Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has had any success using Botanicare hydroponic flood trays for GBs, they come in various sizes but are 7inches or 17.5cm tall. I have an 8x4 I could use potentially use but was wondering if it was too shallow.

Have you got a picture of link? A little too shallow for my liking.

Might be alright for shallow rooted stuff like lettuce or herbs... but would probably depend how much solids load you put into them...

I am using one of the small 600 x 1200mm flood and drain trays, I think they work ok as a continious flow system but I think they would be to shallow for flood and drain, and like Ruper said better suited to shallow rooting plants.

they might be ok as F&D grow beds, I might convert the tray i have over some time.

Dang I think I can score 15 (4ft by 4ft trays) for like 150 bucks. Hmm I guess I will have to find some of those 300 gallon stock tanks. Thanks!

Dont disgard those trays i use one tray with 3 in media
I have grown onion tomato lettuce ect in it
In my system the water runns through the grow bed then drains into the shallow tray flows through the media then out the other side
see the pickies

Hey food and fish, are those 7 inches tall as well?

The tray with the onions is only 4 in high with 3 in media

Yep, traditional "ebb & flow" hydroponics... as how F&F does it.... what these trays are made for...

awesome they are usable that makes my life a whole lot easier. thanks everyone!

I also think they are kinda shallow to be the primary flood and drain element of a system but if you can get them really cheap, there are definitely some nice uses for them. I would recommend growing water chestnuts in them or using some for seasonal raft additions to a system and perhaps a tray for seed starting flats and other stuff. I would still recommend a few deep grow beds to help improve the system's solids handling capacity and filtration.

But use what ya got and deal with the drawbacks or turn them into bonuses.

Yeah I'm going to grab a couple of IBCs and saw them in half, and I'll use some of the trays as well. So you guys wouldn't recommend flood and drain for the trays? Just continuous flow? I have another question Food and Fish, I've been pondering this with my design but is the flow of the water even to all the grow beds? In your design I mean. Thanks!

My system is flood and drain yes the flow is even to the beds so theres an overflow in all the grow beds from there it slowley leakes out of one to the shallow tray and then flows through the media and out to the system

It would depend on the purpose you put the shallow beds to and also how you would do flood and drain. Flood and drain is fairly easy to control with a timer and stand pipe drain even on shallow beds. But if you are trying to run the pump continuous and achieve flood and drain with siphons, the shallow beds could give you more trouble.

That depth is what I'm setting up right now for some water chestnut bins that will have a constant flood.