ABSTRACT

Healthy fish production requires intensive care and ensuring stable and healthy production environment inside the farm tank is a challenging task. There are several factors to be considered in keeping the best environment for the fish to survive such as the water temperature and water cleanliness. This project is aimed to assist fish keeper in maintaining fish tank which requires a lot of energy and time. It will monitor the water levels of the fish tanks, reservoir, and borehole, and also measure the temperature of water in the tank as well as self-feeding and water self-replacement mechanism. By including sensors such as temperature sensor to detect the temperature of the tank, ultrasonic sensors to detect the water levels at the tank, reservoir and borehole, 12vdc pumps and a solenoid valve for the refilling and evacuation of water. These sensors are connected to the Microcontroller (Arduino Mega) which coordinate the water refill and water evacuation of the fish tank and the water refill of the reservoir depending on the quantity of water in the borehole and reservoir. The opening and closing of the feeder is done with the help of a servo motor. A message will be sent to the user after every refill and when the water level in the borehole is minimum via a GSM module. The user can request for information through the GSM module and it will be sent through a text message.

Keywords: Arduino Mega ,Fish , GSM, sensors, Fish feeder

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background study

The need for automated systems in fish farming in our world of today has become inevitable due to the ever growing importance of fisheries aquaculture. This importance is being reflected in terms of human consumption of fish and as a source of income for individuals and nations. Aquaculture, which is the cultivation of aquatic organisms (fish, aquatic plants and other organisms) in a controlled aquatic environment either for commercial, recreational, or consumption purposes, is one of the fastest growing industries in the world due to the rapid increase in the demand for fish and other seafood as major sources of protein. Aquaculture production accounts for about 40.1% of the total world fish production and 88.5% of the world aquaculture production is contributed by Asia .The tremendous growth in human population globally has also led to a proportional growth in the demand and supply of fish. Fisheries aquaculture provided about 52.5 million tons of fish in 2008 with this statistics increasing to about 55.1 million tons in the year 2009[1].

Equally, Fish keeping is one of the most popular trends or hobbies among people of all age groups. People love to store aquariums or fish tanks at their homes and offices for entertainment and decoration purposes. This hobby helps the owners to lower their anxiety and stress, as watching the fish tanks is similar to other types of relaxation therapy and meditation [2]. Also, with the development of economy, people’s living standards have gradually improved, many people take fish farming as a supplement to daily life, and fish tanks have also become an indispensable tool for fish farming. However, most of the traditional fish tanks are semi-automatic product [3]. Many find that the effort to maintain the fish tank is demanding and time-consuming, especially the first time fish tank owners. If the fish tank is not maintained properly, the enjoyment will deteriorate when the fish keep dying for unknown reasons. They tend to neglect and forget several important factors to keep the fish healthy such as water cleanliness and temperature [4]. In our new era of technology, many automatic or self-operate machines and invention are created for many purposes such as to lighten the burden of the human in future [5]. One of the most important factors influencing the success of fish cultivation is water quality. Temperature is one of the physical parameters that can be used to observed water quality. When temperatures are low, fish do not want to eat and fish are susceptible to disease. However, if the temperature is high then the fish will stress in breathing and cause damage to the gills [6]. One way to keep an aquarium clean is by checking the cleanliness of water regularly and changing water on time. This is something that is often forgotten by fish owners because they are busy with their daily activities and also do not have enough information regarding aquarium conditions. Hence, aquarium water is changed when it looks dirty [7].

In raising fish there is work that must be done every day, one of the important things in maintaining fish is feeding fish. The system in feeding fish still relies on human resources for feeding, which is still manual in giving it by using hands. The application of this system still has shortcomings, namely the frequent occurrence of late or inconsistent feeding. one of which is a way that can be done to overcome this problem is to create a tool that can feed the fish in the aquarium automatically.

Design and realization of an automatic replenish system for fish tank is created to help farmers to maintain clean water in the fish tank and also to monitor the temperature and water level in the tank in order to maintain a good water quality and to improve on the well-being of the fish, And equally to feed the fish automatically.

1.2 Problem Statement

A fish tank on local fish farms currently requires manual monitoring and refilling to sustain desirable water levels. This reliance in human intervention poses risk to the well-being of the fish population. Removing water from the fish tank manually is time consuming as the farmer needs to wait for the water to finish before refilling.  Also, issues on water quality in fish farming systems vary widely. One of the qualities that affect fish is Temperature, and the metabolism of fish changes as the temperature rises. In raising fish there is work that must be done every day. The system in feeding fish still relies on human resources for feeding, which is still manual in giving it by using hands. We are focused on removing, refilling and monitoring the fish tank to know the level and quality of water in the tank in order to reduce the need for manual intervention and ensuring a consistent water level for the fish tank.

1.2    Research questions

• How am I going to design and realize an automatic water replenishing system for fish tanks?
• How am I going to monitor the water levels and temperature of the fish tank and also send the information to the user?
• How is the fish going to be fed?

1.4 Objectives

1.4.1 General objectives

The general objective of this project is to design and realize an automatic water refill and system for fish tanks that ensures consistent water level.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

• To design a system that automatically evacuates and refills a fish tank with water, reducing the need for manual intervention and ensuring a consistent water level for fish.
• To incorporate sensors and control mechanisms to monitor the water level and temperature in the fish tank and sends information to the farmer through text messages.
• To design a system that automatically feeds fish.