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Comment by Anthony Payne on July 1, 2017 at 6:53pm

Hi everybody I have been gone for a long time. I had things going close to cycling then a job took us all over the western us. So now I'm out of the loop. Now I have set up a raft 4'x8'x7" and have it cycling without fish I added ammonia and waiting on the test kit to arrive. My question is what is, can I use coconut fiber in my net pots? I have about 450 us gal cycling. 

Comment by Henny Barbolina on November 22, 2013 at 6:47pm

I also live in the Caribbean, Curacao. I find that grapes are imported in foam container consisting of two half's. I use these to make 2" holes as use them as floaters/rafts. Works perfectly and I get them at the supermarkets for free. The lit I use without modification. The bottom part has more foam material and drift higher so that the bottom of the net pot does not touch the water. So I cut 2 cm off. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Comment by Mathew Slattery on November 22, 2013 at 11:08am

I live in the Caribbean and we have to import all of our materials. I am in the works of designing/ pricing out a commercial aquaponics system and would like there to be a large raft component and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on raft materials? I am currently using 1" dow blue board as I can get that from our hardware store but if there is a cheaper alternative that I can import from the states that would be great. Any suggestions?

Comment by Bob Campbell on July 25, 2013 at 11:04pm

@Tray

I believe a couple inches of gravel would be a very good idea. 

The experts might say I was lucky, but I placed about 18" of pumice in the bottom of my 48" deep fish tank.  The 2" pickup tube was buried on one end of the 10' long tank.  The water came in at the bottom below the pumice through a 10 ft length of perforated drain pipe.  So all the water (about 300 gal/hour) had to flow through the pumice. 

After about 9 months I emptied the tank, and there was no foul smell.  There were 60 tilapia,  30 of them fully grown in the tank the rest about 6" long.  I lost one fish during that period.   The trick is circulation although there must have been some dead spots in my tank.

Comment by Tray Rasco on July 25, 2013 at 10:17pm

Is the 45 mil DuPont http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=FIR-W56PL41075 needed for the DWC beds or will http://www.globalplasticsheeting.com/aquaponics-plastic-film/ something like that in 24 mill work just fine? What is the life span on those in a greenhouse.

 

Comment by Tray Rasco on July 25, 2013 at 10:14pm

Well that sheds new light on my thoughts. Maybe putting some netting to keep them off the roots but is it worth it at that point. Anyone put rock on the bottom to help act as a bio filter? I am planning a very high fish stock density going to make a swirl filter, sand and possible a bio filter before I dump into a media filled bed that letting that drop into my DWC possibly letting that dump into a sump if need? Then pumping back to the fish tanks.

 

Comment by wes on July 24, 2013 at 7:22am

Go here and see what he was up against with raising prawns.

http://apnko.com/en/blog/entry/something-is-eating-my-roots-part-2

Comment by wes on July 24, 2013 at 7:13am

I have never tried rasing shrimp but I was told that you need allot of space to even get a fair size harvest due to the fact they eat each other when in close quarters. They  have been raised in 12" deep troughs right along with the floating rafts and did fine except for the loss of them eating each other.

Comment by Tray Rasco on July 23, 2013 at 11:15pm

I am in the late stages of design on my system before I start purchasing and building still need ALOT of advice on the best ways and what just wont work. Love the Poly Pvc "raft" idea! Letting the raft be a fixed height and not float and using a pvc drain tube to get the idea water height which from reading is less then 1/3 of the 2 inch net pot? My main question is has anyone ever experimented with shrimp in  DWC troughs? It seems like a lot of square feet on the bottom of the troughs not being used. Tilapia and shrimp both like the same water temps and shrimp feed off the waste in the system and will clean off the plan roots. My main concerns are will the shrimp breed to sustain the population and which variety of shrimp would "taste" best. Also how deep do the deep water culture troughs need to be 16 inches enough or should I think more like 24 inches? Thank you

Comment by Tim Sumrall on July 11, 2013 at 4:19pm

My first raft of basil. It's 4 weeks old today. I have a second raft in at 2 weeks old and enough pots started for a third.

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