Tubes vs Pipes

[Cheith]

Hi,
I have been taking a look at revamping my current industrial base layout (it needs rewired amongst other things) and have been investigating gates/pipes versus transposers/filters/etc/tubes.

One obstacle I have run into with tubes is a seeming inability to move liquids out of and into glass tanks. Has anyone seen any capability to do this? What am I missing? The other thing I have read (though it may be old) is that the pumps/tubes only handle water, lava and oil - I need support for biomass/biofuel.

It would also appear that there is no way of reading the types of information about machines that the various gate types can do when removing items from machines. I may, though, have missed something.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheith.

[DaedalusAlpha]

From what I've seen on the net there should exist some sort of water proof tube. But I haven't used it myself. I'm currently using tubes for item transport and pipes for fluids.

As for gates, I think they work good. If you want the signal over to redstone, they you just indicate this in the gate. But I don't really understand what you're after.

[Irimar]

For buildcraft pipes (i.e. cobblestone, stone, wood, &c), there are waterproof versions. For RedPower 2 piping(pneumatic tubes), there are fluid pipes.

[D3lthar]

On the thread I started for mod suggestions (mods for thought) there is a mod specifically made for what you want.

Which is Liquid Relay Mod.

[Cheith]

To clarify, I guess, I was hoping to use either pipes or tubes for the entire transport network not a mix. I also like the option to have machines auto-shutoff if they have no work - which one can accomplish with gates on pipes (I assume I cannot put them on tubes). I was hoping I had missed something in the tube environment that would let me do this. Oh well.

There are waterproof tubes but they do not seem to connect well to anything other than pumps or grates. I was hoping someone knew more.

I guess it is mixed network time - pipes for short distances and tubes for longer.
Cheith

[DaedalusAlpha]

Yeah personally I only use pipes when there is no better option, and then only in small areas (within the same chunk). If I need to cross a chunk border I try my hardest to make sure I use a tube.

I generally like using thermal expansion machines (powered furnaces and pulverizers), as those eject items automatically, which make them work well together with RP2 without having to use gates, redstone or engines. IC2 machines you almost always have to empty using an engine, gates and pipes.

[Cheith]

Good to know. The forestry fluid stuff also needs pumps - though things like the logger should be good with tubes as it auto ejects. I shall have to play with that too for an auto-charcoal system.