PUMP

Currently we are using a small electric powered pump to transport the water up to the fish tanks. This is run for only 15 minutes each day. However that is long enough to successfully put a steady flow of water through the entire living machine. If it happens that the water is not oxiginated enough, which we test each day, we could easily be able to run it longer.

How ever efficient the pump is, our goal is to make a living machine that doesn't rely on anything that humans do, this includes turning a pump on and off, and/or electricity. We are developing a pump that would run completely off the sun's heat. The pump functions by heating the water in the pipes and causing it to rise, therefore pumping it back up to the first set of tanks. The pipes we are using is 1/4 inch copper tubing. It has been curved numerous times, so it has a maximum amount of surface area within the heating box. It is surrounded with Styrofoam board covered with tin foil so that the heat from the sun is not lost out other ways except through the pipe. The tin foil will reflect the suns light directly to the copper tubing. While the Styrofoam on the back of the tinfoil, is to prevent the loss of the sun's heat.