Arduino MEGA 2560

I have always enjoyed learning new technologies, no matter what field, its all awesome. I guest that's why I,m that typical person who as they say is "A Jack Of All Trades But Master Of None!" I can do a little mechanics, technical drawing, building and construction,  electrical, electronics, and computer technologies, including with the later, programming in various languages (But just a little)...

A hobby my wife and I started a couple of years back is a marine aquarium, and I can tell you, that was one hell of a learning curve, but lots of fun. We have been improving our setup slowly but surley and have even got to the point of programing a PLC to control the lights.

I know, I know, im dragging on and you wondering whats that got o do with Tech? Whell, Ill tell you. Over the last few years I have been a member of MASA (Marine Aquariums South Africa), its an online forum where we got most, if not all the information regarding taking care of our hobby. Just the other day, I saw a mention of a controller called Arduino. I never heard of this and so started reading. I can tell you now, if any one is looking for a way to be creative and design their own system of any sort... these technologies are the way to go...

The Arduino micro controllers are an open source project that any person with the hunger to create or invent can purchase pre assembled to completely integrate the physical with cyber space... Its one of the most awesome little modular controllers I have seen( But then the only controllers i have ever used have been Siemens PLCs)

These controllers have what they call "shields", which are pre built add-ons that literally just clip on the the Arduino controller board to give extra functionality.

Some shields I have seen so far are :
Motion sensors
LCD displays
Ethernet (Connect your divice to the World Wide Web)
Motor Controllers
Servo Controllers

Heat Sensors
Distance sensors
Variouse gas sensors
pressure sensors
and loads more that I haven't thought of right now.

My plan is to create a control device to manage almost every aspect of my marine tank:
Pumps - Circulation, return, skimmer and Auto Topup
Heaters
Chillers
Lights - Display Tank and Sump
Sensors Displaying - Temp in Display Tank, Temp in Sump, Water Level In Top-up Tank
and pretty much what ever else I can monitor and / or control( From anywhere via The Net that is)

Just to tell yous, there is so much more that these little controllers can be used for, including home automation and security systems, the possibilities are endless...

I bought the Arduino MEGA, which is a bigger model than I saw them use, but the reason is simple. Instead of only 14 I/O pins i would have got with the ArduinoUNO, the MEGA gives me 54 I/O pins which translates to a crap load more devices I could potentially control and / or monitor.

Next month I will be getting the RTC (Real Time Clock) which is an add on to keep current date and time for any of my applications, also the Ethernet shield to start programming my online interface to control and monitor the tank remotely

Sorry if this is Blog is ending seemingly un-finished. I have to get t=back to my life so that I can blog some more later...

Ill keep this up to date with my progress as i move forward with this project....

Cheers!