Removing Germs | Oxygen Not Included Beginners Guide (2022)

I am not a fan of the "cheat" germ filtration method, either. It is easily the most efficient way to do it but, besides feeling like a cheat, it also seems like an update away from being 'fixed'. My method is similar to yours. The biggest trick of it is to remember: Do NOT connect the output pipe tp the liquid shutoff until you have germless water in the reservoir. Using 2 liquid reservoirs, one a primary and the other the backup, setup liquid shutoffs before and after each reservoir. Set the reservoirs to 90/10 (high/low). Run automation wire from each reservoir to their respective intake shutoff valve. Connect pipes to allow germy water to enter the reservoirs. For the output automation, connect each reservoir to its own NOT gate to a FILTER gate (set to at least 150 seconds; I use max 180 seconds to ensure all germs are killed) to the output shutoff valve for each respective reservoir. Now let the primary reservoir fill up with at least 100kg of water, then put a bridge in and fill up the secondary reservoir. While the primary is no longer accepting water, wait for all the germs to be killed. Once the reservoir is germ-free, connect the output of the reservoir the the output shutoff valve. Remove the bridge and wait for the secondary reservoir to be germ free. Once germ-free, connect the output of the secondary reservoir to the it's output shutoff valve.

This setup has always ensured me 100% germ-free water. Provided it is in chlorine, the 180 seconds on the filter holds the water in the reservoir and will kill any amount of germs in it before opening the output shutoff valve. By setting the reservoir high to 90, the input shutoff valve will stop water and make sure there is never any germy water stuck in the pipe because the reservoir is full. And, probably the most important step and one that I will sometimes flub, is waiting to build the output pipe between the reservoir and the output shutoff valve - by waiting until the water in clean in the reservoir to do this step, it makes sure that clean water is in the pipe between the reservoir and the shutoff valve. And by keep the reservoir's low threshold at 10%, it will prevent it from full draining and allowing germy water to pass into the pipe between the reservoir and the output shutoff valve when it starts receiving water again.

Lastly, if you are playing on planets with a lot of germy water to filter, you can put in a simple toggle switch so water alternates between the two reservoirs rather than having a primary and failover.

I appreciate and adore how your tutorials feel like an actual player learning and implementing better and better builds vs a highly optimized perfectionist trying to "dumb it down" for us. This feels like we get to learn along side you and or catch up to you! Thank you for your great, relatable tutorials

I love the series and thank you for teaching me all of that stuff but why you are not using the printer and reject?

Does this system work with gas tanks as well? I would like to filter some germs off some oxygen and I was wondering if i could use this same method.
p.s
Thanks to your series I've finally managed to build a decent colony that didn't fail after just 30 cycles, I am at 200 now and still expanding!! Thank you very much!

your videos have helped a lot :)

series ended? :(

I've just started a new playthrough following your general guide, however, I changed the polluted water overflow/pump situation to a liquid reservoir. Less power and polluted oxygen coming off of it, hopefully it doesn't bite me in the butt.

There's a cat????? That is so cool

Awesomesauce, a new episode!!!! A great binge when not feeling well.