Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Ryan,

Just curious as to what advantage you see the raft giving you over more traditional media beds, if there is one?? (Or for that matter, vs aeroponics). I only ask because you obviously have a lot of exposure to different growing technologies.

It seems like the people advocating raft systems are larger scale growers who like the ability to physically move the produce along for harvesting as it grows (usually quickly). Given a lot of the non-leafy green plants tend to be slower growing (and possibly needing external support), they don't lend themselves to the physical movement.

So is there some factor that you believe is better in rafts, or is it just a case of "because I can"??? (Which also happens to be a personal philosophy of mine )


Cheers
Sam

I love all the colours of your healthy looking veges and fruits Ryan. It is hard to grasp the scale of what you have there. Keep up the good work, very inspiring, but missing a few of my favourite bug pics Oops hang on, there was a lovely coloured snake

Legendary work mate

+1 You've got it going on Ryan! Your system and Faye's are the best advertising for AP.

Well that might be because you are seeing pictures from a few different places let alone different systems in three different towns. Ryan gets to oversee some super high tech stuff at the one place on the roof top as well as the aquaponics at work and the stuff he is building at his new home. But I must say, I probably need to take some classes from Ryan since his horticultural skills produce some pretty product.

One zen master studying under another!

Thanks you guys, I really appreciate the good vibes

I'll find some bugs for ya next time Faye

And I hope you guys believe me when I say "you ain't seen nothin yet"! I've got some cool stuff I'll talk about in a couple months when I finish the trials (que dramatic teaser music)


Sam- Advantages? Take this as my personal opinion because everyone's going to tell you something different. Some people try one method, fall in love and never try anything else. Some try and fail, then never revisit that technology... So again this is all me here but...

Number 1? Lower risk than any other technology from crop loss from equipment failures
Temp stability
Control Control Control
Ability to keep solids away and out of the root mass
Ability to remove solids that may accumulate
Ease of setup and maintenance
Plenty more but I'm on my phone and my finger is getting tired of typing :p

Rafts are great for moving small crops on a "frictionless conveyer" but I don't see any need to move bigger plants. Stage them at one end and your moveable crops at another (in a mixed crop scenario). It's just as easy to harvest a trellised tomato from a raft as from a gravel bed. You actually get more vertical area for vining crops b/c your starting at nearly ground level.

I think gravels great for the backyard but unless something seriously shocks me one day, I'll never be an advocate of large scale gravel systems (unless your growing tubers which would in most cases be silly).

And on the subject of long term crops not possible in dwc, Ive had the dragon fruit in the system for 16 months now and have taken 126 cuttings from the 6 plants (trying to encourage vertical growth). They should start flowering early next year. I may even have the record for longest growing ap plant in a raft system...point is long term plants are definitely doable

Not to mention Dr Rakocy's 30 yrs of research in DWC

Very impressive Ryan. Look forward to seeing your farm completed!

Thanks for the info Ryan. There are some good points for me to consider there (That's exactly the sort of info I was looking for).

Cheers
Sam

Anytime bud!

I finally got a good pic of these hybrid striped bass... Getting big!

They look great. What's the growout time for these Ryan?

We brought them in back in April and they were 4-5"... Probably 100-150g each and i havent weighed one lately but im guessing they are 1.5-2.5lbs(700-1150ish grams) now. I'm going to purge a few next week for a taste test and I'll weigh them then. They grew extremely fast but need really good water quality.

You mention water quality, do you ever use fresh water muscles to assist with that. I really don't worry about it with my tilapia, but I have thought about it if I try other fish in the future.