Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm a newbie, please bare with me. We were given our pea gravel through a donation. It is pretty small, will enough oxygen be able to get to the plant roots? I have read through numerous sites that the bigger size has better oxygen. Do you know of any successful sites that do use pea gravel?

Pea gravel is probably just fine.

What size is it on average? I have what they call 1/2" brown river rock and it is mostly smaller than 1/2"

You might want to get a few bags of something larger (like perhaps lava rock) to put around the drain screens and such and some people put larger rocks in the bottom layer of the grow beds but if you have plenty of pea gravel to do what you need to do, use it.

Only caution I have is avoid using limestone gravel if you can.

Today I did a phone call to a pea gravel factory here in Belgium to find out where I could by it in my vicinity

When I explained to the sales manager that it was for aquaponics he asked: what on earth IS aquaponics ???
I explained and at the end of the conversation he promised me a big bag (500 kg) for free for testing

I am a master scrounger

Frank

Nice score Frank... and got the word of AP out to another of the AP un-initiated......

Smaller gravel is fine, some people use sand, and vermiculite, you just have to modify the amount of pumping to suit the moisture level required.

I personally use a layer of sand on the bottom, then coarse gravel, then fine, then hydroton on top.

I have 1/4" gravel and no issues from it, will work for you fine.

Boy that's great news about the pea gravel, I was really worried I screwed up when I saw the size of the stones when they delivered it. I had a bigger stone picked out at first.
The plants that were put in still look great, I was worried there was not enough Nitrate in their since we have just started. Thanks so much for the advice This place rocks!

A splash of maxicrop can help kickstart the plants until some real nitrate shows up.

correction that was not a pea gravel factory, but an expanded clay pea balls factory
we call it Argex (the brand name), you call it Hydroton I believe

it was the pea that set me on the wrong foot
language problem

frank

That's an even bigger score then Frank ... 500kg.... about 10 bags @ $30-$40Aus...

I'm envious....

Just make sure with the maxicrop that it is either the original or the maxicrop with iron. You do not want the maxicrop with fish emulsion.

Quite simply, if it easily takes water in, and it easily lets water out,
& not "cancer causing or Fish killing"
The medium should be OK.

Pea gravel should be fine! ( especially if it's free!)

IBYP,

I think small gravel is better. I use 1/4 inch pea gravel. It makes planting seeds work much better.

+1 for this description

frank