Sand as a medium in a flood and drain bed? - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T10:21:47Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/sand-as-a-medium-in-a-flood?groupUrl=advancedaquaponics&commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A96101&groupId=4778851%3AGroup%3A45055&feed=yes&xn_auth=noRobert,
There is a reason thi…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-11-10:4778851:Comment:4153382012-11-10T18:45:01.470ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Robert,</p>
<p>There is a reason this discussion is in Advanced Aquaponics and his testing was done as an experiment. Sounded like it actually worked too but he did take extra steps to deal with the nature o the sand.</p>
<p><br></br>This is an old discussion though and I'm only jumping in here because Kobus has had other priorities keeping him busy lately and he may not see this.</p>
<p></p>
<p>(However, would always love to hear what's going on with Kobus when he has the…</p>
<p>Robert,</p>
<p>There is a reason this discussion is in Advanced Aquaponics and his testing was done as an experiment. Sounded like it actually worked too but he did take extra steps to deal with the nature o the sand.</p>
<p><br/>This is an old discussion though and I'm only jumping in here because Kobus has had other priorities keeping him busy lately and he may not see this.</p>
<p></p>
<p>(However, would always love to hear what's going on with Kobus when he has the time.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>It is highly unlikely that simply replacing gravel or other course media with sand would ever work. I can see some limited situations where the use of sand could work. </p>
<p>For instance, I have potted plants that are essentially potted in Sand and I've set those plant pots down into some of my gravel beds and that seems to be working quite well.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I am also thinking about trying a version of a recirculating wicking bed that would use sand as the top wicking layers over the water <span class="st">reservoir</span>. (I'm cautious about recirculating aquaponic water through a wicking bed filled with compost since that has the potential of overloading the bio-filtration of a system if it is not very robust.)</p> Kobus
I believe you would sav…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-11-10:4778851:Comment:4152712012-11-10T15:59:43.870ZRobert Rowehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RobertCRoweBob
<p>Kobus</p>
<p>I believe you would save yourself a lot of grief avoiding sand. It's to fine and would slow the drainage. If you used a siphon external to the bed it would help.</p>
<p>Robert</p>
<p></p>
<p>Kobus</p>
<p>I believe you would save yourself a lot of grief avoiding sand. It's to fine and would slow the drainage. If you used a siphon external to the bed it would help.</p>
<p>Robert</p>
<p></p> I am late into this discussio…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-01-11:4778851:Comment:2763592012-01-11T03:16:42.995ZJapan Aquaponics - アクアポニックス 日本https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JapanAquaponics
<p>I am late into this discussion, but I wondered if anyone had any updates about their sand systems? I have never used it but thought that this discussion was very interesting. If anyone has any more progress reports I for one would love to hear them!</p>
<p>I am late into this discussion, but I wondered if anyone had any updates about their sand systems? I have never used it but thought that this discussion was very interesting. If anyone has any more progress reports I for one would love to hear them!</p> I'm starting to re-think this…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-13:4778851:Comment:1801062011-08-13T17:26:43.290ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I'm starting to re-think this one. As I expand my towers against the 2 back "walls" of my unit, I am getting a different flow pattern going. Instead of having a large volume of water coming from the "clean" line in the system going into the sand bed, I am now going to get a whole lot of return flow from towers and less flow from the remaining water going directly to the sand bed. What I am thinking now is to have the sand bed equipped with a pipe grid over the top of the bed feeding the…
I'm starting to re-think this one. As I expand my towers against the 2 back "walls" of my unit, I am getting a different flow pattern going. Instead of having a large volume of water coming from the "clean" line in the system going into the sand bed, I am now going to get a whole lot of return flow from towers and less flow from the remaining water going directly to the sand bed. What I am thinking now is to have the sand bed equipped with a pipe grid over the top of the bed feeding the water through during each pump cycle, but with the water draining directly rather than flooding the bed and then draining at the end of the flood cycle of the pump. From my observations, it look as if I would be able to feed around 10 - 12 towers, the sand bed and 2 sections of horizontal 110 mm pipe with the 60 watt pump. Hey Kobus,
When I grew waterc…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-13:4778851:Comment:1793062011-08-13T00:45:13.946ZCarey Mahttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CareyMa
<p>Hey Kobus,</p>
<p>When I grew watercress, I ran my irrigation under a layer of geotextile followed by sand on top.</p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Hey Kobus,</p>
<p>When I grew watercress, I ran my irrigation under a layer of geotextile followed by sand on top.</p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p> Good stuff!!
My sand bed ge…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-12:4778851:Comment:1791052011-08-12T17:47:07.390ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>Good stuff!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My sand bed gets water more often as it receives water from overhead towers that needs more frequent wetting. I am still tinkering, but so far it is going alright.</p>
<p>Good stuff!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My sand bed gets water more often as it receives water from overhead towers that needs more frequent wetting. I am still tinkering, but so far it is going alright.</p> I just wanted to share that m…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-12:4778851:Comment:1788152011-08-12T17:36:06.601ZBrian Naesshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/BrianNaess
<p>I just wanted to share that my experiments with sand over the summer have led me to the following conclusions:</p>
<p>1) I can flood/drain them just 3 times per day (focused around the hottest parts of the day, like 11 AM, 2 PM, and 5 PM).</p>
<p>2) Because you only need to flood them 3 times per day, you can have a lot more grow beds operating off of one fish tank. Indexing valve comes in handy here, and splitting the stream after indexing helps to increase the number of beds that you can…</p>
<p>I just wanted to share that my experiments with sand over the summer have led me to the following conclusions:</p>
<p>1) I can flood/drain them just 3 times per day (focused around the hottest parts of the day, like 11 AM, 2 PM, and 5 PM).</p>
<p>2) Because you only need to flood them 3 times per day, you can have a lot more grow beds operating off of one fish tank. Indexing valve comes in handy here, and splitting the stream after indexing helps to increase the number of beds that you can run and helps slow the water down, which helps to keep the system flowing better. And, because you can have more grow beds, you don't need to worry as much about overdoing it with the fish.</p>
<p>3) My tomatoes that grew in the sand tasted better than the ones in hydroton/gravel. Blind taste test, confirmed by others.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I just moved, so I had to tear everything down. But, it's a chance to start over, and I think I'll be doing sand again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Also, just as an anecdote - in preparation for my move, the first thing I did was empty my fish tank of fish and drain off half the water. Things were growing fine for a while, then started to tail off - except for my cucumber plant. Then, I drained out the rest of the water, and for at least 10 days, my sand beds had NO input at all of water or nutrients. All my plants died, except my cucumber. Absolutely no sign at all of any stress. It survived on rainwater, despite 100+ degree heat for over 10 days. I dug that plant up and moved it with me, I was so impressed!</p> Well a 40 gallon sump isn't r…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-12:4778851:Comment:1786322011-08-12T12:32:46.427ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>Well a 40 gallon sump isn't really much. I would probably say an aquaponics indexing valve would help but with only a 40 gallon sump you are really limited to very small beds and you have to wait for them to drain before you start filling the next bed since a pump strong enough to operate an indexing valve (even the gravity modified variety) is going to empty a 40 gallon tank quickly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You could always add constant flood beds but I don't think that will help much for a sand…</p>
<p>Well a 40 gallon sump isn't really much. I would probably say an aquaponics indexing valve would help but with only a 40 gallon sump you are really limited to very small beds and you have to wait for them to drain before you start filling the next bed since a pump strong enough to operate an indexing valve (even the gravity modified variety) is going to empty a 40 gallon tank quickly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You could always add constant flood beds but I don't think that will help much for a sand bed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>a single 3 x 5 bed isn't much filtration for two 135 gallon tanks.</p> I too have thought about usin…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-12:4778851:Comment:1787162011-08-12T12:20:57.006ZSWhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SamWarren
<p>I too have thought about using sand to help filtrate my small aquaponic system that I have set up coming off of my (2) 135 gallon breeding tanks. My concern is the flow rate. I currently have a half barrel of gravel flowing to a 3 x 5 bed of hydroton which drains to a sump.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was thinking the solution for me would be to divert some of the water to a sand filter and have the rest still go through my gravel & hydroton beds with everything draining to my sump. I don't have…</p>
<p>I too have thought about using sand to help filtrate my small aquaponic system that I have set up coming off of my (2) 135 gallon breeding tanks. My concern is the flow rate. I currently have a half barrel of gravel flowing to a 3 x 5 bed of hydroton which drains to a sump.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was thinking the solution for me would be to divert some of the water to a sand filter and have the rest still go through my gravel & hydroton beds with everything draining to my sump. I don't have a large sump (40 gallons) so flow rate is important to keep it from draining too low. I know that someone is going to say to put in a larger sump but that really isn't an option because of limited space and it has been working very well for the last few months.<br/><br/>I wasn't thinking that I would be growing anything in the sand but after reading everyone's post I may have to give it a try.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyone else have a set up like I mentioned with partial sand filtration?</p> It has been a while since I g…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-07-27:4778851:Comment:1642162011-07-27T06:49:07.370ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>It has been a while since I gave some feedback here. The bed is still behaving very nicely, but I have replaced some of the plants. I raised the level of the sand in the bed a number of times, and I think some of the beetroot got "buried" in stead of planted at the end of all this. The sand has started showing some mild surface algal growth as I have read will happen, but has not become compacted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The carrots are looking good, and recently I popped a potato in just for…</p>
<p>It has been a while since I gave some feedback here. The bed is still behaving very nicely, but I have replaced some of the plants. I raised the level of the sand in the bed a number of times, and I think some of the beetroot got "buried" in stead of planted at the end of all this. The sand has started showing some mild surface algal growth as I have read will happen, but has not become compacted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The carrots are looking good, and recently I popped a potato in just for fun. It had started sprouting in the pantry and I thought "what the heck, it wants to grow.............." Will update about how things are going soon.</p>