Comment

Comment by Nick Scud on June 7, 2013 at 10:22am

Try Stalite - I am having great results with this medium, it's very conducive to microbial growth, and I used 1/3rd stalite with 2/3 granite crush, like Jim mentioned, for bottom 2/3 of bed.  You'll need to wash/rinse any of the material regardless, which is the biggest part of the chore..   if you can get it cheap enough, stalite shouldn't be too much more than granite, but depends what market/where etc..

Comment by Jim Fisk on June 7, 2013 at 10:16am

Hey Michael, we spent some time finding out what is mined locally and discovered a granite quarry right around the corner and get straight granite pea gravel for 18.00 per ton if we pu which we do with our 1 ton trailer. Looks beautiful, very easy to wash and supplies mineral dust for the system. Only down side is the slightly darker color does soak up more heat on sunny days than say river stone but when the plants get bigger they shade the GB anyway. 1 ton fills 2 GBs so hard to beat.

Stay away from bagged material if you can and buy locally. Ask a road builder or state garage or the like where they buy.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on June 7, 2013 at 9:30am

Lava rock or otherwise called ciders

Comment by Michael on June 7, 2013 at 7:38am

ran into a road block on setting up my other three grow beds, pea gravel is out of stock and all the landscaping supply stores. Here in the Columbus area.

is there anything else I can use that is not so cost prohibitive? Hydrocorn and expanded clay is outrageous price wise. Each grow bed takes approximately 12 cubic feet of grow medium.

 

Comment by Michael on June 7, 2013 at 7:33am

thanks

Comment by Merry Sides on June 6, 2013 at 11:34am

@Michael At this point I've both transplanted carefully reared seedlings, and sewn directly into the media. Sewing into the media has resulted in less plant death. Something I've read in a few places: when you sew direct into the media is to bear in mind the harvest size of the plant and drop your seeds in with enough room for what we hope will be.

Comment by Michael on June 6, 2013 at 11:24am

Hey I am new to this IBC site, I have 4 totes to set up one is already up and running. and has been for the last three days. I just sowed seed into the gravel grow bed. Has anyone ever done this or do you have to start with seedlings?

I am also putting tadpoles and crawfish in the 200 gallon tank to see if they live before I begin spending money on fingerlings.

Comment by Jim Fisk on May 26, 2013 at 7:47am

Sunset, any chance of putting the sump outside where you could bury it. Many large GH AP systems do it that way. Just a thought.

You're right. The sump sets the height for everything else. Perhaps you can set the FT very high with steps and a bench in front and that would leave the GBs at a waist or bench height and that is where you spend the most time tending the system. Are you in a GH, outside, in a basement, etc? In a basement you have height restrictions, for example so let us know.

The 3/4" decking I suggested would gain you quite a few inches if laid directly on the floor and just tied together cross wise ON TOP. Like an upside down frame. Would cost under 10.00 more than likely, certainly under 20.00. Grade 2 decking is like 7.00 for a 12 footer. A pt 2x4 would tie the ends together set on top. Inches do count when it comes to gravity flow.

You're smart to go with the clear water sump as pumping the fish waste can be rough on the pump. Keep us informed as to how you make out as many people are in the same boat when it comes to bury or not to bury the sump.

Even with a below grade sump I raised my 5 FTs quite a bit for max flow in a cascading manner. Here is what I mean for possible ideas: This has worked out even better than expected. My sump is in the foreground. There are so many ways to skin this cat

Comment by sunset on May 25, 2013 at 5:31pm

Thanks again!   You guys seriously rock.  

Yeah, I started off setting up a CHIFT PIST system but that meant putting my fish tanks SUPER high so they could gravity drain into the grow beds.  I am now converting to a CHOP system but I still need to get the grow beds above the level of the sumps.  I suppose I could use a lower sump or daisy chain a few of the lower sumps together to get the necessary volume but it still comes down to getting the height difference between the grow beds and the top of the sump so it can drain properly and avoid a bad rise to run ratio for the drainage.  Ugh.  Makes my head spin sometimes.

Comment by Leo White Bear on May 25, 2013 at 5:24pm

Sunset-

  You may want to check out the CHOP 2 System build.  CHOP stands for Constant Hight One Pump.  With the constant hight in the fish tank being fed from your sump tank, the Fish Tank gravity feeds the grow beds which drains into the sump.  The water is then pumped into the FT from the sump.  You may want to check out the following web sites and You Tube videos.

http://farmingwithfish.com/?p=1151

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urOpR-zAVIY

 

http://www.microponics.net.au/?p=901

 

http://gardenaquaponics.wordpress.com/tag/chop/

 

http://aquaponicfun.com/tips/best-first-aquaponic-system/

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