# Arduino build for new Dart Frog Project



## acloft887 (Sep 29, 2015)

Hi Everyone

So after seeing the potential of the Biopods that will be coming soon, I started thinking, the problem being the Aqua is only 21"*14"*21" roughly so not really a big viv for Dart frogs (I'm a newbie to dart Frogs) so I started looking at Viv options first and I will probably get a custom built fish tank that I can retro-fit a lid to, anyhow I saw Justin Grimm's dart frog setup on Youtube and how he built it. 

The idea of using corregated plastic as ducts for ventilation fans and then have them blow the air around the viv inspired me. I also saw the Jungle Hobbies LED light and that looks awesome too.

So I started thinking about controlling the fans for ventilation and low and behold someone had done it with a Raspberry Pi, after using a Pi I was now very interested and then I came across Arduino. 

I am an IT admin, why hadn't I heard of this!?

So I started looking at what could be done and I was amazed. Suffice to say my imagination had now gone into overdrive. I bought the starter kit and I am at the moment training myself. I have set goals for myself for the build to strive to keep me going and to make sure that by the time I can get the tank (I am currently moving so don't know the size of viv at the moment) I can set it up, I also have my Mossy Viv which I can get some readings and data from.

Phase 1 - temperature sensor to LCD, just a simple setup a waterproof Temp sensor and create a printout on the LCD.

Phase 2 - Temperature and humidity sensors, keeping phase 1 I would add another humidity sensor, this is going to be tricky as I don't know how I am going to make the area around the sensor waterproof so connections don't short but also make sure the sensor it self can freely monitor moisture and go up to 100% humidity, the first big hurdle I foresee.

Phase 3 - use the information provided above to create a response. In this case I will have some fans and I will initiall set them up so that when the temp goes to high or if I want to drop the humidity at certain times then the fans ramp up, again fairly complicated but if all else fails I can use the Pi and some software already written for it for this.

Phase 4 - Control lights. To begin with this will be a simple on-off at certain times, just to get me used to it.

Phase 5 - This ones a doozy and I will be scouring forums to get this info. The plan is to first look at creating a DIY LED system capable of being dimmed. If anyone knows somewhere where you can get decent heatsinks please let me know. I am probably going down the route of having a couple of COBs for the main light ( I had a 15W COB PAR36 bulb on my Aquatic Plants and it was amazing) and then use smaller lights to balance out the spectrum. This will be a much bigger project and one not to enter into lightly, I know. The aim is to get the Arduino/Pi to create a Sunset/Night time effect as well as Lightning.

Phase 6 - Create 1 board to rule them all, in this phase it will be to try and combine everything above into a single build which can be controlled using a LCD touch panel. At this point if everything is working I will be a very happy man, lol.

Future goals - I would like to collect the data from the Arduino and store it. I also like the idea of using the yun to make it WiFi enabled and a webserver so certain events can be triggered remotely. All theoretically possible with substantial effort.

I might look at placing a small waterproof camera within the viv so I can turn it on remotely to take streaming vid of the viv and frogs in action.

a lot of potential work I know and if anyone has any suggestions for sensors, components, locations for sketches then by all means let me know. 

I am hoping to document my work and upload it here so more people can use it - at their own risk - to build even more unique and natural habitats.

I did used to be a marine keeper for a while and with being a nerd I guess it was inevitable capn.

The even better thing is that if I decide not to go down the Dart Frog route and stick with geckos, I can still use the tech, and I can start now before I need to build.


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