Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A few pics to update the status of my second system in the making!! After a I run a few tests on the integrity, will just need more gravel, water and of course the fish and plants!! I've been contemplating using hydroton for the "upper layer" of the grow media and the pea gravel for the "lower layer".

Thoughts?

I had a problem with fish poo pavement with pea gravel in a small trial system. Granted I only had one inlet on a grow bed that was probably too small. (10 small goldfish with a window planterbox growbed. I will be using larger gravel in the system I am building now. Have you found a good local. Source for Ph neutral gravel? Thanks Doug.

If you are able to get river rocks, those are PH neutral, and they do not have the sharp edges to cut your hand. River rocks have smooth surface all around.

I have been using the pea gravel from Lowe's (Lee's Summit or Independence). I check in with them from time to time and they usually have 1 or 2 bags that have been broken, but most gravel still there, that they mark down 50% to about $0.65 for the 50lbs bag. My pH has been holding steady at 7.4-7.5 for about 10 months now. Haven't had any issues with the gravel being too sharp.

Only place I have found local to get the hydroton is at Soil Service about Gregory & Troost. They want just under $30 per 25 liters!!!! Too rich for my blood to fill the grow beds with it!!

start keeping an eye on your system if your ph has been constant that long..
mine dropped from an average of 7.6-7.8 sometime between months 9 and 11 (i stopped taking tests for a while)

Thanks for the advice keith. Been checking it every week or so and still running steady. Even the redesign didn't seem to bother the 1.0 system at all. I posted pics after the redesign was complete in my 1st system thread (link in my signature below).