Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

As a newbie, I am a little confused. I went to buy pea gravel but they only had gravel including the fines, clay and the pea sized stones. Do I need to remove the clay and fines and keep only the pea sized stones? or can I use the gravel, as-is.

What preparation do I need to do for the gravel before placing into the grow bed?

Tony

..grin...
Washie washie.
Many different methods of this exist and it all depends on how much gravel your talking about. Bucket or Ute full?

Washie washie, but do I keep the fines & Clay?? Or is this what I am washing out?

Tony

You just want the gravel Tony the rest will just cause you problems later.
So what you want to be left with is good clean rock to start your grow beds and welcome to the madness that is AP.
We have ways of knowing if you skiped the washie phase so be warned!
....Grin....

Washie washie. Yup. get rid of the clay and fines. They'll just mess up the pump and the plumbing.

Wait for comment from one of the other WA members on this one. It sounds to me like the lot that you were looking at has more than the standard amount of clay and fines combined with the stones - though I may be wrong.

"gravel including the fines, clay and the pea sized stones"
that sounds like roadbase, id keep looking for what you want.

Youre not a true APer if you dont wash your rocks! . .ATM im experimenting with one GB,had 10 kgs of zeolite and 3kg of shell grit ,mixed them in with (washed rocks Ell!) . two new GBS side by side ,one AP (washed) theother my trial! Ill have to wait a while to see what happens cos the water temp is only 11 so the fish arent eating.Dont eat so dont s678t!!

you should be able to buy "washed gravel". Here it is classified by size: 4-8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, etc.
It will still need to be washed though, it will remove much of the excess debris though. Make it a little easier on you. Get ready to have sexy arms

Yep, you should be able to get washed gravel from a soil store like amazon or soils aint soils etc...

These are mainly washed already and just have rocks all the same size, with a small amount of dust and muck...

Thanks Earthbound.
I met with johnny7au on Monday and he showed me his systems and gave me some washed pea gravel for my starter system.

I will report back when I get the pump timing and drain valve set up properly. My pump is a very low capacity and it pumps SO SLOWLY, I feel that the rocks are growing

More time, and I will get it right.

Thanks all for your input,
Tony