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Liquid Management Guide: Plumbing & Storage Tips

Liquids in Dyson Sphere Program are a separate logistics class with their own extraction, storage, and transport rules. Proper handling of liquids is essential for fueling reactors, producing refined oil, running chemical recipes, and supplying fluid-consuming machines.

Liquid sources

  • Water: Collected with Water Pumps built on coastline tiles. Water Pumps can only be placed at the sea edge and will pump continuously; the source does not deplete. A single Water Pump collects a fixed flow rate and is affected by vein-utilization mechanics (building count on the same resource). On planets with Sulfuric Acid oceans, Water Pumps can instead pump Sulfuric Acid where present.
  • Crude Oil: Extracted from Crude Oil seeps. Extraction speed depends on the individual seep and the extraction technology used (e.g., using plasma extraction upgrades changes rates). Multiple extractors on a single vein are subject to utilization effects.
  • Other fluids: Some planets and features provide specific fluids (e.g., Deuterium from certain processes). Fluids produced by chemical assemblers, oil refinery outputs, or by-product processes are additional sources.

Liquid transport

  • Belts: Liquids are transported on fluid conveyor belts. They behave differently from item belts in throughput and splitter logic; plan conveyors and circuits to match required continuous flows.
  • Direct loading/unloading: Storage Tanks and many buildings load and unload liquids directly onto belts; sorters are not used for fluids.
  • Flow priorities: When a multi-output connection exists (for example, a storage tank with multiple outgoing belts), outputs are prioritized in a fixed order governed by the input placement and clockwise ordering relative to that input. The building will attempt to fill the highest-priority output up to full flow before spilling over into the next output.

Storage

  • Storage Tank (liquid-specific):
    • Purpose: The Storage Tank is the primary and most compact storage for liquids.
    • Capacity: Each Storage Tank can store up to 10,000 units of a single liquid (it can hold only one liquid at a time).
    • Supported liquids: Crude Oil, Refined Oil, Water, Deuterium, Hydrogen, Sulfuric Acid (and other game fluids where applicable).
    • Loading/unloading: Liquids are loaded/unloaded directly via conveyor belts attached to the tank. As of recent game versions, players can also place or remove fluids manually through the tank UI if they have inventory space.
    • Output behavior: When multiple output belts are connected, the Storage Tank prioritizes outputs one-by-one (not round-robin). It will feed one output until it reaches full flow before moving to the next according to the priority order determined by the input orientation (clockwise priority relative to the input).
    • Deconstruction: Deconstructing a Storage Tank destroys its contents. To preserve the stored liquid, manually remove or pipe the fluid out before deconstruction.
  • Regular Item Storage: Basic Storage Mk.I/Mk.II can store liquids in item-stack form but at far lower effective capacity than a Storage Tank; use Storage Tanks for long-term or large-volume liquid buffers.

Production and consumption considerations

  • Match transport capacity to production: Many fluid recipes require steady flows (refining, chemical plants). Use enough pumps, belts, and storage to smooth production spikes and avoid starvation.
  • Buffers: Storage Tanks are the recommended buffers for liquids due to their high capacity and straightforward belt connections.
  • Placement: Place Water Pumps at coasts and plan their area so you do not accidentally block reinstallation (pumps must be placed on coastline tiles); avoid permanently reclaiming the sea tile under an installed pump unless you intend to abandon that pump.
  • Depletion and infinite sources: Surface water and acid seas are effectively infinite. Other fluid veins (like oil seeps) are finite per vein and subject to utilization effects.

Practical tips

  • Use a Storage Tank between extractors/refineries and consumers to decouple variable extraction rates from steady consumption.
  • Remember output priority rules when connecting multiple consumers to a single tank — rotate inputs/outputs if you need a specific belt to be prioritized.
  • If you need to clear a tank prior to deconstruction, unload by belts or use the UI manual remove option to avoid losing contents.
  • Track fluid types carefully: each Storage Tank holds a single fluid; mixing requires separate tanks or lines with proper routing.

This covers the core mechanics and best practices for handling liquids: where they come from, how to move them, how to store them efficiently, and operational tips to keep your fluid logistics stable.