Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Glad to hear that it's taking off Don. You must not have lost the tomato plants at all this winter to have some by this time. I think were still a month away from getting much growing in the garden although I do have a few seeds started

I was hoping you had good news about the expanded shale, I am just getting started and will need several yards of grow media. I can get 40 liter bags of Hydroton for just under $18 from my Greenhouse supply company. That is the cheapest I have found it by far, but that makes each system cost about $1000 in Hydroton alone. That's an ibc top and a 4' x 10' bed each. Pea gravel is very common here and very clean, but I have no idea how much limestone is in it, I will run a vinegar test on some before I buy. I may mix Hydroton with pea gravel, maybe 1/4 Hydroton and 3/4 pea gravel. But with as many people saying pea gravel works just as well, I might just go 100% pea and save a ton.

Thanks for responding so fast

I would use hundred percent hydroton if I could but it would cost me $100 for each 1/2 barrel. Here it would cost me $48 dollars a bag and it would take 2 plus a little for each 1/2 barrel. Pea gravel cost me $100 for 5 yards. The 3/4 crush cost the same here. $100 for 5 yards. The crush is heaver and has all the sharp corners and is really hard on your hands while you work with it. It takes 5 yards to fill all my barrels.

Why would you use hundred percent hydroton if you could? What benefits do you see? You might look for a commercial greenhouse supply near you, I have to drive 2 hours but it is worth it to save over 50%. Plus I always have other things to pick up there.

Wayne

The hydroton is calcined round balls and they are light weight. You can flood your bed with water and then you can just stick your hand into the bed and go all the way to the bottom easily. You can transplant your plants without damaging them when the bed is flooded. That is really neet in my book. My pea grave is ok for a couple of inches but gets really tough if you try to reach deeper. the crush rock is impossible. If you can find some to play with. I will bet you like it compared to rocks.

What a great answer, I had never thought about the idea of trying to dig deep into the grow bed or the damage to the roots while trying to insert them. I do have some Hydroton, I have used it, I used to vacuum form growing trays for SGS in Lansing about 15 years ago, they are a hydroponic grow store.

Also the idea of inserting rooting's when the GB is flooded so the water helps buoy up the Hydroton is a great tip too.


Thanks,
Wayne

expanded clay is the cat's meow indeed. To make my beds less expensive I put river gravel in the bottoms, on top of that is lava rock, which was messy at first, but finally settled, then the top eight inches have Hydroton for the effects you suggest.

I am having trouble with the white flies again and they seem not to be dying from the garlic, pepper, soap mix this time. What kind of stuff do you guys use to kill em? I still have toms and celery parsley going. The girls have already started new seedlings for the gardens so we should be off to an early start.

We also started a potato tower. It is just a roll of 2 x 4 welded wire rolled up in a circle about 2 feet across. The girls lined it with old feed sacks and we put seed potato around the edge and stuck the sprouts out the holes and cracks as we filled the tower. The wire is 4 foot wide so it is a good size and we hope for lots of potatoes by mid or late summer. Last year we did that with sweetpotatoes and it worked well. The mice got a few of them tho and we hope to keep them out this time.

Sorry for being lazy with the updates. The goings on keep on going on all the time. Today my wife came in and told me she had found something wonderful in the Ap garden. She was starting sweet potatoes from cuttings out there and let them get out of hand. She was trying to get rid of some of the excess and pulled up some of the plants and low and behold some of them had decent sized potatoes attached. They have only been out there about a month or so and the potatoes were big as baseballs already. She left a few to see how big they would get.

Just before my trip to Houston I found a bad spot in the mint barrel and when I investigated it there was a mama cat and 5 babys in there hiding. I think they are about a month old now.

Problems abound when you are not looking too. While I was gone something pulled out the plug on the water pump and killed all but one fish in the tank. My daughter scooped out all the dead fish and got the water pumping again saving the last fish. Good thing that tomorrow is fish day at the COOP. Some of them were more than a foot long from the last time I replaced them.

Water test is ok I guess. PH still high but down some 8.1, the amonia is up to 0.25 so I quit feeding till I get more fish back in the pond. Rights are 0.0 and Rates are Yellow so barely over 0 and I wish they were higher. Plants are green so that is ok. Water is redish so I am a little concerned but will put in fish tomorrow anyway. Another month to the next fish day.

Thanks for the update Donone. That stinks about your fish, I'm guessing it's safe to assume they were well past the "safe eating" point?


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They were already stinking bad when she found them. So bad bad bad.

Good to hear about the sweet potatoes, and of course distressing about your fish . We've created quite a circle of life with our aquaponics systems and we've placed ourselves right in the middle of it What type of fish are you growing?

I am going to get 50 more Channel Cats at noon today. Probably 4 - 6" ers. They will be pretty to see in the pond again. I am stressed about no fish in the pond at the moment.

I wonder if I can buy Channel Cats here?

No telling but I think they grow all over the USA. And they will live way down to freezing and up to 90+ degrees I think. I will ask when I get mine in a bit.