Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hydroton is clay that's shaped into balls and baked


i found some half price normal, still used river gravel on the bottom half and 1 bag (50liter) in each bed

good luck!

Abdul, yes, if you're getting that reaction with acetic acid (vinegar) then you have calcium carbonate (limestone) somewhere in your gravel. You may also have calcium magnesium carbonate (dolomite) too, but from the speed of the reaction to a weak acid like vinegar, I'd say it's mainly limestone.

Think you're going to have to start looking again !

What's the plan with the river stones ? To me they look too large for media, unless you break them up - lotta work.

Hydroton is clay balls that have been baked, so they have expanded significantly and as a result are very porous and relatively light. It's a patented process, so there is not a large number of sources. Certainly all of it in Australia is imported all the way from Holland/Austria/Germany.

plan is either going to get the river rocks, will ask for the smallest can get, have been told will be a random sample, if they're too big will get a sledgehammer and thank God for cheap labour in the third world.

Or

Will find where they make all the clay pots and what nots and have them back me some clay balls, even if they aren't exactly hydroton they will still be light weight high surface area uniform size neutral media, and will thank God for cheap labour in the third world.

Either ways I've had enough waiting, those of you whom have read/seen Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' will know what I mean, and I will get the media and start it running today come what may!

I know where you're coming from Abdul - spent 9 months waiting for my system as had to wait for a large renovation to be nearly completed before I could then spend several weeks putting in small scale earthworks before I could start putting in my system !

Did Waiting For Godot in high school - hated it ! There's currently a performance of it touring here, but I'd rather eat a bowl of hair than go and see it.

Will be very interested to see how your clay balls go you could be on a winner there.

The cheap labour will definitely work in your favour - even with EB's generous discount for buying a pallet of it, the hydroton is still very expensive - but wonderful to work with.

I found the best way to wash my gravel (and clay balls) was to put them in the grow beds, put in some plumbing, then pump water through but not use my sump or fish tank to collect the water, basically just pump the same water through the media over and over again out of a temporary container.

The pump I use is a dirty water pump so no issues with a bit of silt.

+1 Fishfodder

That's pretty much what I did with my hydroton - except I only rinsed it once, then connected everything to the FT. The water was cloudy for about 15 mins, but everything has been ticketyboo since then.

Never posted it before as everyone around here seems to enjoy the suffering of washing gravel ! OBO seems to be the only other exception.

OBO had me on board his opinion wagon at 'don't'

anyhew just a minor thought, what is the avg. size of hydroton, 20 mm balls yea?

average probably a little closer to 15mm, but size varies from 10-20mm

ok so the internet says they are just clay that is fired at 2600 F, lets see if we can't get some of that made. If I can make it and test it I'll be sure to share generations of future aquaponians will bless us for saving them from gravel washing!

Abdul, do a search for "goat", then refine the search with "clay." You'll find an interesting recipe for DIY media.

It occurs to me that this is bad advice (although I think I only said "faucet" because you mentioned cleaning the gravel in the bathroom).

After I cleaned most of the gravel that was stored in my cooler I noticed a fair amount of sludge. This would be very bad to be sitting in your pipes inside (or outside in your AP setup hence all that washing in the first place)!

yep.
The sludge sets like rock.
I like to rake mine out of a barrow full of water.
0 setup time, and you have all the gear you need.
There's a post about this somewhere, in which there are photos of me doing this.
I think it's called 'how do you wash your gravel?' or some such

Here's an idea I plan to try when I get to washing my GB media.

Materials Needed
2 kiddie pools (bought from local toy store or thrift shop)
garden hose with sprayer
zip ties
old swing arm lamp (thrift store pick up or Walmart)
used small water pump (garden store or second hand)
large folding table (big enough to hold the kiddie pool)
bricks
small screening

Assembly
Place bricks under the legs of one side of the folding table, so that the table is at a slight angle. Place one kiddie pool on the table and the other on the ground on the lower end of the table. Drill a 1" drain hole in the table top kiddie pool and place a bit of screen over the hole (keeps your GB media in the pool).

Attach your swing arm lamp to the table near the middle. The old lamps usually have table clamps so this is not a problem. Remove the lamp shade. Using zip ties, attach the spray nozzle to the end of the lamp arm and secure the hose to the rest of the arm.

Place your used pump in the bottom kiddie pool and attach your garden hose. Fill the bottom kiddie pool with water. To help with keeping the pump somewhat clean, place another brick in the pool and put the pump on that. Zip tie the sprayer handle down so it stay on in the spray mode all the time.

Fill the top pool about halfway with grow bed media. Turn on the pump to begin the washing. WEAR GLOVES when sifting the GB media around, as it will save your fingers from being cut.

I hope this will allow me to wash a lot of GB media at once, at a comfortable height, and use minimal effort. I should be able to move the sprayer where needed with the swing arm. Also the kiddie pool can be reused, folding tbales never go out of style, and spare pump can come in handy later on. Let me know what you think!

I'm new and just this thread, I love your gravel wash!!! That is a fantastic idea!!!

Scott

i found using soda water & ice works great all my gravel came up clean in about 3hrs
best way i found was to get a wheel barow chuck your gravel in get your hose going
get the kids going with a water fight and tell them they will be paid $10 when the gravel
is all cleen $20 bucks later gravel is clean kids had a ball all day and r so buggerd they go to bed early the wife and i have a night of pease and quiet to enjoy together

oh i forgot about the soda water & ice you stick this in a glass on top of some jack daneils
sit back and watch the kids having a heap of fun