Water Garden: iPhone Web App Progress

The water garden project is at a standstill at the moment because I'm having a hard time finding whiskey barrels at a reasonable price. I have, however, made some progress on the iPhone control interface for the water garden! As of now I have a semi-functioning web app that can check the status of and send control signals to the ioBridge.

The illustration at the top of the app will be dynamic and show different things depending on the status of the various sensors, pumps, etc. I haven't finished it therefore it just shows everything at the moment. The yellow dots indicate that the ioBridge is offline. They will be green if the water level is ok and red if it is low. The on/off toggles simply switch a relay on and off.

I'm continuing to look for decently priced whiskey barrels but if I can't find them I'm considering building a multi-tiered water garden out of wood and using a plastic liner. Stay tuned.

Note: "Under Water Lights" should be "Underwater Lights." I already fixed it but not before I took these screenshots. :-)

Water Garden

My latest undertaking is to build a small water garden on the porch at my apartment. Since I obviously can't dig a hole and install a traditional liner or shell type water garden I've decided to build an above-the-ground water garden in half whiskey barrels.

To make the water garden more interesting I have decided to use two separate barrels with one being lifted slightly higher than the other so that water can cascade from the upper barrel to the lower one.

In addition I am going to install water level sensors and relay controls so that I will be able to remotely monitor the water level and switch the circulation pump on and off on my iPhone. The system will also be able to send me text messages if the water level drops for any reason and automatically shut the pump off to prevent further draining and/or damage to the pump.

Things Needed for this Project

• Whiskey Barrels (searching for a lower price)
• Water Pump/Filter
• Plastic Tubing
• Water Level Sensors (x2)
• 110v Relay
• ioBridge
• Plants (and pots, dirt, etc.)
• Goldfish (eventually)

Next Steps

• Get whiskey barrels
• Get whiskey barrels to hold water

My Life... One Project at a Time...

My life is full of random projects. I'm going to begin documenting them here. I'm also going to try to post information and pictures of some of my old projects periodically.