New product coming - "Fishsitter"- monitor your tank when ..

Looking to see how many people might use this.

Going on vacation, on travel to work or even being away for 8hrs can be
a nerve wracking experience. Unless someone checks on your fish every
hour you may not have enough time to solve problems once they start.

By combining off the shelf products and a circuit I designed one can
actually receive a phone call if the tank temp drops or the water is low.

I think a lot of people - especially those with large expensive tanks
loaded with expensive fish - might like this idea.

Once a sensor (along with the small box I designed) is attached to the
outside top edge of the tank and a normal phone (not cordless since they
don't work when the power is out) is augmented with an off the shelf
product one can actually be called with a pre-recorded message telling
you the tank is experiencing problems. Several people can be called -
on any phone. This would include friends and pet shops if you chose.

Using this system one could monitor a tank 24/7. If something happens
someone can respond quickly. Maybe a heater needs replaced, maybe the
tank is leaking and maybe the power is out forcing you to have someone
take your fish to the pet shop to house? In any case you are covered.

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 09:10:45 -0500, "m.dekort" <m.dekort.TakeThisOut@comcast.net>
wrote:

>Looking to see how many people might use this.
>
>Going on vacation, on travel to work or even being away for 8hrs can be
>a nerve wracking experience. Unless someone checks on your fish every
>hour you may not have enough time to solve problems once they start.
>
>By combining off the shelf products and a circuit I designed one can
>actually receive a phone call if the tank temp drops or the water is low.
>
>I think a lot of people - especially those with large expensive tanks
>loaded with expensive fish - might like this idea.
>
>Once a sensor (along with the small box I designed) is attached to the
>outside top edge of the tank and a normal phone (not cordless since they
>don't work when the power is out) is augmented with an off the shelf
>product one can actually be called with a pre-recorded message telling
>you the tank is experiencing problems. Several people can be called -
>on any phone. This would include friends and pet shops if you chose.
>
>Using this system one could monitor a tank 24/7. If something happens
>someone can respond quickly. Maybe a heater needs replaced, maybe the
>tank is leaking and maybe the power is out forcing you to have someone
>take your fish to the pet shop to house? In any case you are covered.

I thought it ludicrous - but then you said "especially those with
large expensive tanks loaded with expensive fish" and I thought "ahh,
he has something there."
I have a reef in the works (the "cheap" phase - also known as
"entirely in my head and equipment is currently being used for other
things" :P ) and I think if I had a lot invested in my setup or I kept
extremely fragile species, this might actually be something to
consider.

A few thoughts:
- it would be nice to couple this with a piezo buzzer or some kind of
alert. I don't know many people who check their water temperature
obsessively, and usually by the time you find that your heater has
stuck it can be too late (I know my 77 gallon rose from 84 to 94
overnight - that wasn't a fun morning). If I'm sleeping ten feet from
the tank or just around the house the phone call option wouldn't be as
critical

- it would be neat if this could be adapted to work with digital water
chemistry tests as well, though I suspect you'd have to tear apart
several expensive test units to rewire things. I, for one, would
rather enjoy getting a phone call saying, "Hey, moron, your pH is 6.0
again. Pick up some Cow Brand on the way home." :)

All in all, I rather like the idea of something keeping an eye on my
tank for me, though for my current setup (a bunch of cichlids that I
could drove over with a truck and they'd be fine) I wouldn't invest
anything in it.