Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've decided washing gravel is a bad idea...minerals in rock dust seem to help plants grow. 18 months after system start, I'm considering adding crushed rock to provide minerals.

Never did wash mine, Steem.

The other day I was washing some gravel and using a big hose to suck the really nasty water off the top after giving the gravel a good stir. The gravel was getting sucked down the hose pretty quickly. I cant help but wonder why I could not wash the gravel that way. Load all the gravel into a 4 foot high large tank with and fill with water. Then use a large hose to suck the water and gravel out. The gravel would get spun and rubbed all the way down the hose. Then perhaps the water and gravel could be dumped out on an angled screen that would let the water fall down, but let the gravel slide and bounce on past the screen into the growbed. The water could be deposited into another tank below the screen where it could settle to remove most solids then the water could be recycled.

Just a thought.. Perhaps it could be done in one pass. Now, having a tractor to get the gravel that high, and a large elevated water container might be a bit much, but a ramp and a five gallon bucket would work for doing by hand.. Now I was using smooth pea gravel so this might not work with all that jagged gravel many of you use..

What do you guys think?

I think you just hire a dam cement mixer, shovel the dirty in, let it run for a bit while hitting it with a hose and then tip it out into a barrow.

What can I say? I once cleaned enough gravel to go in 150 fish tanks by meself in and afternoon. The hardest bit was not watching it go around and around and around and around and makin meself puke up me rum.

As is often the case, this has been discussed before. The reason I bring this up, is that the old thread includes pictures.

I'm still a fan of the barrow and rake for ppl who can't be bothered building a trommel. A trommel with it's lowers end under water would by far be the best mechanism I believe.


For more info, see this thread


BTW Froggi, I did the same thing, 1 bucket and I was inside trawling on the forum.

I agree that the other thread has gone over all this.

But for the sake of this thread, here is a picture of a really effective gravel washing set up.
Three containers of water
Some plant baskets in which to put the gravel
Then swish baskets in containers of water, going along with multiple containers allows for cleaner and cleaner gravel.
Then dump in bucket to carry to grow bed.

Very effective and we have found that we can fill a 3' by 8' grow bed this way in a couple of hours with two of us working together. One person washing and the other filling buckets with gravel to be washed and emptying the clean gravel into the grow beds.

There just has to be a better way to wash 5 and a half cubic meters of gravel than by hand. Thats all.. I never though about renting one of those 1 yard cement mixer trailers, but thats not a bad idea!

Probably already discusseed in the thread ,, but, buy your gravel after several days of rain ,, get it scooped from middle / top ,, transported in truck when raining is a bonus.
I once washed a half cubic metre of gravel ,, never again.
You COULD always ask the Mrs to wash dry and iron it ..... but I would not recommend that

Problem is Chappo, we've not seen several days rain for nigh on 10 years now...

We live in the land of rain and I can assure you the pea gravel we cleaned definitely needed cleaning. The few buckets we had left over have sat (with holes in the bottom) since early February and the darn stuff is still muddy. Good thing the last project I was using it for the mud didn't matter.

I am glad I have a mixer
Since I will have a few bags to wash with
the new system going in.
I am wondering how I can con one of the drivers (aggitator - concrete truck) to
stay behind after the concrete we are having delivered is discharged.

beer

Mmm...
Was thinking the same.

But the noise of gravel in a cement mixer is just too much for my poor little ears.

We have washed about 600 gallons of gravel so far. I say so long as you set up your gravel washing area in such a manner that you are not bending or leaning over the water containers, it really isn't bad. Hardest part is scooping the dirty gravel off the pile into buckets. So long as you keep the weight/amount of gravel in the baskets/clean buckets reasonable, the rest is pretty easy.

Anything that requires hours of bending over a barrow or water container that is too low, will get ya big time! I'm young and I know this!

Hum, now if you had a big tractor with a huge basket like attachment that could take a huge load of gravel down to the pond and swish it up and down before driving back up and depositing in the grow bed, well then you would already have a farm, pond and tractor to go along with your grow beds and gravel you were washing.......... dreaming!!!!!!

Could always just load up a truck, drive to Lightning ridge and get some time with a puddler machine. Those beasts seperate rock from clay like a.... hmmmm.... scary group of drunk psychos used to seperate me from my durries when I smoked.