Need help on my first system.

Stuart Chignell

Max47 wrote:

Washing the media is one of the most important steps. Having clear water drain from the grow beds is well worth the labor. A tip for anyone using red lava rock:use a cheap tarp to line the bed of your truck or you will be washing out red mud for hours. If your having it delivered put the tarp on the ground and dump the rock on it or your entire driveway will be red for weeks!

I have washed about 1 wheel barrel load of gravel for my AP systems.

The rest just got shoveled in.

Jacko

I am getting my media tomorrow, how would I wash the media to prevent the dirty water in the fish tank?

cathode

Stuart Chignell wrote:

Max47 wrote:

Washing the media is one of the most important steps. Having clear water drain from the grow beds is well worth the labor. A tip for anyone using red lava rock:use a cheap tarp to line the bed of your truck or you will be washing out red mud for hours. If your having it delivered put the tarp on the ground and dump the rock on it or your entire driveway will be red for weeks!

I have washed about 1 wheel barrel load of gravel for my AP systems.

The rest just got shoveled in.

I hear ya.

I washed about 75 gallons worth of lava rock in batches, using a 5 gallon bucket... it was awful.

I would say *rinsing* is a good idea to get the powdery fines out, but actual *washing* is overkill. I've even heard people claim that the sandy gravel left over from using lava rock is beneficial because of the surface area it has for bacteria to cling to.

Max47

Dubi wrote:

I am getting my media tomorrow, how would I wash the media to prevent the dirty water in the fish tank?

I used a 5 Gallon bucket with holes in the bottom and a few large plastic garden pots.

Jacko

I used shade netting on the grass, then had all the pea gravel spread on the net, just gave it a good rinse. Hope it works.

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Need help on my first system.

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics