Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great,

Thanks,
you said those were 6"(150mm) right? shouldn't be any clogging with that, have you noticed any reason for concern?

Also, did you have a particular reason for hose fitting for the drain? could you not have just drilled holes? I am thinking to just strap a mesh of sorts over the bottom to hold the media in. Any reason you can think of to NOT do that?

Cangratulations on your first fruit by the way. many more to come, soon we hope.

That should say cOngratulations (I can spell)

By The Way,
I this may be slightly off subject, but, do you know where there is any form of listing as to which plants specifically DON'T handle direct sun well, those that REQUIRE direct sun, those that DO BEST in steady (not dark) shade, etc.

I have EllKayBee's chain saw and Janet's hole saw ready and I am laying out the plant order and would prefer to put them in the best places to start with.

Maybe you can direct me to the right thread, but I would love to see it in more of a "list form"

Thanks again for the photos,
Mathew

I put those hose fittings on the caps because I saw someone else had done it (Aquamad). But for both of us, in hindsight, I wouldn't bother. Because I have the towers directly over the drums, there is no need to direct the drainage anywhere except down. I already had the fittings so there was no extra expense.

When the towers were first set up, there was a little bit of blocking, but I have a special device for fixing that (bent wire ). Poke the wire up through the drain, wiggle it a bit and it all clears. I think it was mainly the gravel settling into place.

The four towers with cocopeat have a layer of gravel in the bottom to allow for better drainage.

I think when the cocopeat needs replacing I will just go with gravel, the growth seems better.

I think for the sun/shade issue of plants you might be better off searching the web for sites that relate to your area. I can't recall a list or specific discussion of that subject on here

then don't we need to have one? This would be the best place, NO? (well, maybe not on this particular thread).

Thanks for the quick response as well.

Mathew

Hi Mathew,
We've discussed sun vs shade, but I can't recall exactly where atm. As a general rule, if you want to eat it, you need more sun. leafy greens should take less sun, but you can't tell that by my lettuce. My system is indoors, and although the sunroom seems quite bright, the roof is shingled, not glass. Eggplants and basil are doing the best for me. Beans were a bit stunted, tomatoes and Swiss Chard doing ok. I have put some ornamentals in for fun. Australian tree fern is doing great, begonias and coleus are ok.

Aus Tree Ferns mostly live in dim, green depths of forests, so an indoor setting would be fine for them

The price of Aus Tree Ferns over here is amazingly expensive..£45 for a 1ft trunk!
I bet they grow like weeds over there

The tree ferns I got are so small that they don't yet have trunks. US$10 each.

Janet,
Did you get them on line or local?

Mathew

Local nursery, Mathew.

Ok,
Thanks Janet

Do you think these things would work as a tower system? They're a stackable pot, that is self watering ( just put water in the top pot ). Bit expensive, but could be a really good non-DIY tower system.

http://www.drjohns.com.au/product.asp

Someone here had seen those before, don't know if they went ahead and used them. I think they look great, if the money isn't a problem.

Im planning (with alot of other things in my plans) on getting a bunch of cheap square pots/containers and stacking them. Eg square pot on bottom, next pot stacked but rotated 45 degrees, with a bit cut out of the lip so it "locks" in place), wont look quite as pretty but will have the same effect......