Aquaponic Gardening

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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: 378
Latest Activity: Dec 8, 2022

Discussion Forum

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

Stll in business- Coastview Aquaponics

Started by Michael Gough. Last reply by Michael Gough Aug 20, 2014. 3 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

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Comment by Arik Alan on September 11, 2012 at 11:10pm

the roots exposed to the "air" will harden a bit and will take up the bulk of the oxygen.  they will still also absorb moisture due to high humidity in this area of the rootzone. the roots will "chase" the moisture down and submerge. Let nature do its thang.  heres the test rafts. Ideally i want the netcup bottom above the water level. these were completed a couple weeks ago. i'll be playing with 2 litres or other similar abundant bottles to work this out.  cycling.jpg

Comment by Josh on September 11, 2012 at 7:09pm

Great info everyone!

 I guess my initial idea was to have the growing area stationary (like a table) and just have it at a permanent height to allow the rising and falling water level aerate and feed/water the roots. However,  in vlad's link, they stated that plants that were on large floats (like Arik's soda bottles) whose roots which were partially submerged had essentially two main root zones: The area that was above water was the "oxygen roots" section and below that were the submerged nutrient roots.

I wonder if its more beneficial to the plants to designated nutrient and oxygen root sections or to have the entire root system both oxygenate and absorb water nutrients as in my "table" idea.  Maybe i'll experiment with both methods to see what's better.

Comment by Chris George on September 10, 2012 at 10:02pm

@Arik...thanks!  I am also a big fan of zipties!!!  Although in our desert sun and heat they don't last too long, I'm in Scottsdale, AZ, maybe submersed or partially submersed they will have a longer life.

Comment by Arik Alan on September 10, 2012 at 9:38pm

@Chris.

Keep it simple. Just use the bottle as is with the cap to seal. attach as many as necessary. now how many do you need? workin on that at the moment. i need all the bottles i can find.  Good thing they are abundant! I think the larger  1 litres or 2 litres will work as good or better than 2"pvc at a fraction of cost.  I love zipties :)

Comment by Arik Alan on September 10, 2012 at 9:33pm

@Joshua

instead of legs like a table, i would place runners to support the rafts. so the rafts ends could "slide" upon them.  I-   <--  think of the hyphon as pvc pipe. I-   -I (front view) think of narrower channel or a center divider that would be there for support/guide. you could just screw some pvc schd40 or something at the height you need in channel to make a lip the raft would sit on and slide down easily. i dont see how the table would allow the rafts to float and move about. cheap and easy. bottles and 1/2pvc. thats pretty cheeap! the 2x4 raft size is super manageable. KISS

Comment by Arik Alan on September 10, 2012 at 9:25pm

@joshua. imho i dont see how the foam could be better as a raft. I would just take 1 litres plastic water bottles or the 2liter as is with cap tight and secure with large zipties. thats it. 5, 2 litres in a pattern like the #5 side of dice under frame. or 1litres around perimeter and down center. same result, much less cash outa pocket imho.  i spent hundreds on 2" pipe and caps for pontoons.  2" pipe was not enuf bouyancy/clearance for my liking. netcup is submerged quite a bit still.  I have no other oxygenation happening other than the water circulation 24/7. so far plants seem unaffected. the biggest concerns are how to arrange netcup locations depending on anticipated plant size and how the pontoons affect the layout. the outer 3" or so of perimeter of raft are not useable. should be easy to get 40 or so 2" netcups in a 2x4' raft. basically you have to cut the frame pipe sections shorter to compensate for T's so you end up with the overall length at 2'. This way you can cut a single sheet of the polywall material to 2'x4'. I can post the numbers if you need. i dont have commited to memory as i wrote them on a post at the farm.  If you quarter the polywall one at a time you can pull the scissors/razor/pocket knife/etc through it very easily. blisters with scissors for sure if you try to scissor your way through them all.

Comment by Rick Welland on September 10, 2012 at 9:23pm

Hola from Mexico..Interesting link Vlad..There are indeed many ways to get the lettuce on the table..Read sometime back Giorgio's post re pontoon system and thought that might be a good way to go- areate the root systems etc. Had advice from CaryMa re our existing thru-flow ponds and how we might be better off doing a controllable lined pond. If you look at our blog and the aquaponics section at   

http://lasenda-ecovillage.blogspot.com/ you'll see our new 45'x105' fish pond which has a 1000 fish or so capacity- we don't want to feed that many..There is also a shot of how our tray system will 'stack' up-each tray will have a adjustable water level by changing standpipes so we can start plants with roots 'in' the water and drop the water level to give them some air. (Joshua- mosquitoes only breed in stagnant water) Our pond water is solar pumped up the hill to the three holding tanks & gravity circulates thru the trays & back to the fish. Changing the water levels in the trays rather than floating the plants seems like a good idea but we have yet to find out to what extent it works. Somehow I feel a bit sorry for a plant stuck in a plastic bottle full of stagnant water - maybe its a healthy way to do it but fresh water flowing thru sure  sounds better to me.

Comment by Josh on September 10, 2012 at 8:17pm

Great link vlad!  Im definitely going to experiment with this now.  Interesting that the method with the lowest yield is the one that uses a floating board directly on the water.  Of course, these are non-circulating systems.  

I was also glad to read that the mentioned mosquitos, which was something I was  concerned with all along.  I think the circulation of water and the addition of guppies and gambusia fish should take care of that.

Thanks again!

Comment by Chris George on September 10, 2012 at 5:16pm

@Vlad...thanks, I thought it was Larry in CG....but I was headed out the door and didn't have time to check.  Great link, too, I'm reading it now.

Comment by Vlad Jovanovic on September 10, 2012 at 4:24pm

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawaii/downloads/Three_Non-circulating_...

@Chris...I think it was Larry in Casa Grande (Arizona AP) who built such a PVC framework...

 

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