Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Okay, I know most people simply use styrofoam with holes poked into it, but has anyone used these rafts, they sell them on ebay for like 5 bucks a raft and they click together.

Thoughts

They look neat but 5 bucks? it almost looks like each one individually holds a plant? $5 per pant is not a good deal, please correct me with some details if I'm wrong.

Agree TC ,, $5 per plant hole is WAY out of question.
A typical 20 mm thick , 2.4M X 1.2 M polystyrene sheet ( 8 ft X 4 Ft) would do some 50 plants holes and costs about $12.

Bugger the rafts give me some of those fish

Dayglow fish, does it require batterys to light up?

I'm going to assume they're not $5 for a single plant holder. If they were, there is several hundred dollars worth in that image if you look at the back of the photo.

Have you got a link to them Simso so we can make an informed opinion ?

They might give a nice, finished look to a high visibility pond. If your system sits out the back behind the shed, sure, the cost is unlikely to be justified. But if your pond is a centrepiece somewhere, then maybe it is worth it.

Those koi are gorgeous arent they

heres the link

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

yes they are expensive, but if as mentioned your tanks are a centre piece then whats the big deal, after all we are talking about grow beds at 400 plus tanks at 400 and so forth so really its not that bad, however finding out about discounts for large purchase from them

There you go - they are $5 each.

Not cheap, but it's your money and if you like 'em, go for it. Doing aquaponics as absolutely cheap as possible is not compulsory !

Simso, the same vendor is selling the same stuff on Oztion for a bit less at;

http://www.oztion.com.au/vshops/item.aspx?itemid=9106029&tid=

Agreed, its more aesthetics to me than what works, ps ordered 40 rafts

Example

fish tank area

before

and after

Mmm, they dont go very far, heres 30 of them

will probably get some lettuces going and put them in

Looks really pretty

$150 ..... I'll keep my comments to myself.
EXCEPT the purple looks very "gay" .....,, the original meaning of the word not the hijacked meaning

I saw a U-tube video of these being used in a large koi pond that was placed inside a restaurant or bar- very elegant.
Since you have already bought some of these for looks, why don't you maximize that and put flowering plants in them. The video I saw had flowers as exotic looking as tulips and ornamental cabbages. They had the style that you purchased placed roughly in a circle near the water inlet so it rotated constantly- the rest of the pond had large stationary rafts and was contrasted based on what they planted.
I posted about the video elsewhere but I don't have time right now to track it down. If you want to see it and no one else can find it here, I post it for you.

If you find the link again that would be great,

Yes thought they were a bit bigger than that when I ordered them, to cover the whole thing you would need easily 200 odd, so I dont think so, that being said, yes I probably might just go with some ornamental flowers and turn it into a show piece rather than a functional piece of food production.

What exotic flowers / plants would be a no no in this situation,