House-bot assist with tank

Sk8r · 11/23/2021, 06:57 PM

We have Alexa, and tanks. Things Alexa can do: 1. turn on the water to fill the topoff reservoir. We eyeball it to know how many hours it should run, and use a smartphone app and a smart plug to tell it to run x hours. It's never failed. But then, it's in the basement and we have a floor drain. 2. turn on the upstairs freshwater topoff. We don't have that one on ATO, so we just ask Alexa to turn on the topoff pump, and stay there (religiously) until it has filled enough, usually under two minutes. Do not take your eyes off that operation! 3. we have the fresh tank pumps on a smart plug. Turning them on and off for feeding our spooky discus is just a voice command while sitting in my chair.

Anything involving turning things on and off, pumps, lights, etc, is an easy setup. The water fill duration timer is a separate device, which you screw into the line, and it controls a valve that is either open or closed according to command.

It saves a lot of fussing with on and off once you get it set up. If your autofeeder or any other dispenser is a plug-in instead of battery, you could voice-command that, too: anything that plugs in. But nothing beats the convenience of an inbuilt timer that just does it.

The bot will, however, remind you verbally that you need fishfood, or that you have to do your water change. She's good at that.

11/23/2021, 06:57 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	House-bot assist with tank We have Alexa, and tanks. Things Alexa can do: 1. turn on the water to fill the topoff reservoir. We eyeball it to know how many hours it should run, and use a smartphone app and a smart plug to tell it to run x hours. It's never failed. But then, it's in the basement and we have a floor drain. 2. turn on the upstairs freshwater topoff. We don't have that one on ATO, so we just ask Alexa to turn on the topoff pump, and stay there (religiously) until it has filled enough, usually under two minutes. Do not take your eyes off that operation! 3. we have the fresh tank pumps on a smart plug. Turning them on and off for feeding our spooky discus is just a voice command while sitting in my chair. Anything involving turning things on and off, pumps, lights, etc, is an easy setup. The water fill duration timer is a separate device, which you screw into the line, and it controls a valve that is either open or closed according to command. It saves a lot of fussing with on and off once you get it set up. If your autofeeder or any other dispenser is a plug-in instead of battery, you could voice-command that, too: anything that plugs in. But nothing beats the convenience of an inbuilt timer that just does it. The bot will, however, remind you verbally that you need fishfood, or that you have to do your water change. She's good at that. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.