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Comment by Michelle Silva on October 3, 2010 at 8:33pm: no I had not seen it..thanks for posting link.

Comment by AlbertF on October 3, 2010 at 5:27pm: yellowing leaves might be iron deficiency i think... i am picking up some chelated iron soon.

have you seen this?
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/list.htm

Comment by Michelle Silva on October 3, 2010 at 4:16pm: The aeration at this point is coming from the gravity splashing fish tanks and the high turnover..yes, will get more when the towers come back to the system. So far everything is growing so I guess there is enough. I wish I had a DO meter. I am noticing a little yellowing on some plants, not all, the red romaine looks gorgeous.
I only have a few cuucumber plants in the verticals and there's some already.. but the leaves (same as some of the basil) are a bit yellow. I fertilized with an organic (fish emulsion/seaweed) about a week ago..maybe I need more?

Comment by AlbertF on October 3, 2010 at 1:43pm: @kobus my gap is also about 1". so far i havent tried much besides lettuces and spinach.
@michelle, as i understood it, without airstones youd get root rot, but i guess you have sufficient aeration from the towers as you mentioned?
also, these 1/8" boards are not strong enough to support the plants, i have some 3" pvc underneath, standing up, to support the trays. i will probably reinforce the trays with 1x2 later.

Comment by Michelle Silva on October 3, 2010 at 1:01pm: one pro to having it float on the water is that since I'm doing this on a small commercial scale (4,000 plants)I can harvest at one end by sliding the rafts down. I had looked into making wood rafts before and was concerned they would rip the liners,although you wouldn't have that issue with it sitting on the top.

Comment by Michelle Silva on October 3, 2010 at 12:59pm: Thanks for the tip, although, I'm using foam..I have a simple set up..no airstones and no separate biofilter as of yet in my system. The system turnover rate is high and I have aeration also coming from gravity in the fish tanks..everything seems to be going well so far. I will get even more aeration when the vertical towers return to the system as they will work similar to degassing towers. I like the idea of not using foam for the future!

Comment by AlbertF on October 3, 2010 at 12:20pm: i am planning on building a roof made of sun shade over these, havent gotten around to it yet.
i notice that some of you are still using foam, you guys know that by using plywood and sitting at above the water you can get rid of the airstones right?

Comment by Michelle Silva on October 3, 2010 at 6:05am: Thanks for your response..I love the way it looks and thanks for the addtional pics..looks like it's working great! My system is built for now so wouldn't be doing it now. I still have much work to do..it fits 4,000 plants and have maybe only half planted so far. I tried direct seeding some spinach seeds in my rafts and they didn't take (think it was too hot out) so need to start again with some of it..but the transplants are doing wonderfully..
I love to keep learnig additional/different ways of doing this. I think my next project may be to add a sprout/greens table if I can't get my initial idea to work (growing underneath the vertical towers).

Comment by AlbertF on October 2, 2010 at 11:45pm: under the raft is 45mil EPDM, was trying to get some food grade LDPE but its hard to get here.

Comment by AlbertF on October 2, 2010 at 11:43pm: home depot sells this a luan plywood - water resistant. theres some controversy about where and how this wood is collected but if you dont care about any of that, its $15 for 4x8 sheet. it is about 1/8" thick and i used an iso resin to seal it. most people just use a stain/latex to either seal in any borates from treatment.
inside the DWC i have a few malaysian prawns to help keep the roots clean.
i grow lettuces in here. will try to find a recent pic to post.