Jason's Fishcam Setup (long overdue post)

Since I finally have a little downtime, I thought I'd use this opportunity to explain my fishcam setup in a bit more detail. First take a look at a picture of the entire setup.


1. 10 gallon aquarium
2. USB webcam & servo
3. Laptop (server)
4. Gator ornament
5. Servo (for gator)
6. ioBridge module
7. Moonlights
8. Timer
9. Temperature probe







Not much to it, is there? As far as the video goes, I use an USB webcam plugged into an old 1GHz laptop. The laptop uses WebcamXP to grab the video stream from the USB camera and serve up the images. The laptop is connected to my router which has a port open for internet traffic to see the video. I suppose I could have used an IP camera, but I put this together with parts I already had.

You may have noticed that my fishcam is interactive. Not only can you pan the camera left and right, but you can open and close the gator jaws. Both actions are controlled by hobby servos (the kind you find in radio-controlled airplanes). For the webcam, I used zip-ties to attach a servo to the top of a miniature tripod. Then I just shoved the servo axle into the button of the webcam. The webcam is manual focus. After setting the the focus with the adjustment wheel, I placed a piece of tape over it. The tape was needed because of the back and forth motion caused the camera to slowly shift out of focus.

The gator is attached to a different servo with a piece of fishing line. I drilled a small hole in the top of the gator head and threaded the line through it. The line then comes up and out of the tank and attached to the servo below. You can see the servo clamped to the side of the aquarium stand with the fishing line running to it in the picture to the right.

So how are the servos being controlled from the web? This is done with a few pieces of hardware from ioBridge.com. The main component is the IO-204 module. It connects to my router through a network cable. Once plugged in, the module establishes a connection with the ioBridge servers on its own. After creating an account and registering the module, I was able to make a few "web widgets" that controlled the servo positions. The widgets were easy to create through a menu based wizard that asked a few questions about my setup. I then had a snippet of code that I inserted into the HTML of this page. That snippet automatically loads the button, which when clicked, moves the servo to the correct position. In order for the IO-204 module to control servos, I needed to get a Servo Smart Board from ioBridge. Basically, this is an accessory board that plugs into module and allows for servo control.

The ioBridge module is capable of doing a lot more than moving servos. Since I had a few open connections left on my ioBridge module, I decided to attach a few probes to track the temperature of the water in the aquarium as well as the outside temperature. Using the same online wizard, I was to make another widget to display the water temperature on this page.

The other aspects of my setup aren't quite as hi-tech. The main light is on a digital appliance timer. I have the light set to turn off at 11pm and back on at 7am. As my fishcam popularity began to grow, I noticed a lot of visitors were coming to my site when the light was off and seeing nothing. I added the moonlights to at least give them something to look at during the night-time hours. The moonlights are basically a string of blue LEDs. I drilled a row of holes in the aquarium hood and pushed the LEDs through the holes. I just leave the moonlights on all the time. It doesn't seem to hurt anything.

Interactivity provided by ioBridge.com

You have noticed my interactive buttons changed a few weeks ago. I am beta testing a new product/service from ioBridge.com. It replaced all of the custom hardware and software I used previously for fishcam interaction. I'll post more details soon.

A good aquarium resource

If you've looking for good website regarding fish and aquariums, check out AC Tropical Fish. They have a nice section with pictures to help identify your fish and advice on keeping them happy. There is also a guides for live plants and a great community forum. Almost makes me wish I had a better pet store around here so I could get some of the more exotic varieties.

No more viewer stats?

Some of you have noticed that the viewer stat is gone from the corner of the fishcam video feed. Because of the popularity of my fishcam widget with Chumby owners, I had to switch to faster server software. The old server would start to hang after it got hit with more than 10 viewers. The new server can get fishcam images to many, many more people simultaneously. Unfortunately, the new server isn't capable of displaying the viewer count like the old server. I enjoyed the viewer count as well. It was a nice way of measuring the load on the server and popularity of my fishcam.

- UPDATE -

I've attempted to make my own "viewer stat" insert for the video feed. It seems to work, although it's not as pretty as the old one. Hopefully the little tool I coded is stable enough to run 24/7. I guess we'll see!

Full Screen Mode!

I've had a few requests for a larger fishcam... one that would fill the entire screen. Well, I finally got around to making that happen. The resolution won't get any better but at least it will fill the screen now!

Jason's Fishcam - Full Screen Mode

Check out Memming's Fishcam too!

I helped my good friend Memming hook up a fishcam yesterday. It's a saltwater aquarium and once he get's a few more fish it'll look nicer than mine! Check out the live version!

Welcome Chumby Users (although they'll never read this)!

I was wondering why I started getting a lot more traffic to my fishcam until I discovered that someone made a Chumby widget out of my video feed. A Chumby is a little LCD/squishy blob that accesses your wifi and cycles through a bunch of customized channels (ebay, news, stock tickets, etc.) So now those lucky Chumby owners can watch my fishcam on their LCD blobs all day long. At first I didn't know what to think about it since the widget bypasses my website and goes directly to the video feed. But after about 2 minutes of intense thought I've decided to embrace the Chumby widget. More people will probably see my site because of it.

The clown loach is just playing dead.

Everyone can stop emailing me to tell me that my striped clown loach is dead. Apparently, this type of fish likes to lay on it's side and take naps from time to time. It fooled me the first time too. I thought it was a goner, but as soon as I got near the aquarium, it shot off like a bullet and hid.

Ok, I think I have things working again. I managed to string a very long ethernet cable from my router to fishcam server. I haven't had any hiccups since then. I also added a little counter at the bottom of the image to let know how many other people are watching fishcam at the same time.

In other news... why is Netscape's fishcam ranked higher than mine again? Their site hasn't produced a live image of a fish in YEARS yet I'm still doing battle with them for the top spot on Goggle.

Sorry if my fishcam is down.

So much for a working fishcam! I apologize if my fishcam still isn't 100% operational yet. In my new house, I don't have a proper ethernet port near my Fishcam server and I'm having to rely on WiFi to get the server online. Needless to say, WiFi isn't as reliable as I had hoped. Now that it's payday I think I'm going to get a really long ethernet cable and connect to my router.

On the move!

You may have noticed that my interactive fish cam isn't very interactive lately. This is because I'm in the process of moving and all the fishcam gear is packed in a box somewhere. In the meantime, you'll have to make due with the little beta aquarium that is in my office. Don't expect anything to happen when you click the "gator" and "camera" links until I have is switched back to the old aquarium. I'm guessing it will be a few weeks before Jason's Fishcam is 100% operational again.

The diver is gone but the gator remains.

Some of you may have noticed the treasure chest and diver are gone as well as the other aquarium views. I decided to remove the diver because of a few reasons. First, part of it was rusting, which I can't imagine is too good for fish in a little aquarium. The second reason was because the diver was obstructing the view of half the tank. Basically, it was getting annoying. Not only that but I was constantly repositioning it because it would gradually work itself loose. But the good news is that the gator is still going strong!

Fishcam #1 down :(

You've probably noticed that fishcam #1 isn't working. I needed the webcam equipment for another project. Though I do have a new aquarium in my new office. If I get some down-time, maybe I'll set a webcam on that one instead. It only has a Betta in it at the moment.

The people at Earthcam.com have good taste

My fish cam has made the list of "25 Most Interesting Webcams of 2006". Maybe they should call it the "25 Most Interesting Webcam that Aren't Offensive" or "The 25 Webcams on the Internet that Actually Work". All kidding aside, I'm glad to get some kind of recognition for putting this interactive system together. I just hope it never gets too popular. I don't have any kind of flood control on it and no single person has exclusive control over the movements (except for me of course).

I might have to get me servos soon. They are starting to wear out from all the action. It's not they are getting loose... they are just starting to make a lot of noise... and it's starting to bug me.

In other news, my crab escaped a few days ago. I walked into the kitchen and there he was peeking outside, through the crack under the kitchen door. He must have had quite an adventure because he was covered in hair and dust-bunnies. I threw him back in the tank and all was well again.

Mission Accomplished: Jason's Fishcam is #1!

I checked my ranking in Google today and was happy to see that this website has reached the top of the results! It's been a long road and honestly I didn't think I'd ever get the number one spot. I remember how happy I was when I finally cracked into the top ten which was full of mostly non-functioning fishcams. It's a mystery to me how a dead link can be ranked so high for so long. One by one, I knocked off the challengers thanks to my diligence in keeping my webcams up and running. As a side note, the server meltdown that took away the beloved interactivity has been replaced and all is working 100% again. Lastly, I'd like to thank my lab mates, Memming and Alex. I'm not sure I would have reached #1 without them.

Fish Cam Server Meltdown

In an effort to help my fish cam server run cooler, I installed a case fan. I must have been operating at the maximum output of the power supply because the addition of that little fan smoked my system. So if fishcam was down yesterday, that was the reason. Instead of trying to fix that machine I moved all the software to a different computer. The transplant went better than I thoughT, althouth I still need to do a little work before I get the servos operational again.

Divin' for Treasure

There's been another addition to fishcam #2 in the form of a diver with a treasure chest. By clicking the links under the video stream, you'll be able to open and close the treasure chest. Since robo-gator turned out to be a big hit, I thought it was time to add another device. I'm about out of room in that tank for animatronics. I might be able to squeeze one more thing in there, but it'll have to be small. Let me know if you have any ideas.

The gator has been operational for over a month now and I'm happy to report that no fish have died because of it. Although it wasn't my intent, controlling the gator became a "fishing game" of sorts with people trying to catch my fish by closing the chompers on unsuspecting swimmers-by. It is possible to catch them as I've seen it happen a few times now.

As a side note, fishtank #1 will be down for a while. I'm trying to think of something creative to do with it. In the meantime, have fun with the new diver!

Jason's Fishcam has gone Interactive!

Today is a big day in the history of my aquarium webcam, as I'm happy to announce that viewers can finally interact with my fish! Check out fish cam #2... under the little preview image there are links that, when clicked, allow you to move the camera position and control the gator. (Don't everyone click it at once now, haha, I'm not sure if my server can handle the load.) The alligator is in the right-hand view, so you may need to click "Right" before you play with the gator. I don't think my fish like the new "robo-gator" because they all seem to be congregating on the opposite side of the tank.
I'll be improving the interface as soon as learn more about javascript. A hyperlink is about all I'm capable of at the moment. Anyway, have fun playing with my fishcam!

Beer Belly Betta

I added a little algae eating fish to the aquarium containing the Betta. Since that tank just got cleaned last week, there really isn't any algae for the little guy to munch on, so I threw in one of those compressed algae wafers. The Betta to it upon himself to eat the entire thing himself! Now he very prominent bulge on his belly. At first I freaked, thinking it was some kind of disease, but then I noticed the wafer was gone and did the math. What a pig!

Fishcam #3... SALTWATER!!!

I've added another aquarium to my line-up of super exciting remote fish watching portals. Fishcam #3 is located in my neural engineering lab at the University of Florida. My fellow grad student and office-mate, Alex, is the official keeper of the aquarium. So if you see dead things floating in there, I've got nothing to do with it.
You won't be seeing much action in this tank since in was just setup yesterday. I'm not that familiar with saltwater aquariums and I'm not sure how long the setup process takes. Maybe you'll see fish in a few weeks.
Unlike my other two fishcams, these one isn't streaming video. The fishcam server in my lab is behind a firewall and a proxy server of which I have no control. Until I can bride our network management guy to open up a port for my server, it'll be just one new image a minute.

UFO sighting in Jason's Fishcam?

No, that's not an alien pod in my aquarium. A friend gave me a couple lilly bulbs for my fish tank. So mark your calendars everyone, they're supposed to sprout in 20 days. My friend also gave me an automatic fish feeder. The plan is to add a button to this fish cam page and allow visitors to feed my fish. Don't hold your breath waiting for that though. I'm about six projects deep at the moments.

My fishcam is top ten material!

The critics have spoken... and they like my fish! The nice people at Earthcam have listed my fishcam as one of their Top Ten Cams. Which is really saying something since there are a ton of webcams in their index. I'm #3 on the top ten list, right between the "Peregrine Nest Cam" and the "Sea of Galilee" cam.

Can anyone speak Estonian?

kas te räägite inglise keelt?

I noticed I was getting a ton of hits on fishcam today. It turns out that the Estonian news outlet of "Eesti Päevaleht Online" has put a link to my website in one of its articles. Is there anyone out there who can translate it or even tell me what the article is about? Here's the link: http://www.epl.ee/artikkel_319800.html
Just post any information you have as a comment.
Thanks!

Bigger Aquarium on the Way!

I got a bigger aquarium for my birthday (thanks Beth)! I'm in the middle of setting it up which will take a few days. I'm using the plants out of my fishcam tank in case you're wondering where they went. My plan is to put a lot more plants in this bigger tank. So, hopefully in a few days "new and improved" fishcam will be up and running.

Behind the scenes tour of Jason's Fishcam

'Anonymous from the UK' asked about my fishcam setup. I plan on describing it in more detail on my projects page soon but for now, I'll just give you a quick summary of the hardware and software I use for this streaming video.
First the hardware: Everything is run from a computer I have in my living room. This computer (2.9 GHz Celeron) is also hooked to my enterainment system and functions as a PVR, file server, print server, MP3 player, DVD player and game machine. It's been a good little work-horse. The two cameras I have looking at my aquaruim work in slightly different ways. One is a traditional USB webcam (old Intel model) that plugs into my computer through a long USB cable. The other is a little camera that has an RCA style output (puchased from Supercircuits). I have it plugged into a PCI video capture card (ATI TV Wonder VE.... it's a piece of crap, don't buy one). One camera is help in place by a tripod and the other is stuck to the top of a soup can (cream of mushroom, I believe). The fishtank itself is only 3 gallons (11 liters). The aquarium light is set on an automatic timer I bought from a hardware store.
Now for the software: Since I have a dynamic IP address, I'm registered with No-IP and use their DNS update client tool to keep my IP linked to a static domain. The video streaming is taken care of with WebcamXP. It's the nicest video streaming tool I've used so far, plenty of options and ways to customize it. I've had a few incarnation of "Fishcam" and this one is by far the nicest. I'm using a blog template and free weblogs tools from Blogger to manage the updating and user comments. I would have to say that it's made keeping a webpage fun again.
Ok, I hope I've given enough information for any other budding fishcam'ers to get started.
A few last tips:
1. If you can, try to find a webcam that uses a CCD image sensor. Most cameras now have a CMOS sensor which are cheaper but the colors appear washed out. Also a CMOS camera can't handle low light conditions well either. You'll probably have to go on ebay to get one. I use an Intel CS330 webcam which I highly recommend.
2. Find an automatic timer for the aquarium light. It's light only so many hours of the day, no one wants to watch a dark tank!
3. Make sure the camera is anchored well. One bump of the webcam and "Jason's Fishcam" turns into "The Streaming Video of the Wall Beside Jason's Fishcam."
4. Make sure your fish have some color to them!
5. If your webcam server is stuck behind a firewall or proxy server, check out this post on how to get around that problem.

My 1000th visitor!

Congratulations 218.102.143.75 from Vancouver, Canada! You are the 1000th visitor to Jason's Fishcam! Sorry, there aren't any prizes associated with being #1000, just the novelty of it. I'm really surprised how fast I racked up that many hits. Now if I could just increase my ranking in google... I'm not even in the top 1000 search results for the keyword "fishcam".

What's better than one camera?

Two cameras, of course! I found another webcam in my big "box 'o computer goodies" and hooked it up last night instead of studying for my anatomy exam. So now you have two views of my wonderful aquarium. After my exam on wednesday, I may put the night-vision thing back up again. I'm starting to get some hits from europe... I'm guessing all they are seeing is darkness since the aquarium light is off at that particular time.

Ta Da!

Now you can finally see that my Betta is blue! This camera is tiny... I got it from one of those places that sells stuff for law enforcement. Happy viewing!

Color camera

I ordered a color camera yesterday. This B&W is tough to watch!