Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all
The price of grow mediums seems rather 'rich' with Hydroball LECA at R345 per 50l. I'm thinking of trying coconut or synthetic fibre as found in pillows and duvets. failing which builders aggregate seems popular too- (5-7mm)
Input would be appreciated
regards from a freezing Randburg

Also looking for some alternative. I'm going shopping tomorrow for some sort of gravel or pebble.

go for scoria.

Thanks all, let me know how the shopping goes? Where does one buy scoria locally?

I've heard really good things about Scoria/lava rock, rock wool (an insulation, make sure it's formaldehyde free), gravel, and your hydroton. I've personally played with a few mixtures of gravel, and various "biofiltering" products at pet stores, as well as coir(coconut fiber) and they seemed to work well. Scoria seems to combine the lightweight nature of hydroton and the price point of most gravels. The only real detriment I see to it is fines causing problems (it's brittle, and sometimes bags of it end up with a lot of dust) and that you should probably wear gloves while working with it, because it is rough on the hands.

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Thanks for the input sparhawk. Unfortunately South Africa is nowhere near any past or present volcanic activety so Scoria will have to be put on the back-burner. Coconut fibre seems very viable at this stage as does crusher stone (5-7mm) which is dirt cheap locally - granite won't effect the ph too much either. A 40kg of crusher stone locally costs around $5USd so def an option as is synthetic fibre

Went to Ennis this weekend and bought black crusher gravel. Only time will tell. R23.95 per 15dcm / 18kg bag

You dont need gloves, you should leave a couple of inches worth of free spae above the media, then flood the bed completely (fill those couple of inches above media) before planting / harvesting... the rocks will move a lot easier.

Hi All,

I have seen that some people in this thread have been testing out crusher stone.
Anyone any feedback on that ?


Edwin