Email Notifications

Reading time: ~5 minutes · Execution time: ~2 minutes (plus verification) · Audience: anyone who wants to be alerted via email when something critical happens in the tank

🟡 Important Guide — a brief configuration. Once activated, email notifications work on their own. The page is then used only to consult active alerts/history.

1. What you are about to do

JoyReef automatically generates events (see guide 14) for everything that happens in the tank. Some of these events are critical: you want to know immediately, not wait until you open the portal.

Example: the ATO goes into fault at 3 AM. Without notifications, you discover it the next morning after the pump has tried to top up in vain for hours. With email notifications active, you receive an email immediately and can:

• Open the portal from your mobile phone.
• Evaluate if it's a serious problem or if it can wait until tomorrow.
• Potentially unlock the ATO remotely (see guide 14).

In this guide:

• Activate email notifications.
• Understand which types of events generate a notification and which do not.
• Learn to read the notifications page (Active vs. History).
• See how to resolve typical cases (emails not arriving, ending up in spam).

2. What you need

• ✅ An active JoyReef account (with confirmed email).
• ✅ A primary tank set up (not strictly necessary, but many notifications are per-tank).

💡 The email address used is the one from your profile. If you want to receive notifications on an email different from your login, change the profile email (User menu → Profile → edit email + confirm).

💡 Push and SMS: currently not supported. Only email. For mobile "push," the solution is "the email arrives on Gmail/Outlook → the mobile app does the push" — we do not directly integrate iOS/Android push notifications.

3. Managed Notification Types

JoyReef sends an email notification for the following events (the list may grow over time):

Things that DO NOT generate an email notification

To avoid spamming you:

• ❌ Ordinary OK events (ATO topped up, heater turned on, etc.) — they stay in the timeline but don't send emails.
• ❌ Non-critical Warning events (probe stuck for 5 min, small state change, etc.).
• ❌ States that change for only a few seconds (anti-flicker).

The idea: if you receive an email from JoyReef, it's because there is something you really need to look at. Not noise.

Anti-spam: one single email per "active event"

When an event triggers (e.g., "Return pump stopped"), JoyReef sends one single email and that's it. Even if the return pump stays stopped for hours, you do NOT receive more emails about that same pump. Only:

• A new email if the event "clears" and then "triggers again" (new cycle).
• Different emails for different events (if 3 things go into error, 3 emails).

This is to avoid the classic "I received 250 emails for the same pump that was stopped one night" phenomenon.

4. Open the Notifications page

From the JoyReef portal:

1. Left menu → "Notifications" (bell icon 🔔)
2. Or go to portal.joy-reef.com/notifications

The "Notifications" page opens with:

• Header with title, subtitle + "Email enabled"/"Email disabled" status pill.
• "Email Notifications" toggle (on/off).
• Stats: "Active: X · History: Y."
• "Active" section with a list of ongoing notifications.
• "Recent History" section with a list of past state changes.

🖼️ Image to insert here (Notifications page): screenshot of the page with active email toggle, 1-2 notifications in the Active section, and a few rows in the History.

5. Step 1 — Activate emails

In the "Email Notifications" toggle at the top, click to activate it. It turns green.

You see a brief confirmation banner "Notifications enabled," and the pill at the top changes from "Email disabled" to "Email enabled."

From this moment on, every critical-level notification will arrive via email at your profile address.

💡 Immediate test: the simplest way to verify that emails arrive is to wait for the first real event. If you want to force a test, you can physically disconnect the return pump for 5 minutes (see guide 13 sec. 11 - recommended test). You receive the "Return pump stopped" email, you reconnect it, in a few minutes everything returns to normal and you receive (in history) the "cleared" confirmation.

6. Step 2 — Read the Active section

The "Active" section shows notifications currently ongoing: triggered events that have not yet cleared.

For each notification you see:

• Label of the event (e.g., "ATO in fault", "Return pump stopped").
• Status: 🟢 "Active."
• Timestamp of when it triggered.

💡 If the section is empty = "No active notifications." Good sign, everything is fine.

Active notifications cannot be "closed" manually: they clear automatically when the underlying condition is resolved (e.g., the return pump restarts, the ATO is reactivated, the device returns online). At that point, it disappears from Active and appears in History.

7. Step 3 — Read the History section

The "Recent History" section shows the last N state changes (both triggers and clearances).

For each entry you see:

• Label of the event.
• Status: 🟢 Active / ⚪ Cleared.
• Timestamp of the trigger.
• If cleared: "Cleared: HH:MM."

💡 Use history to: understand how frequently a certain problem occurs. Example: if "Skimmer stopped" appears 3 times in the last week, there is a systemic problem (recurring clogging, pump blocking due to poor maintenance, overflow).

8. Deactivating notifications

To deactivate:

1. Go to /notifications.
2. Click the "Email Notifications" toggle → it turns gray.
3. Banner "Notifications disabled."

From this moment you will no longer receive emails, but events will still be recorded in /events (see guide 14). You can check them manually.

💡 When to deactivate temporarily: vacation where you are in an area without coverage, long tank maintenance (water change + cleaning + dosing pumps + etc.), initial setup test (to avoid receiving alerts while you are experimenting).

⚠️ Remember to reactivate them afterward. Deactivated notifications are the best way to miss a serious problem "because no one told me."

9. If something goes wrong

I activated emails but I don't receive any

Diagnose in order:

1. Check the SPAM/Promotions folder of your email provider. Automatic emails typically end up there the first few times.
2. Add noreply@joy-reef.com (or the address they come from) to your contacts → mark as "Not spam" → in the future they will arrive in the main inbox.
3. Verify the profile email (User menu → Profile): it must be confirmed ("Email verified" badge). If not confirmed, resend the verification link.
4. Check if there are actually critical events to notify: if the tank is perfect, there are simply no emails to send. Go to /events, "Errors" filter → if the list is empty, everything is fine!
5. Email provider blocking/delaying: personal Gmail and Outlook always work. Some corporate emails (.edu, .gov, .corporate) have rigorous filters that block automatic emails → change to a personal address.

I receive too many emails

Probable cause: you have a recurring real problem. JoyReef emails don't "multiply" on their own — if you receive many for the same thing, it means the condition "triggers + clears + triggers + clears" multiple times.

• Go to /events, "Errors" filter, and identify the pattern.
• Resolve the underlying cause (e.g., clogged float sensor that oscillates).
• The emails will stop.

If the recurring event cannot be resolved quickly, consider maintenance mode (for energy/health, see guide 13) to silence alerts until you fix it.

The email is in the wrong language (English / Italian)

Notifications use the profile language. Verify in your profile that the language is "Italian" (or your preferred language) and not "English" (set by default for new accounts in some environments).

I want to forward emails to multiple people (e.g., spouse / client)

JoyReef sends to only one address (the profile one). To forward:

• Create a forwarding rule on your email client (Gmail, Outlook all have this function): "if the email comes from joy-reef.com → forward to XXX@yyy.com."
• Or use an email alias (mailgun, fastmail) that forwards to multiple people.

In a future version, we may add multi-recipient notifications natively.

I want to receive push notifications on my phone (not email)

Currently not directly supported. Workaround:

• Gmail/Outlook app on mobile: these apps push incoming emails → equivalent to a push notification.
• Configure a label/filter in the app to highlight JoyReef emails → different sound, badge on the icon.
• When we have native push notifications (Firebase/APNs), the guide will be updated.

10. Next step

You have active notifications. The tank now calls you when it needs you, instead of waiting for you to go check on it.

There are few other portal features left to document:

➡️ Guide 16 — Firmware Installation via USB (for those who want to update the controller or dosing pump firmware directly from the browser)

💡 Final tip for not living in anxiety: once notifications are activated, do not obsessively check the portal. If you receive an email → you look. If you don't receive one → the tank is fine. The /events page is there for the morning ritual check, but the true purpose of the system is not having to look at it.