Introduction

Water monitoring systems are used in a wide variety of applications, from monitoring pressure and flow to checking water quality. As the climate and environment changes, managing the water supply is critical for life on this planet. Water monitoring systems can help prevent waste by watching for leaks and contaminants, or by preventing overuse in farming by tracking water levels in the soil.

A water monitoring system can also be used to maintain the proper water quality, level and temperature of an aquarium. This is vital in aquaponic applications, where the aquarium acts as the water and nutrient supply for growing plants.

This application note will discuss the creation of a simple water monitoring system for a small aquarium. This water monitoring system uses the PIC® microcontrollers’ Master Synchronous Serial Port (MSSP) module in I²C mode to create a bus that allows a master device to collect and display the data from the following three sensors:

• pH Sensor
• Temperature Sensor
• Water Level Sensor