Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi CG,

Its still very experimental so i can`t say for sure if it`ll work or not but I can`t see any reason why it shouldn`t.

My small test is being hampered by low light levels and short daylength so growth is kind of slow. I have a small auto syphon flood/drain bed with hydroton that is also on the go slow so i`m optimistic its just a light issue.

I used an unrooted cutting as the test subject, but with hindsight perhaps i should have used a pre-rooted one as is the usual nft method for quicker progress.
Anyway, the cutting has put out roots regardless of having no media to grow in and is currently producing small laterals on the main roots herringbone fashion. It obviously wants to live

Maybe i should advertise for some beta testers that have oodles of light? Might get some faster results then

All you need for a makeshift test setup is a few square feet spare of standard gravel/hydroton growbed equipped with an autosyphon and a full cycle time of 15 minutes or less.
My micro system cycles about once every 3 minutes but judging by timed nft systems..anything under 15 minutes should be ok.

The incentive is the hybrid bed would weigh and cost considerably less than a normal gravel bed, have pretty much all the benefits of both nft and flood/drain with less of the drawbacks.
There are also some very useful inbuilt (free) features too.. assuming the method actually works

pic update

i added 1 floating raft bed
water is cleared up
ph 7.5

Haven't done any more test. i will add iron chelate and fix ph Monday also got to check out if bottle tops are healthy in this application.

Hey Damian, good to see you back.... what sort of fish do you have in the new system?

same tilapia i started with their breeding like crazy. i got in some plecos and 5 mystic sharks (aquarium fish)

lettuce planted today