Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The thing with clay balls is that there are different qualities. For hydroton (50litre bag) $35 is about as good as you get down here, though many shops will try to charge you $50. Cheaper Chinese shit is easier to find at $35.

In the Brisbane area, you can expect to pay up to $50 for 50 litres of Hydroton and Dutch Master :Hot Rox" are about $35 for 50 litres.

Ooo, a new thing... dont know what 'Dutch Master :Hot Rox' is/are... do tell me more

Well, I went and bought 2 bags of clay balls today - could not resist the temptation! I want enough to fill a bath tub, so I am thinking I might need another bag, which will give me a total of 135L

Am, what do they look like? same as clay balls, or ore they something different

Made in germany of all places - did not expect to see that!

here is a close up of the balls... I tried crushing 2 of them together and they did not crumble at all - rather strong...

that looks exactly like hydroton, which of course is just a brand name for, expanded clay balls

AM, how much were the bags?

$30 a bag (but I suspect they lowered it for me... ) but I still get it at that price....

that's good, there's a hydro shop here with some of their prices posted on the website, 50L for $46

my bags are only 45 L though...

AM, this product looks just like what I got, also from Germany, but it is sold by the weight, 50 lbs, compared to amount, 45 L, at almost the same price, I paid $30.00 a bag. To help defray the cost I put down a layer of large river rock, and the clay balls on top.

I thought about putting gravel down first... but I want 3 grow beds, each with a different grow bed media so as to make comparisons and so the kids can see them first hand too!... so there goes that idea
Bt then again, I can write a part of the cost off to tax, which in a way makes it even cheaper!

I have been running hydroton in my little bed on top of my fish tank and 10mm drainage gravel in the bed over the pond. Both are running continuos flow at the moment. IMHO the gravel has performed better. Using continuous flow, the hydroton has not got wet to the same degree as the gravel - due to the water draining through more quickly and therefore not spreading much. This has resulted in poor root development. If using flood and drain this particular issue would not exist, but the issue of floating clay balls would. I reckon that unless weight is going to be a significant issue - then gravel is the smart way to go.