Cameras

Each aquarium can have its own IP cameras: refreshed thumbnails, full-screen live view, and a snapshot that joins the aquarium’s photos, handy for following coral growth. The feature is optional: without a video service installed, the Cameras (Caméras) tab doesn’t appear.

Everything stays on your network: AquasManager reads the camera’s stream and relays it to the browser itself. The brand’s cloud isn’t involved, and the camera’s address and credentials never leave the server.

Turn cameras on

Most cameras stream over RTSP, a format no browser can play. The go2rtc video service does the conversion. It connects only once per camera, however many people are watching, and doesn’t re-encode the video: it uses very little, even on a Raspberry Pi.

• Guided install: tick the IP cameras component (or run sudo aquasmanager reconfigure on an existing install).
• Manual install: add a go2rtc container with no published port. Give the API its address with AQUAS_GO2RTC_URL, for example http://go2rtc:1984 (see Configuration).

Caution

The go2rtc API has no password: never publish its port 1984. Only the AquasManager API should be able to reach it.

Prepare the camera

Brand	What to do on the camera	Main / sub stream
Reolink	Turn on RTSP: Reolink app › Settings › Network › Advanced › Server settings (off by default on recent models). Credentials: the camera’s own.	h264Preview_01_main / h264Preview_01_sub
Tapo	Create a camera account: Tapo app › Settings › Advanced settings › Camera account. It isn’t your TP-Link account.	stream1 / stream2
Other	Check the manual (RTSP path, port, credentials).	depends on the model

Give the camera a fixed IP address (DHCP reservation on your router).

Add a camera

In the aquarium, Cameras tab, click Add a camera (manager role).

1. Give it a name (“Front view”, “Sump”…), unique within the aquarium.
2. Choose the brand: stream paths fill in automatically.
3. Enter the IP address, the RTSP port (usually 554), the username and the password.
4. Click Test: AquasManager asks the camera for a picture.

The password is encrypted on the server and never shown again. To keep it when editing, leave the field empty.

If the test fails:

• “Camera unreachable”: the address or port is wrong, the camera is off, or RTSP is disabled.
• “The camera responds but sends no picture”: the username, password or stream path is rejected.

Watch

• Thumbnails use the lighter sub stream. They refresh every 10 seconds, only while the page is shown.
• A click opens the live view in full screen. Standard uses the sub stream; HD uses the main stream. Some cameras’ H.265 streams aren’t played by every browser: stay on standard quality then.
• The live view is muted: Tapo cameras’ audio can’t be played by a browser anyway.
• The camera button adds a frame from the main stream to the aquarium’s photos.

Who sees what:

• every role sees the cameras;
• users can also take snapshots;
• managers add, edit and delete cameras.

AquasManager doesn’t record video continuously. For video surveillance, a dedicated recorder (NVR, Frigate…) is better suited.