Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I did find a temp solution for the barely floating rafts though, pots 7 high creates a good air pocket lol.

Maybe this would work? Using PVC pipe lengths under a raft of either foam or perhaps other light weight material. Having one larger and one smaller sealed pipe would mean that the raft stays afloat as the plants grow.. ofcourse the distance that the starter plant roots would need to reach would be further at the beginning so it would have to be a bit of trial and error in the beginning

Thanks mate, yeah might consider some 50mm but at the moment the bottles are working fine.

Hey mate how do the Metala Filter Mats stay put in your towers? Where did you get them from and how expensive are they?

Well I cut the mats slightly larger than the inner diameter of the tower, so once you push them in they get jammed there a little.. and once the plant grows it will get even more jammed in. That is what I will be interested in seeing, how much of the root ball will grow in the mat and how much will hang down below it.. my bet is on most of it hanging down.
I got mine from this place
http://www.clearwaterlakesandponds.com. ... cm_x_3.8cm
$50 + $10 delivery for a 60cm x 100cm x 3.8cm sheet which using an 89mm hole saw made about 60 pads which was about 10 short of what I needed

Looks to be the same as Jap mat??
My pipe is 220mm in diameter and i am looking at 4 towers 2.4m high..... That could be expensive?

What gap vertically do you have between your plants?

The gap is probably 30-35 cm between each...but if I had more space I would probably have left 40-45 as when the plants grow they shade each other.

220 x 2.4... well you definitely don't want to us gravel, that would weigh a lot and even with expanded clay it would be too heavy for one person to take down by themselves. And you will need to take it down eventually to clean it. If gravel is out because of weight then expanded clay is out because of cost... it would take a lot of expanded clay to fill that tower, so I think the mat would still be cheaper.. also i think you may run into problems with such a wide diameter pipe and flow since i think you will get channeling which may not allow water to get to your plants especially when they are small runners.
Is there a reason you went with such large diameter pipe? like you had it lying around? because it is way overkill for tower application (in my opinion)
I have never used the jap mat but i think i did see it a couple of months ago in the aquarium shop when i was considering different medias.. however it seemed far more brittle which is what the shop guy said too... the matala mat is thick plastic stringy stuff which I think will last longer when I have to replant and yank out all the roots from it.

Also..
With your wide diameter pipe I guess you could have more pockets than mine perhaps in a spiral down the pipe instead? However remember that strawberry plants love the sun and expect that some of the plants on the shadier side will not produce well. And also if you saw my towers on my thread they have a colar where each pocket has been cut, this is to stop water running out as easily, without the collar you will lose too much water from the system, these collars also need to be siliconed very well or the water will find it's way out (i did a poor job of that last time and have now redone the silicone on all the collars) and I use 2 SS screws at each end to secure the collars as well.
That is why this year I am planting strawberries on the sunny side and greens on the not so sunny side

I picked up the pipe for a bottle of plonk from one of my clients, it was left over from a project.
My intention is to plant 4 sides of each pipe in a staggered pattern, that is the benefit of leg diameter.
I practised on an off cut, cutting a horizontal slit then using a heat gun to heat the top then turn it it to a deflect the water and be assist holding media away to create a planting position.
I am very interested in you mat idea for the reasons you mentioned, later cleaning would be hellish.
With gravel i wouldn't foresee issues with water getting around but the mats could be a problem as i wouldn't expect any capillary action. Maybe if a song was on top of the mat??

Well it is too early to tell how well my mat will work.. although it is a good sign that when I pulled out some runners that I had put in 2 weeks before they had grown 10 cm white healthy roots out the bottom of the mat (these runners had NO roots to start with) I don't really expect or want the roots to grow in the mat but rather just support the plant and give it a good start. When I insert the mats I tilt them slightly toward the plant side so any water going into the mat will trickle to the plant and roots.. seems to work and wont be necessary once the plant establishes itself... i believe.
If you are having four pockets around the diameter of the plant all level with each other then I guess the mat might not be that expensive as for each 225mm diameter mat you will get 4 plants into it as opposed to my 1 in and 89mm piece.
And yes I did the same with cutting a slit and using a heat gun, but try to put a collar on it as the water will creep out the edge where the slit ends no matter what and especially because the water changes path occasionally as roots grow and algae builds up in certain spots.
You could put something on the mat but just remember the more things you put on it the more chance that the water will get blocked, as the roots get real dense.. although with your diameter pipe that will be less likely.
I can't remember but are you doing some filtering before the water hits the towers? My water has gone through an RFF and GBs before it is pumped to the towers.. just asking because otherwise you may get a real build up of gunk at the top of the tower which could cause you problems.
If you are able to control the flow easily and supply a lot of flow then perhaps when you first plant you could turn the flow right up so that they get water.. then when they are a bit more established and have sent out root a month or 2 later turn the flow down or put a timer on for say 30 on 30 off.. I do that in winter since strawberries can get problems and rot if they are always wet.. less of a problem if they are well aerated.
By the way strawberry plants are a rip-off to buy but on the upside once you have bought some they will eventually produce lots of runners that you can use next season.. if buying them I would recommend buying a few variations and see which does best for you and your climate... I used 4 or 5 when I started years ago planting in dirt and I think it has now wittled down to about 2 varieties, no idea which ones though

thanks Tom will do that, i already have about 20 plants i bought a few months back for that reason, to get runners, of the 2 varieties 1 is shooting runners now, the other not doing as good?
I plan to plant 4 sides of the pipe but staggered so will get 2 plant per mat, 4 will probably over crown and compromise the integrity of the pipe.
I will be feeding the towers from the sump so will have passed through a GB for pre filtering.
cheers

So i have had the DWC and DW pond running for a few days now but not too impressed with the quantity of bio film, can someone please confirm if what you see in the pics is normal or excessive and if excessive is it to the extent i will have problems with the roots in my DWC.
The DWC seems to be settling so water appears quite clear. Only today did the large floating blobs appear in the DW pond.
I am feeding both these from 1 pump in the sump where 2 GB's drain to.

Here are some pics of the bio film in the DWC.

So this is my planting schedule for Feb Mar and April, any local to Brisy/Goldy have any input??

The blobs are algae and could become a problem if they get ahead of the duckweed in covering the surface of the DW pool.

The settling of stuff in thebottom of the DWC and duckweed pool is really quite normal and as long as it doesn't build up to the point of going anaerobic you are probably ok. However, once it builds up a mat thick enough that it might go anaerobic you need to clean it out as it could be robbing your system of oxygen and might even float up as a mass and cover plant roots or if it gets anaerobic enough could even cause the system pH to go way up instead of dropping. Too much organic matter decomposing in the bottom of DWC or Duckweed beds can become a problem for a system, Every so often you need to grab a hand full of that much and pull it up and sniff it. If there is little/no smell then you are probably fine but if it smells strongly of pond bottom or makes you gag, then it could even be bad enough to start killing fish if they are sensitive types.

Ok thanx TC, iv been removing the blobs each day mixing with water and throwing them on the dirt garden for now. I also intent to install some air but haven't got around to it yet, might get my A into gear and order a pump today.
On the bottom of the DW pond it just seems like normal sediment, however on the bottom of the DWC it is like a thin skin, and if i disturb it enough it wants to peel up and float. Hows the best way to clean the bottom of these system, is there a trick to it or just remove the rafts and go at it with a sieve and broom??
On that note hat are people using to clean the bottom of their sumps??? I seem to get a thick layer in spots.