Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

As im not allowed to advertise on here,

The balls are priced @ a compeditive rate

I was skeptical of the product when i first used it as well, but iv found it to be As good as hydroton, fair enough its not uniform in shape or a pretty red color, but its light, easy to use and cost effective.

Cleans up great too, i flood and drain beds once and it doesnt change the water color at all. they float for a bit but they absorb water and settle down fine.

Have a lot of systems with it running, my display uses it, and iv also got a few with hydroton, no advantage to either product other than cost effictiveness.

Depending on the batch... some are better than others... but regardless they'll float, and a lot more will remain floating... than Hydroton...

And most of the hydro stores that have been pushing it... have done so because THEY get a better wholesale price... but don't offer it much below a retail price of Hydroton...

How much did you pay for it per bag Mantis....

28/bag

That's about what I thought......

If the wholesaler was passing on the Chinese buy price... it should have been about $20 a bag...

We pay $20 per ton of gravel here in kalgoorlie, I know what Id rather, even if I have to bust my ass to clean and shovel it. Just mix in a bag of hydroton in the top layer and tip top ridgey didge thank ya mutha for tha vegies.....

wow my spell check really hated that rant....

SO what im supposed to pass on whole sale prices to clients??

What school did you study business at rupe??

Hydroton is around $40 a bag from most places and i can tell u now... the whole sale price on that is not $35

so why dont u just jump off ya horse a bit mate!

It says Product of Australia on the front of the bags Rupe, not China

True enough Mantis.... it is branded by an Australian company... but it's sourced from China... no-one makes expanded clay in Australia...

Just for clarification... and because I didn't even think of it at the time, or your location....

What i posted in relation to the price above... was assuming pickup from one of the major hydro stores, or online ebayers... in Melbourne.... who will even on that basis supply Hydroton at $30/bag... if you pick it up and the order is for about 10-20 bags...

Buying from a retailer, especially if outside of a capital metro area... the price will be closer to the $28/bag, or $35-$40/bag for hydroton.... (due to extra delivery costs)... and that would probably still require you to actually pick it up...

So given your location, and if it was delivered to you... then $28/bag is probably a fair price...

Would it be viable for an Australian company to make the clay balls?

Probably not Hui... the market probably isn't big enough to justify it... and setup costs would probably be high...

The process itself isn't as easy as it might seem... even the Chinese have had trouble getting consistant quality for several years....

Over cook the clay... and you expel all the air from the balls... meaning they're too heavy, and can crumble... under cook them and they're too light and float... either/or means it's hard to get a consistant quantity/quality per bag weight...

Then there's issues of shape, durability, colour, dust etc.... nothing unsurmountable probably...

I wasn't aware who had supplied the clay Jamey.... and my post clearly referenced "hydro stores that were pushing the product"...



As I've subsequently posted.... delivered to a location outside of a capital city... at a "retail" price... $28/bag is a fair price...

This system is now cycled and is using all the charlie carp and humonia I throw at it , but the PH has crashed and is still on 6 after adding a handful of garden lime a day for the last six days
Gotta find me a limestone block to drop in the sump me thinks

Grab 2 or so kilo of shell grit... put mine back into shape quick smart

Already got shell grit under each growbed return. Might whack some more in the growbeds.
Dunno what the equivalent fish load would be for what I am putting in the system but the plants are booming, so I reckon the 22 little jades planned for it will not keep the plants going very well till they grow some