Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I need 12" deep grow bed trays that are 2'x4'...anyone have a fairly inexpensive source for them?

Buy some lumber and a pond liner and make your own to whatever size you need.

Too heavy and too much room. I'm making a nice, clean stand out of 1 1/4 square tubing and I need beds that will just drop in. I found some food grade 2'x4'x1' for $60 each but I'm looking more in the $20-30 range.

I'm using bunk feeder liners, available at any ag supplier. Cost in my location is pretty reasonable ($30 for a 2x10'). You can special order them from the blue and white big box home improvement store.

Another option might be mortar mixing trays, also available at the home improvement stores.

Mmmmm....the bunk feed liners look good. Slightly more shallow than I wanted but they should work just fine! Thanks!!

good to know.

A little more info if anyone else is looking for a pre-made growbed solution:

The bunk feeders themselves work pretty good: nice steel tube contruction and the liners are replaceable. I used some pressure treated decking under the liner to reinforce the plastic; this avoids any low spots due to excess media weight. There are different heights of feeders available. The cattle feeders are about 20" tall, a little low but I've set mine up on concrete blocks to get some extra height. The horse feeders are 36" tall, a nice workable height but I had problems finding them in the longer 10' length; 5' seems to be widely available. Some manufacturers have an even lower goat/sheep model feeder that might work for a fluid return tray.

There are a few different manufacturers: Behlen, Tarter, Sioux Steel, and Priefert. Some of the larger ag suppliers have their own 'branded" line that are probably supplied by one of the above manufacturers. I've seen the feeder structures in galvanized, powder coat, or painted varieties; the plastic liners all seem to come from the same source, however.

I know that Lowe's will special order the 10' long, heavy-duty powder coat variety from Tarter for about $150 but the shipping cost and wait time was a dealbreaker for me. I went with 10' long painted Behlen bunk feeders from Tractor Supply at $110 each. So far, they're great.

I'm just purchasing the liners themselves. I am building my own system for them to sit in.


http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?itemid=12646
http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?it ... 790#tabs-3
http://www.hydrofarm.com/downloads/fc/B ... _13481.pdf

More options for just liners:

Tuff Stuff Products has a pretty wide selection of animal feeders and water trays in a good range of sizes. Something from their site might work. TSC carries a lot of their products in store; special order via the catalog. The contractor size mixing tub is a good one (30x60x12")

http://www.tufftubs.com/

Is there any different verbiage for these bunk feed liners?

Eh, I've seen them called bunk feeders, feed bunks, feed bunkers, cattle feeder, trough feeder, and feed trough. Any decent ag supplier would know what you're talking about. I did quite a bit of research online to find a supplier for just the liners but couldn't find anything meaningful. I even removed the liners from my own feeders to see if they were marked in any way but no such luck. A google search for "polyethylene tray" or "poly liner" might give you some results. If you do find a source, be sure to repost the info!

Yet another option:

MacCourt Super Tubs, (ST3608)
36" x 24" x 8"
23 gallon capacity
3.2 cu. ft. capacity

http://www.maccourt.com/products/ponds/st3608.html

Available at Lowe's, Ace Hardware, Runnings for less than $20.

That's what I was going to get but then I would have ended up spending $100 on those and another $150 on a decent rack system...I spent $119 at Agway for a 10'x2' 8" deep Bunk Feeder and I'll have very little time in labor.

Just get used 44 gallon plastic drums, cut them in ½ length wise for a pair of 22 gallon troughs. They cost nothing if you search around hard enough.

Seems aresabout to me to be building frames before you have troughs