Thank Goodness for Timers and Notifications

[Daniel]

My two best buddies these days are Siri and Alexa.

Alexa! Set a timer for 5 minutes!

In my morning routine I pull the air from the baby brine shrimp and start draining water from the baby discus tank. Then I set an alarm using Alexa for 5 minutes. When the first 5 minute alarm goes off, I go back to my utility room where my brine shrimp rack is and do my first harvest. I keep setting alarms until all the water has been changed in my fishroom.

If I get blackworms or white worms out of the fridge, I set an alarm.

Until I got in the habit of using Alexa and Siri, I would suffocate my brine shrimp due to leaving them without air for an hour. Or even worse, I would overflow a tank during a water change.

Knock on wood, but no disasters recently.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Daniel
very bad grammar

[Cait]

Great idea! All my lights are either automated or on timers. Otherwise once every other week I would forget to turn a light on or off. I am too nervous to leave the area when doing a water change. 

We use or Google home all the time for other things. We have one in our kitchen that is perfect for cooking. Now I am always setting a timer when cooking or baking!  

[Robin]

I love the new timers that you plug in and run through your smart phone. No more trying to make the mechanical ones with their stupid little tabs go in the right place. I really hated those old timers. I've got probably a dozen or more of the ones running through my phone for my fish lights and plant lights all over the house. Best thing ever.

[Bill Smith]

2 hours ago, Robin said:

I love the new timers that you plug in and run through your smart phone. No more trying to make the mechanical ones with their stupid little tabs go in the right place. I really hated those old timers. I've got probably a dozen or more of the ones running through my phone for my fish lights and plant lights all over the house. Best thing ever.

Yeah, can you imagine if someone made a fish feeder with those antiquated tabs?

I keed, I keed. ;-)

[TheDukeAnumber1]

 

My lights often got left on overnite or not turned on at all before I had timers. Now they are a must.

I became attached to the older circular version of the GE Sunsmart timer. I've programmed it enough times to not forget so I bought a bunch on ebay for cheap. The backup batteries on them were dead or near dead but I soldered in a super cap where the battery used to be and now they work great and knock on wood will be good for life.

I was unsure about the tab feeders at first but there is value in something so simple to setup that you never have to remember how it works to easily set it up again.

Edited July 19, 2020 by TheDukeAnumber1

[Daniel]

Amazon Alexa has kept from from killing my baby brine shrimp twice today, but sometimes I need a reminder to remind me to set the reminder.

[ForestJenn]

I almost had a tank overflow during a water change today.   A timer would have helped.   It's especially embarrassing because I was sitting right there watching the tank when it happened.  I was a little to absorbed I guess.   It was a close call!

When I reestablished my main tank recently, I went with a light that included a programmable timer.   I love it!