Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Raft/Deep Water Culture Growers

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Raft/Deep Water Culture Growers

A group dedicated to raft growers. A place to share tips, tricks, and general info.

Website: http://coastviewaquaponics.com
Members: 379
Latest Activity: Jun 24

Discussion Forum

Stll in business- Coastview Aquaponics

Started by Michael Gough. Last reply by John May 20. 4 Replies

Aloha all,Just joined today. 2 years ago had taken a tour of Coastview Aquaponics operation. Going back to the big island IN 4 WEEKS to see what damage our Puna property sustained from the…Continue

A short time lapse of a "different" application of DWC

Started by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. Jul 2, 2017. 0 Replies

Just an FYI. Here is the link to the youtube vid: http://bit.ly/2sLEAgABelow is a still of the system.…Continue

Floating Raft above Aquarium

Started by Courtney. Last reply by kimlee kingston Jan 4, 2015. 2 Replies

Hi everyone! I had some issues with setting up a grow bed's plumbing and it got me to thinking, in the interim, can I just set up a raft directly onto the fish tank? If it were any other kind of…Continue

polypropylene for "tray-ponics"-type "rafts"

Started by Paul Trudeau. Last reply by Joni Solis Nov 14, 2014. 37 Replies

Glenn Martinez has described a nice small raft system where he uses 24 inch x 36 inch x 8 inch-deep plastic masonry mixing tubs (trays) (available at Home Depot) as plant troughs.  Instead of…Continue

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Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on June 24, 2024 at 4:54pm

Hello. It has been some time since I have contributed. By the end of World War II urban victory gardens grew 40% of the food in the United States. To our knowledge this may have the last successful wide spread urban agriculture urban agriculture business model. For a moment people wanted to recreate them during the pandemic  but only had limited success. Most homes isn cities no longer have the newly 400 ft2 needed for a classic Victory Garden that produced about 200 lb annually. So we thought it would be cool to see if we could recreate victory garden production in a small space using a little 21st century magic. Aquaponics. It seems so far we have been successful producing up to 400 lbs annually so far. (PS the fish used were catfish and tilapia

Comment by John on June 24, 2024 at 8:42am

Hi all! I also have an aquaponics farm with basil, I grow a pond with telapia and then everything goes through the drum filter and btofilter to the trays with aquaponics.

Here is a photo of my farm.
https://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/tell-us-about-your...

And then in the news feed about aquaponics, they posted my farm. Very unexpected and pleasant for me
https://raufilter.com/aquaponics-farm-filter

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.

 

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