The Aquifer: a machine with a recessed window showing water in its front
Power
None
Water
250 mB/t, rising with tier
Tank
At least 4,000 mB
Upgrades
Kit, Irrigation, Lumen
ID
enthalpy:aquifer

What it does#

The Aquifer makes water out of nothing. It needs no power and no neighbouring water: place it, and its tank fills every tick. Fill a bucket from it, pipe it into a tank or a machine, or let auto-output push it into whatever touches it. Water-hungry machines such as the Ecotone can drink straight from one.

It also looks after crops. Irrigation Modules hydrate farmland around it like a water block, and Lumen Modules light the same area like a torch and speed up growth. One machine, a patch of farmland and a few modules is a complete farm, with no water channels and no lamps.

Building it#

AquiferCrafting Table

Using it#

Place it and it starts. Open it to fit modules and to switch the grow lights on or off. Click the tabs and the coloured faces below; they behave like the real screen.

AquiferRunning
Inventory
Output1,000 mB/tIrrigation13×13Grow lights13×13
Water
2
2
TierBaseSpeed100%Energy/op100%Buffer0
Auto-outputGrow lightsSoundsRedstone
Always
Low
High
  • Makes water from nothing; no power needed
  • 250 mB/t, rising with tier to unlimited
  • Use a bucket on it to fill the bucket
  • Pipes and tanks can drain output faces
  • Auto-output pushes water into neighbours
  • Irrigation modules hydrate farmland around it
  • Lumen modules let crops in the same area grow in the dark
  • Grow lights switch on and off on the Config tab
  • Each Lumen module makes crops grow 50% faster
Side ConfigInputOutputBothNone
  1. 1
    The water tank. It refills every tick and holds at least 4,000 mB, or a full tick of output when the tier makes more than that.
  2. 2
    Running while it has something to do. Disabled when redstone has switched it off, which also turns off irrigation and grow lights.
  3. 3
    Water per tick, the square of farmland it hydrates and the square the grow lights cover.
  4. 4
    The tier kit slot. A higher tier makes more water per tick.
  5. 5
    Irrigation Modules. Each extra module widens the hydrated area.
  6. 6
    Lumen Modules. Each extra module widens the lit area and speeds growth.
  7. 7
    The tier, water rate, tank size, both areas and the growth bonus from Lumen. This list is longer in game than the replica's.
  8. 8
    Grow lights switches the lamps and the growth bonus off while leaving irrigation running. There is no Auto-input row, as nothing can be put into it.
  9. 9
    Faces are either Output or off. Every face starts as Output.

Water by tier#

A tier kit raises how much water it makes each tick. The top tier never runs dry: its output is unlimited.

TierKitWater
BaseNone250 mB/t
TemperedTempered Upgrade Kit1,000 mB/t
FortifiedFortified Upgrade Kit8,000 mB/t
LuminousLuminous Upgrade Kit64,000 mB/t
HarmonicHarmonic Upgrade KitUnlimited

At base tier a bucket (1,000 mB) takes 4 ticks. Most farms never need more than the base tier.

Irrigation#

Put an Irrigation Module in its slot and every farmland block within range counts as watered, as if a water block were beside it. Range is the same in all four directions, so a square patch centred on the Aquifer, and it covers farmland level with the machine or one block below it.

  • One module hydrates farmland out to 4 blocks, the same reach as a water block.
  • Each extra module adds 50% of that: 6, 8, then 10 blocks with four.

The screen shows the area as a square side: a range of 4 is 9 by 9 blocks, and four modules cover 21 by 21.

Farmland normally only notices water now and then, so freshly tilled soil can look dry for a while. The Aquifer fills in the moisture of everything in range every second, so new plots go dark and wet at once.

Lumen and grow lights#

A Lumen Module turns the Aquifer into a grow light. Crops in range grow as if a torch lit them, so they keep growing in the dark and under a roof, and no light blocks are placed. It reaches plants level with the machine or one block above, and the radius works exactly like Irrigation: one module, then each extra module wider.

Each module also speeds growth. Every Lumen Module adds 50% growth speed, so four give 200% more. Every plant in range gets the same boost, however big the area. Only plants that can still grow count: mature crops drop out of the list, and the machine rechecks the area every few seconds.

  • While the lights are on, the machine glows and its top becomes a lamp. They are off when no Lumen Module is fitted.
  • Switch them off with Grow lights on the Config tab. Irrigation carries on.
  • Redstone that disables the machine turns off irrigation and lights together.

Automation#

Every face pushes water out. Faces can only be output or off:

Every face Output (pushes water). Auto-input off, Auto-output on.

Pipes and tanks can drain it from any output face. Auto-output is on, so it fills neighbouring tanks, cauldrons and machines on its own. Use a bucket on it to fill the bucket. Nothing can fill it. Side configuration explains faces, modes and redstone control for every machine.

Upgrades#

The tier kit raises the water rate. Modules go in their own slots, one for each kind, and each stacks.

TierKit
BaseNone
TemperedTempered Upgrade Kit
FortifiedFortified Upgrade Kit
LuminousLuminous Upgrade Kit
HarmonicHarmonic Upgrade Kit
  • Irrigation Module · up to 4
  • Lumen Module · up to 4

Celerity, Economizer and the other modules do nothing here. The Lumen Module also works in the Voltaic Cell and lets an Ecotone run after dark.

Good to know#

  • Its running sound is bubbling. Turn it off with Sounds on the Configuration tab.
  • The tank only holds water, and nothing but water leaves it.
  • With nothing to grow, the grow lights sleep until the next check, so an empty field costs nothing.
For pack makers: the settings behind these numbers
SettingDefaultRangeWhat it does
aquifer.waterPerTick250 / 1,000 / 8,000 / 64,000 / 2,147,483,647Water the Aquifer makes per tick, in mB, per tier: base, tempered, fortified, luminous, harmonic
aquifer.minTankCapacity4,0001,000 to no limitSmallest Aquifer tank, in mB. The tank always holds at least one tick of output
aquifer.moduleBaseRadius41 to 64Radius the first Irrigation or Lumen module covers, in blocks (a water block hydrates farmland within 4)
aquifer.moduleRadiusBonus0.50 to 16Extra radius per Irrigation or Lumen module after the first (0.5 = +50% of the base radius)
aquifer.lumenGrowthBonus0.50 to 16Extra plant growth speed per Lumen module while grow lights are on (0.5 = +50%)