Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looking good BnBob.

Excellent utbe video, thankyou Bob. I was wondering what composition, you where using for the soil mix. Please keep the great video's comming.

here are all of ours in a row



there are 4 1000L beds, one 500L bed and 3 100L half blue drums

Cool you guys and girls have been busy over in QLD...I look forward in seeing the growth , are you going to water with AP water???

when the plants first go in they get AP water

I have been using our water in the compost drums, on the seedlings & on the Spuds..
: )»

I know I've asked this question before, but I still don't seem to understand, so please be to pardon my ignorance and help me out

Potting mix? what exactly is that and how do I make it? You can't buy it in Pakistan, all you can get is manure, compost, or simple dirt, though I'm pretty sure even the dirt has manure mixed with it.

I tried to make some, used some old soil out of a container that had already gone through a successful tomato plant, and some compost. I put clay shards in the bottom, made one hole in the middle and compressed the mix down into it and put a bit of green shadecloth in the middle, but I don't think it worked as the chili plants transplanted into it died :/ though that could have been through my neglecting them.

Anyhow, would appreciate a hand up, anyone...?

I make my potting mix out of compost, peat moss, and course vermiculite. Peat moss and vermiculite can get expensive though, so I use mostly compost. You can also substitute peat moss with coco coir (the fiber from coconut husk). I like vermiculite, because it creates nice voids in the soil and holds moisture in the particles, but like I said, it gets pretty expensive. I've also heard of other people making potting soil by mixing sand and compost, and enriching it with supplements like blood and bone meal.

Hi Abdul...
I have seen a few ways to knock them up...
Below is how we make them with the 200L blue barrels..


I also have a a bit of a how we do it on the blog...
http://bitsouttheback.blogspot.com/p/wicking-barrel-construction.html
HTH Abdul...

Mine are pretty simple and work fine, with just scoria in the bottom some course shade mesh then potting mix or just soil, and a filler pipe

Thanks guys :] I especially appreciate the diagrams.

By what I gather if this is the case then those two little buckets I made should function just fine as well. Will try include them in my next video and get a further stamp of approval.

Cheers Bob and Richard, I owe you guys a couple of beers

When you say you compressed the mix down into it, that worries me as you generally don't want to pack potting soil too tight as that doesn't leave much space for air for the roots.

I didn't do that everywhere, just in one corner where I let the mix down into the resevoir, i thought you were supposed to that in one place at least that would serve as the wicking point so to speak?

hay,
had a spare container hanging around so i though I'll give it a crack
got some tomatoes and cucumbers in to see how they go.

matt

For those of you using barrels cut in half, what have you found to be the best method of cutting the barrels?