit sample evaluator. Squinting at test tubes and sample charts is making me nutty.

There is a market for that and there have been a few around but if you can make a good one, then you could make some money.

Years ago (1980s) there was an electronic probe you connected to a computer via cable. The probe went into a water sample and the computer told you what was in the water. It was good but hideously expensive and cumbersome to carry. About 20 years later another digital probe came out and was cheaper but still pricey, and it didn't identify many items in the water.

If you could make a digital probe that gave a complete analysis of the water, and have it link to a smart phone or laptop via wifi, and make it affordable, you would have a winner.

Things you want it to test include: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, pH, GH, KH, salinity, chlorine, chloramine, and anything else you can think of. Have the results appear on your smart phone, tablet or laptop by wifi, and market the hell out of it.

Every water company around the world would want one, as would every pet shop, and most aquarists. Universities and field researchers that deal with water would get them, marine biologists, health departments, etc, the list is endless.

You could even make 2 probes, one that does the basic fish stuff, and another that identifies poisons or hazardous substances (including micro-organisms) in the water. If you can't get poisons and micro-organisms on one probe, then make 3 probes, one for water quality and chemistry, one for micro-organisms, and one for harmful chemicals/ substances in the water.

Sell them individually or as a set of 3 probes in a nice little case. Make them good quality so they last. And you become a rich man

 

[FishHobby99]

I also want to make an automatic water test kit sample evaluator. Squinting at test tubes and sample charts is making me nutty.

Maybe you can get on Shark Tank!

 

[emeraldking]

A warm welcome, Chris. And I wouldn't call your post a pointless thread. We're all here to help and learn from another.

 

[Oblio]

A warm welcome, Chris. And I wouldn't call your post a pointless thread. We're all here to help and learn from another.

The Point (from where I take my username)