Day 15 RET summer training

Day 15

We are officially half way into our training and what better way to end it but with a mid-term presentation. Our presentation took a little over 30 minutes including time for addressing questions from audience. I think we did very well. I've added our project next steps:

-     Develop a device to measure ammonia levels autonomously
-     Run the sensor cluster and PASCO for 24 hrs. to retrieve data
-     Test efficiency of our aquaponic systems by measuring the success of our biotic factors..ie fish and 
       plants
-     Create a water dispenser to help neutralize ammonia levels and to keep water levels stable
-     Create our stream system from last year and deploy a control system for water level
-      Add clams to system (act as a bio indicator)
-      Build an online database
-      Introduce a disturbance to tank and monitor
-      taking video clips of automatic food dispenser and other controls at work

For access to our presentation, please follow the link below:
https://docs.google.com/a/metsa.nthls.com/presentation/d/1ylJSeqw-OU5MDI3nZeGVdD1Jp7L30d8oyK22HeZgKCA/edit?usp=sharing


Here is a video of our ebb and flow at work:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnLG2Cbcnjs&feature=youtu.be


We have laid out a pretty solid calendar for next week.

Fish water conditions:



Day 14 RET summer training

Day 14

We left off yesterday with allowing for the adhesive to dry which will hold our solenoid and pH dispenser together. Vardhman came in this morning to drop sensors and to test both dispensers. We had some lickage problems with our pH dispenser; basically the threaded end of the solenoid isns't water or air tight. Obviously an air tight seal is very important as we are only trying to drop an approximate amount of solution to fish tank to neutralize (pH of 7-7.5) conditions. I used the loctite adhesion once more but a larger load--we will see.

The food dispenser works as intended. The food container rotates at 360o 4 times dispensing 10-15 food pellets. It will do this once a day in the morning. I will redesign the entire structure, including platform, as we do not need as large of a container. I will also find a more stable lid to replace the existing one.

Okay, so I think we have our ebb and flow functioning. The added 1/4" hose running out from syphon sleeve did the trick. It allowed for the correct pressure difference to exist between the times when tank is either full or completely drained. The plant bed drains and fills every 3 minutes. We think this will allow enough time for plant roots to get enough free O2 and receive enough H2O. We'll keep our fingers crossed:)

Dr. Wan invited her department students and us to a great lunch. This was a time for all of us to socialize and for us to share our project. They are all looking forward to tomorrow's presentation.

(added snokeling tube based off of Fox et al)

 We compared PASCO versus arduino sensor cluster both in fish tank and using tap water. We tested tap water to compare DO levels to fish tank. Our data is shown below:

We have a lower % error for all readings than what we hypothesized (5-10%) before beginning project. This is excellent!



Fern solved the problem of us "losing fish" to tank drainer. We hope no more fish will be lost:)
Pic does not upload--will try later.

Day 13 RET summer training

Day 13

Vardham deployed sensor cluster once more late Tuesday evening. This morning Fern checked our ebb and flow and this system runs two cycles without our interference. This means, plant bed fills then drains, but fails to stop drainage after second fill. Fern has to literally turn off the valve coming from fish tank to allow it to stop draining. We will try one more change and if this does not work we will add a control.

The sensor cluster readings are right on target.

Day 12 RET summer training

Day 12

Not much going on today. Fern worked on the ebb and flow which we still can't seem to make it work. I worked on adhering the pH dispenser to solenoid and also, with Fern's help, touched up our presentation for Friday.

Day 11 RET summer training

Day 11

Over the weekend Vardhman deployed the sensor cluster and took tank readings. Accordning to his readings water conditions are suitable for both plant and fish.

Field Trip! We took a trip to the Greenbelt Corridor of Ray Roberts State Park where Dr. Acevedo and Dr. Franco demonstrated the application of using sensor networking to collect soil conditions throughout specific locations of park. Due to it's location, between Ray Roberts Lake and Lewisville Lake, the corridor serves not only as a state park but also a flood control area and research forest. One of the points made by Dr. Acevedo that resonated with most of us was the idea of deploying arduino's to remotely transmit data to a collenting site which would replace the modes which require onsite collection.

Day 10 RET summer training

Day 10

We spent the better part of the morning working on our lesson plan which we will need to implement this upcoming school year. As mentioned on earlier posts we will utilize an existing template through www.teachengineering.org to keep every groups lesson plan development within the same parameters.

It appears our ebb and flow is now functioning properly. The problem was that there were clay pebbles that were making their way under the siphon and not allowing for the correct pressure difference. Now that we have this under control we can focus our attention on our 2 dispensers and monitoring our biotic factors. 

I don't think I mentioned that we can access our data remotely by utilizing tweeter. Basically, Arduino sends the data to our laptop with a program to tweet data every 40 min.This gives us the capability of making real time corrective measures to the conditions of our tank.

We needed a break and went to lunch:) shortly after we met with Dr. Wan and Vardham to discuss the progress and next steps to our project. We are right on schedule-- tank is running (except for the light problem with ebb and flow), tank conditions are stable, design for food dispenser is finalized, and we will not need to control the flow of water. Next steps, finalize pH dispenser, activate control systems and deploy sensor cluster, and finally analyze data and troubleshoot errors. Dr. Wan likes the idea of implementing control systems in our classroom as part of our lesson. I suggested webinar tutorials to kick start activity. For now, our students can reach the advance category of aquaponic project by designing a control system and also foreeing trouble shoot areas of this system.


I spoke to soon about the ebb and flow. We came back to ESSAT this afternoon to find the ebb and flow had stopped working. We had read that getting it to work properly is a tedious task. We took a trip back to Lowe's to purchase a 4" PVC pipe, which Fern drilled random holes into to allow water to drain through, to act as our siphon sleeve. I went to work on the food dispensor. I zip tied a small motor to yesterday's zip tied PVC's which will act as dispenser base. Next I zip tied water container to motor. The water container will house our fish food. Finally I velcrowed dispenser to fish tank lid (recall, we will mount most of our devices to lid as it is securely "zip tied" to tank). Very very siimple assembly, definitely an easy project to do at home with minimal expenses.

We anticipate the food dispenser will drop food on a daily basis. The initial rotational position of bottle will determine the quantity of food dispensed.

                                    Larger diameter perforated PVC is what we added

Day 9 RET summer training

Day 9

Lots going on today!! The ladies spent the morning cleaning out the cucumbers plant roots to place in our systems reservoir (sump). These plants will not require soil instead we will incorporate a hydroponic growth system. Basically, Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium (wikipedia). The cucumbers roots are inserted through a modified styrofoam platform that rests on top of water. In addition to cucumbers we are also raising water lilies in our reservoir, which to my surprise look like a glob of dirt.

                                                      cucumbers

                                                        roots coming through styrofoam suspension

                                                             water lilies

                                                                  cucumbers

                                                                      tomatoes

We are keeping a daily log of tank conditions:

We spent the second part of the day at Discovery Park learning how to turn on an LED light using an arduino with the help of Vardhman's guidence; we then came back to ESSAT to work on creating a set up for pH dispensor. As mentioned on earlier posts we will control water pH conditions using a pH neutralizer liquid which is dispensed using a solenoid control valve. This solenoid is ultimately controled by the processed information within the arduino. In addition to setting up pH dispensor we added the fish tanks lid (we constrained it to tank as the volume of water displaced the lid) which we will rest the otterbox (by the way the otterbox came in today!!:)) on to.

                                                          

                                                The otterbox will house sensor cluster

                                             You can see the small solenoid right of otterbox

We zip tied a 3/4" PVC pipe to tank wall, then zip tied the "soon to be" pH dispensor

PVC platform and plastic container for food dispensor (Super simple build)

We will build a similar dispenser as shown in video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjyT92oPe20

Problems with ebb and flow; ideally we want for water level to fill in plant container, water siphon down PVC pipe through properties of a vaccum eventually draining tank-- water should stop draining at this point and the plant tank fills up again.  Our current set up fills the tank, drains water, but keeps this drainage; not allowing for tank to fill (the suction continuous). Through research we found that there are two ways to solve this problem: 1. Extend the bulk head outlet to a 1' and add a 90 degree elbow (we currently have this elbow but not at the suggested depth)...2. keep a short 90 degree elbow but extend PVC leading to sump. We tried option #2 but no luck.We are currently tackling this problem. Through a youtube video over the siphon we placed an intermediate siphon PVC (we have tried short and tall). Basically we want to create enough of a pressure difference between siphon and cap PVC sleeve to siphon water through but not enough that water drains continuously.

Finally, had to bold this part (important).  Vardham has been working hard to get an accurate reading between sensor cluster and PASCO sensors. pH and temperature are almost accurate but DO sensors are still off. 

Sensor Cluster
pH reading  :- 8.1
DO reading :- 7.01
Temp Reading:- 23.12

Individual reading of all the sensors
pH reading :- 8.2
DO reading :- 7.1
Temp reading:- 23.4


Pasco Reading:-
pH Reading:- 8.21
DO reading:- 5.9
Temp reading:- 22.1

Day 8 RET summer Training

Day 8

Today has been an extension of yesterday's progress with setting up our ebb and flow. A new design was constructed by Fern and Sharron (see below). We finally got the flow timed just right!! Great job ladies! Towards the end of yesterday's workday we decided to add an overflow bulkhead to fish tank (1st level) to help drain water to reservoir and keep the pump constantly working. Now we could have just replaced our reservoir with a larger container but this didn't cross our mind. This morning we decided we would also purchase a larger reservoir to prevent tank from overflowing. The link below shows you how to build an ebb and flow.

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/BIO-10.pdf

I spent the morning calibrating our spark probe which if you remember will give us baseline water condition data and which we will use to compare the accuracy of our sensor cluster. I then took readings for both tap water and our aquariums.

I've included a chart of an ideal tank water condition.
http://marinefish.net/html/ideal_water_conditions.html






                                                      All systems working beautifully!!

                                                          Sump

                                                          We have fish in there somewhere:)

                                                              Tomatoes

                                                              Ebb and flow (similar system as before but taller pvc for ebb)

                                                            atlas sensor

                                                                  Digital reading

                                                        3 sensor probes integrated with arduino

                                                            pH buffers to calibrate sensors

                                                                   Tap water testing

We spent the second part of the day in the library continuing with our research. We started our introduction, added 10 references, and began writing over creating a classroom table aquaponics.

Here are several sources that might help you as you are developing a remote sensor system to monitor an indoor aquatic system:

"Arduino - HomePage." Arduino - HomePage. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. <http://www.arduino.cc/>.

"Atlas-Scientific Home." Atlas-Scientific Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. <http://atlas-scientific.com/>.

Girod, Estrin, and Pottie Srivastava. "INSTRUMENTING THE WORLD WITH WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS." Proceedings of the IEEE (2001): 2033-036

Jun-Hong Cui, Jiejun Kong, M. Gerla, and Shengli Zhou. "The Challenges of Building Scalable Mobile Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks for Aquatic Applications." IEEE Network 20.3 (2006): 12-18

Mainwaring, Alan, Joseph Polastre, Robert Szewczyk, David Culler, and John Anderson. "Wireless Sensor Networks for Habitat Monitoring." WSNA (2002)

"PASCO : Home." PASCO : Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://pasco.com/>.

Yang, Xiping, Keat G. Ong, William R. Dreschel, Kefeng Zeng, Casey S. Mungle, and Craig A.

Grimes. "Design of a Wireless Sensor Network for Long-term, In-Situ Monitoring of an Aqueous Environment." Sensors 2.11 (2002): 455-72

"YSI Incorporated | Water Sampling and Monitoring Equipment for Dissolved Oxygen, PH, Turbidity, Temperature, Level." YSI Incorporated | Water Sampling and Monitoring Equipment for Dissolved Oxygen, PH, Turbidity, Temperature, Level. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2012. <http://www.ysi.com/>.

"ZigBee Alliance Home." ZigBee Alliance Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. <http://www.zigbee.org/>.

Andreas Graber, ranka Junge. “ Aquaponic Systems: Nutrient recycling from fish wastewater by vegetable production”

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/news/articles/V6-Tamaru-aquaponic.pdf

http://revistas.inia.es/index.php/sjar/article/view/1758

https://www.agronomy.org/files/jnrlse/issues/2002/e00-15k.pdf





Day 7 RET summer training

Day 7

Today has been a very busy day. We needed for all systems to be secured so we zip tied our PVC light structure to plant bed platform and zip tied the PVC that runs from the reservoir to fish tank. This PVC pipe has the actual 3/4 "pump plastic hose but we added a PVC pipe sleeve for structural support. We brainstormed several ways to make our ebb and flow. We first inserted a 6" X 3/4" PVC pipe, which we drilled random holes into for water to flow through, to plant bed bulk head and slipped a larger plastic sleeve cover to prevent clay pellets (Hydrocorn) from clogging PVC holes. This didn't work as hydrocorn were making their way under the plastic sleeve resulting in a clog. We searched around the building for a larger capped PVC pipe which could tightlly fit into sleeve and which we could zip tie in place. We were successful in doing this. The ebb and flow is tightly secured to sleeve and the added weight of cap has prevented hydrocorn from slipping underneath it. We were now ready to test system. After several minutes we noticed that the fish tank was filling at a faster rate than that of our reservoir. This is both good and bad. We didn't want our fish tank to fill at a faster rate than that of reservoir as the absence of water in reservoir will run down our pump. Ideally the entire system should have the same rate of flow. To correct the problem we added an elbow from plant bed bulk head, a control valve, and a longer PVC pipe to slow the rate. We also cut the larger plastic sleeve, that prevented hydrocorn from creeping through, to 1/2 it's size so that it influenced only the lower part of our PVC cap; in turn allowing a greater amount of water to creep into the ebb and flow but still keeping the hydrocorn out.
                                                                  1 piece of our ebb and flow

hose/pvc clamped and zip tied to fish tank

                                                       manual control valve (will most likely be replaced with solenoid)

                                                            extended PVC

                                                                      reservoir with pump

                                                                      hydrocorn

                                                        tomatoes and such



                                                                   pH dispensor

                                                             Solenoid control valve

                                                                   "The Beast"