nathanielks
commented
9 years ago The interface with the microcontroller will/should be a relay that turns power to the pump on and off, so we don't need to worry about the different voltages. TL;DR: our controller and the pump will be operating on different power lines.
My vote would be submersible. A cursory search for non-submersible pumps appear to be for de-flooding stuff (too much unneeded power) and are $$$. The one you bought looks great! I'll go look at Petsmart or something to see what common tubing sizes are ( so we can go to the store if we need things quickly ), but so far your's appears to be a common size. There are also step-down and step-up fittings we can get if we need to use different sizes.
DarrenCattle
ChicagoGupta
austinpray
DeftxPunk
This is the one I bought recently: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009X6ADCM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Submersible or non? (more power with submersible)
DC power, most of the time you want up to 12 Volts but if there are special considerations for the motherboard we end up using we can go to a lower 5 Volt power.
Outer Diameter (OD) and Inner Diameter (ID) are also issues to consider, this pump has 5/16" and 7/16" for clear plastic pipe.
If anyone has any other pumps to suggest feel free to recommend. Thank you.