Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good thinking Murray/Monya,nothing could be worse if you got home and there was no water left cycling.well done

Excellent - am tempted to set up a coco peat bed myself. By the time you have the blocks available there will be more info available as to their effectiveness in growing different crops :-)

murray would there be any chance you could post a pic of the coco closeup to give me an idea of the consistency? if not no worries.

also how have your ph levels been?

any clogging or pipes?

is the coco growbed running in the same system as your gravel beds?

cheers

Hi Bio, I will take a couple of pix in the morning. Ph is fine, that is the only thing I have a test kit for.
Yes the coco peat is part of the same system as the two gravel grow beds.
No clogging.

Monya, no Silvers for Christmas lunch, I just can't do it yet !!!!! soon, soon, soon....

sounds like the coco may just be a great way to go.

i imagine both mediums could play different symbiotic roles in the filtration process. i have a feeling that gravel is good for bacteria growth and system stability while coco is good at taking out fine particles that pass through the gravel. i also think the coco beds would be ideal for worms. the only problem is the worms may convert the coco into castings and clog pipes.

do you have any worms in the coco bed? do you have any thoughts on this?

Hi Bio,
The down side to the coco peat so far is that initally it sends the water very brown like a very, very strong cup of tea. I found that this clears over about 6 weeks. There maybe worms down there in the coco peat, don't know, but it would only help things if they were there, I think. I expect that the coco peat may break down a bit over time, but I am not worried by that, I will just add a bit more new stuff on top between crops if that happens.
And , yes, the bacteria did appear to take longer to spread through the coco peat than it took to spread through the gravel. In the next coco peat bed I do, I will have more pipe in the distribution grid to assist with the spread and feeding of the bacteria.
Murray

Murray, was chatting to Trevor, and he said he organised some activated charcoal for you.... have you included it into your filter/system?

What effect has it had if any, other than cleaning up the water discolouration?

Has it, or would remove any solids or bacteria from the system do you think

Murray,sorry for being slack and not reading the whole thread,but i would like to know if the brown colour in the water (from coco peat) is just the tannin leaching out.If so it obviously doesn`t do much harm to the fish as it`s in natural rivers/creeks anyway and after a while it should dissipate.

muz, can you do me a favour? Grab some coco peat and soak it in a glass of water until you get a LIGHT tea colour, then measure the PH for me.

I'm thinking along the lines of using it around the root ball of some seedlings. The localised lower PH may help them take up some nutes. I'll post sme piccies soo, my tommies are going great, still smallish, but heaps of fruit setting. I have had a chillie plant in there for months now, it keeps flowering, but won't fruit, i'm wondering if its having trouble taking up some nutes. Or it could be something more simple as needing another plant for it to ploniate correctly. I have no ideas on this stuff, hopefully some one here canset me straight

Steve

murray did you flush your coco as you would gravel?

the reason i ask is that brick coco is known to have high levels of salt. i would be concerned about your waters salt levels if the coco was not preflushed.

do your plants look as good since adding the coco?

depending on the varity they should self polinate give the plant a gentle shake or wait to you see a couple of flowers the get a cotton bud and dab gentley a couple of times one flower the other then back again using the same end of the cotton bud.

Cheers
Ron

I agree. what type of chillies u got Steve?

My sorano's and my dwarf capsicums are both going apeshit baring alot of fruit BUT my habenjero plant has only just started to flower and it is growing right next to my sorano.

I know I had problems with my other habenjero's in years gone by because they prefered the hotter weather in jan/feb.....must be sumthin to do with the hottest chilli liking the hotter weather lol....

can't remember now what type it was, got it from B, small thin red chillies.

I stressed it bad a few time earlier on the piece when i was playing with my bed, but it looks real strong now, and its the third flush of flowers, so i'm keeping my fingies crossed.

PS My bed is now SO over planted its not funny, and the tommies have just started

Current residents are;

Lemon grass (x1)
basil (x2 clumps)
strawberries (x2)
oregano (x2 clumps)
sage (x1)
tommies (x3)
upland water cress (x1)
lebanese water cress (x1)
std watercress (x1)
comfrey (x1)
cucumber (x1)
chillie (x1)

All in a bathtub

Yep, well planted there
quick hijack, how did the mirical plant go... did it pull through?