Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi a newby here and wondering how soria goes in grow beds if its okay what size would you use

Welcome F&F (food&fish)
There have been a number of people who have considered using scoria...
To find all refrences to scoria simply click on the "search" link above (at the top of the page...
Then type in 'scoria' in the 'search for keywords' category... scroll down and click posts in the 'display results as' area, then click on search... you will see all the posts which mention scoria come up for you to view without having to wade through ALL the posts here (but then again, it is often very interesting to see what people have had to say or ranted about - all depends on how much time you have free!)

Hi, I'm using scoria now but previously used hydroton.

There's plenty of american pot growers have used 'lava rocks' as their medium for many years with no noticeable problems at all.

Scoria is hard on the hands, so hydroton wins in this respect. But when you price scoria vs hydroton, scoria is the clear winner.

The porous nature makes it my choice of cheap mediums.

Black scoria will pull pH up slightly, red will pull it down slightly.

I have 2/3rds black and 1/3rd red (it came like that). 50 litres bed at present servicing 150 litres approx water. The water was pH 6.6 on introducing the bed to the system. Two days later it climbed to 6.8 and has remained there ever since.

rinse it really well, your water will still get so cloudy it's scary, but clears within a few days with no noticeable problems for the fish.

I used a 25 mm size which ranges 10mm to 35ish.

Thanks fellers thats the first questian a lot more to come

I am thinking about setting up an Auqaponic system in Central Victoria and thinking about possible media for growing.

Have any of you ever tried charcoal as part of your bed media?
How do you think a charcoal/gravel mix work?

Some background – when I was getting into all sorts of trouble in Bolivia (a Latin American country between Brazil, Chili and Argentina. Over there they have been farming for a very long time (Some of it using Hydroponics on the lakes). It is also where much of the foods we now eat originated from.

Well while visiting Lake Titicaca – The Puma Lake. Some of the locals pointed out a crop of potatoes – or was it Broad Beans (Faber Beans). Half the crop was tall and very healthy – the other half was not doing so well. I was told the healthy plants were living on an ancient farm land. Later I hear the ancient farmers built up the land by adding lake reeds and charcoal.

I was thinking about layering my to be built 30 cm beds:
10 cm of larger gravel (may be 30-50mm gravel)
10 cm of charcoal
Sheet shade cloth (to keep the charcoal down in the bed)
10cm of pea gravel (10mm-20mm gravel)

I would suspect the charcoal will absorb the nitrogen and help with increasing the oxygen in the water and doubt it will rot over time.

Im not sure renard, but i do remember doing a experiment in school (ouch head hurts remembering so far back ) adding charcol to water (cant remember why) and it turned the water a dark black. So the charcol may release dissolved organic compounds (DOC's) into the water and irritate the gills.

But activated carbon is used to remove odors and toxins from water in aquariums...

hope someone else can help ya...

Ren,

Have no experience on this, but i will offer a few thoughts.

Charcoal taken from a fire can be quite alkaline due to the potassium ash, this is where the word potash (potassium hydroxide) came from.

You would have to be confident that there were no nasty treaded wood burned aslo.

You may be getting the charcoal commercially, so the above may not be a problem.

I'd say get a system up and going first, then make changes once ou are confident that its working. Its always so hard to fault find when you make too many changes at once. You wont know if its the charcoal thats holding you back, or something else.

But definatly give it a go after your system is up and running and stable, its these small mods that can have profound discoveries. And its FUN to change things

Steve

Is scoria available cheaply in Perth? If so where do I get some?

wow, just looked a the first post here.....................f&f only started out in august.........................seems like ages ago.

What do you mean it is ages ago Started had the big crash got going again been purring for about 2 months now starting to get boring every thing running spot on now got silvers and rainbow trought temps 17 ph 7 all others 0 just feed the fish and pick the vegies [ not allowed to build a bigger or better one][ bummer] is there a life after aquaponics What do other people do
was going to extend aqua into the glass house seeing the bug problem other people with glass houses have have dont think i will bother

hmmm, we need to find a new activity for F&F...

well, generally people expand their systems, but you got yours down pat first go.............consult! LOL

Some thing with explosives would be nice or high voltage electricity

how about working on a insect attracting do-hickey to give your fish free feed?

Hee Hee

So is scoria available in perth ... real cheap?

hydroponics shops .. you pay an arm and a leg ... in those places..

I am looking for a trailer load for bugger all!