Underwater experiment

A 29-year-old marine biologist will live underwater for a fortnight and eat algae in a bid to prove a point about sustainability.

Lloyd Godson will submerge himself in a box in wetlands near Albury-Wodonga, on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, for a fortnight.

Mr Godson believes he will be able to survive by growing algae for food and to produce oxygen, and generate electricity by riding a stationary bike.

"I've always liked a challenge and I couldn't have picked a bigger one than this," he said.

"To build and live in your own underwater house - that's pretty cool."

He says the hardest thing will be using algae to produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air in his cell.

"This is the very experimental part of the project. We've got some gas monitors and back-up air supplies to make sure that the air quality stays at a high standard.

"If it doesn't then that's when I'll implement my back-up strategy."

Similar experiments were carried out by NASA bioengineers in the late 1990s.