Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah, I can't go that far - love the fish - but definitely have a growing appreciation of wicking beds - now have 2 IBC's I'm going to cut in half and make 4 wicking beds out of!

ohh sacrificing IBC ' s for wicking beds !!!! You won't be disappointed ........ I have organzied power to the shed !!! Fish are in the not too distant future

You just cant beat that warm weather eh!

I cant keep up with my plant growth in summer and winter just ticks over the leafy greens.. which is ok but you cant beat the summer months for growth.

Ive been to Onslow a few times, I lived in Paraburdoo many years ago. You guys have got the best muddies on earth. There wasnt much at Onslow last I visited but I assume its going berserk these days.

I must be due for a treck up that way again....

It is a wee bit cozy alright. t-shirt and shorts, sandle sort of a night !!!! Not like Perth, Tim Tams and 4 burner heaters

Bloody Sydney weather is shite at the moment...on off on off

Lost almost all my lettuce due to moist weather. Cauliflower is rockin hard as is broc though. Broad beans too, hundreds of flowers, but no bees to pollinate due to cold

Pumpkin is growing strong but just can't handle the wet, covered in mildew. If the one pumpkin fruit on it has not pollinated I'll rip it out.

I was noticing... that you used 100um thickness plastic to start.... and then went to 200um as it was twice as thick...

I was trying to figure out how thick a mm is compared to um...

what I found was that 1000 um is equal to 1 mm, is that correct?

if so I'm using 6mm black plastic for my wicking beds, so that should be enough?

thanks
jT

The thicker the better and a double layer on the bottom or a bit of old carpet a good idea to fill with water to check theres no leaks before adding dirt
one of the early ones i did leaked it was a bugger to fix

Lets not over engineer everything mate

Yes I used 1oo um at the start

Yes it was not sufficient, it was weak and thin.......builders plastic

So Yes I doubled it up ........200 um......it works a treat

And no I wouldn't have a clue to the ratio your chasing

Freebies I managed to get my hands on

[quote"]
Lets not over engineer everything mate

Yes I used 1oo um at the start

Yes it was not sufficient, it was weak and thin.......builders plastic

So Yes I doubled it up ........200 um......it works a treat

And no I wouldn't have a clue to the ratio your chasing [/quote]

hey

I was just trying to figure out if my 6mm black plastic was a lot stronger then the 100 or 200um, so had to look it up.... 1mm = 1000um

JT

6mm = 1/4 inch should have no problems just plastic weld a box out of it to fit inside your bed.

JT forgive me please for my come half way response. Bad day in Onslow !! I know........ is no excuse.......but you should be fine with the plastic

hey no problem there, we all have bad days....

and since I grew up with the imperial measurements, I get the metric mixed up...

I double checked the roll of plastic.. its 6 MIL... 154um

mil millimeter, centimeter, etc etc.. it's all greek to me LOL

JT

mil isn't millimeter in this case but looks like you got it figured out.

Got a question for wicking bed pros. Please excuse me if this has been covered before.

I have a 100 gallon sheep water tank. I'm thinking of making it into a wicking bed. Maybe line it with heavy plastic sheeting, 2 layers of black 6 mil.

Instead of using sand and/or gravel for the resevour, how about just laying down slotted drain pipe, nursery cloth over that and then compost over that. The compost would settle into the ripples of the pipe. Water level up to the top of the slotted ag pipe or slotted drainage pipe? Or maybe just about an inch above the pipe? Then continuously recirculate AP water thru the grow bed at a constant height with a bottom mounted stand pipe? If one wants to drain the wicking bed then just pull out the inner pipe? Maybe 2 inch inlet and outlets with gravity feed?

Would you have to replace the compost periodically? Or just keep feeding the worms to supplement the nutrients?