Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Mum had this old stainless washing machine tub sitting at the back of her house, I plan to turn it into a contraption to make washing rocks easier and more water wise.



All I need now is a stand to hold a small header "tank" (a bucket or small tub) with a large diameter autosiphon installed in it, to sit above the stainless tub. The outlet of the siphon is aimed to squirt water into the tub and (hopefully) agitate the pea gravel contained within. The stainless tub sits in a larger container, in which is also placed a pump that fills the header bucket continuously.

Think it will work?

This has the same idea as a rock tumbler that polishes rocks. I used to have one as a kid, it polished the rock, but left lots of sludge at the bottom that was rinsed out.

see - toldya Monya, they're all coming out of the woodwork now with motorised non labour intensive gravel washing techniques

that's cool, I will leave the washing of the rest of my gravel until a gravel washer is perfected then I will copy it and use it!LOL

Here's an idea if you bring it in by the trailer or other large container.

Should work pretty well if gravity and your container size can keep the pump running. Cheap pvc line the sides and base of trailer if they don't hold water.

Wouldn't you just be pumping the crap back into the gravel. Unless you let it settle and remove the solids (a very time consuming process.

VB, IMHO, gravel could be successfully washed with pretty dirty water. I know it doesn't make sense, but the way I was washing mine sort of showed this fact. A final rinse with some clean water over a sieve of some sort would polish the process.

Yep, it's just a matter of getting the solids into suspension, to a point...

You know what my mate said I should do... Get the entire trailer load full and drive down to a public boat ramp. Back the thing in, agitate the gravel with a shovel, drive out, wait for it to drain, repeat... He's an ideas man...

i like it!

And any residual salt water would not pan out to be all that much

and the looks you would get from all the boaties in their white slacks would be gold

and you get the bacteria in your gravel straight away too

yeh, but its the marine variant, wouldn't set itself up in a fresh water system

But, what if you rinsed the gravel with fresh water. Would that get rid of the marine variant?

Joyce, you may have mis understood. I meant that the marine bacteria would not flourish in a fresh water envoironment, so it is neither good nor bad that they would get in the gravel.

Looks like the best idea for the gravel so far is the washing machine tub, surely time to give up the out side water idea.