Comment

Comment by Jeremy Cook on May 23, 2014 at 10:36am

There is actually 2 inches of hydroton under the gravel. Hydroton obsorbs the water and nutrients better than pea gravel but pea gravel is so much cheaper and does a similar job. Although both contain beneficial bacteria, throughout all my research, due to the porus structure of hydroton and obsorbtion ability it works a bit better for converting amonia and nitrites into nitrates than pea gravel does. When planting seedlings into my system, their roots are still somewhat shallow and should remain in the pea gravel until they grow bigger. Once their root structure advances it will grow into the hydroton which should be nitrite enriched for optimal growth. Finally, keeping the hydroton seperated from the pea gravel as seen in the picture helps with one final "scrub" to the water before it is dumped back into my 600+ gallon pond beneath the table. It is also asthetically pleasing to the eye. I would have placed all hydroton into the system but it is VERY expensive as compared to pea gravel. 1 each 50 liter (13 gallon) bag of hydroton is $40. 6 each 5 gallon buckets (30 gallons) of pea gravel is $5 at the local topsoil quary. I'm sure that eventually it will all get mixed up as I plant over the years, but for now, I think it looks cool.

Comment by Benjamin Udy - Super Genius on May 23, 2014 at 10:17am

Hello Jeremy, you have a really nice setup! What it the reason for the Hydroton around the media guard and gravel throughout the rest of the bed?