Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone used broken bricks in there GB's. I've used them in regular hydro systems but not in AP. Also throw them into the bottom of pot plants.

Be a bit harsh on the hands when trying to plant stuff in it I would have thought

Don't be a pussy Les - my next growbed will use broken glass as the media

Can get the bricks for free and you can always put gravel on as a top layer. Just wasn't sure if there was anything in bricks that would affect the fish, eg lime. As for broken glass. It would stop the kids from stealing my radish's And the cat would think twice before using the GB's as a toilet.

If you want to stop the kids eating the radishes, give them a chilli, and tell them its a radish

If you got kids willing to eat their radishes, ya probably shouldn't complain, just plant lots of radishes, they are fast and easy to grow.

As to bricks in grow beds, It is always possible that there are undesirable ingredients in brick, pottery, or concrete but it is difficult to know if the bricks you get would be very bad. You just have to decide if you are worried about trace amounts of possibly bad stuff that may or may not be there. As to pH, concrete can affect pH but most bricks are fired clay products so if you don't mind the texture then the brick itself is probably ok. Now if the brick has been painted with anything, that could be another story. Luckily white wash that is mostly lime, washes away over time so at least basic lime wash shouldn't be a long term problem.

Hey Dufflight,
Here in Zambia we can't really get any of the normal choices for grow media, most of our quarried stone if choc full of lime and thus can't be used so most of us here (at least in my little group) use broken clay brick as grow media with great success. It can be a little rough on the hands but you do get used to it. Doesn't affect your ph at all either (at least non of our clay brick does).
My suggestion is go for it.

Pretty old thread your diggin up there Rob

He's absorbing so much he got to 5 years ago ^_^

Oops, Seems I didn't think to check the date on that post haha. Just saw that it was to do with broken brick and that's what I use in my GB so thought id offer my 2 cents