Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I completely agree Chris. I had all of the same experience and considerations with the food. Then I had a bumper crop of babies this past season, bit the bullet and bought the "baby powder." To the credit of that decision, the powder was a big success and the food goes a very long way. You really don't need to buy a big quantity of it to raise hundreds of babies.

I do get what you're saying though. Once your budget draws a line in the sand, you've got to figure out how to stretch your fish farming pennies.

Scotty - I think that the PVC pipe raft would work great. You could make a box frame with 1/2" pipe and putting some weight (sand?) in the bottom pipes to sink it just enough and letting the top frame serve as the float. With the screen wrapped around the bottom of the box and tie-wrapped to the top, it would be a sturdy little raft with a well defined interior space. I bet that it would look better than styrofoam and be less fragile. I'm putting it on my project list and will post a pic ... once I get to that point on the list!

That almost exactly what I was thinking except I don't think you'll need to sink it at all. The mesh should be below the surface and the duckweed would be held in by the frame on the surface.