A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

One and only Expanded Clay Pellets (hydroton) source in India...

Hi, it took me two weeks but I think I found the only manufacturer-supplier of hydroton in India :

GBC India
Mr. Sandeep V.
A/408, Neelkanth Palace, 100 FT Road, Satellite
Ahmedabad, Gujarat - , India

Telephone	:	+(91)-(79)-26930619
Mobile	:	+(91)-8866117051
Website	:	http://www.gbcindia.org

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sandip Bhatia on May 3, 2012 at 4:12am

Agreed!

Anir Chanda said:

Right about the price , With shipping for me to have it sent to Calcutta, was close to absurd...... Compared to what black stone gravel costs me, available within the mile, and it works just fine.

Permalink Reply by Abhishek Shrivastava on June 25, 2012 at 3:02am

Friends, i am looking to start it in Delhi NCR area, I only know about GBC as of now for LECA, i need supply in delhi and also i need some information about the fishes, where could i buy them in bulk. Please share if someone has information on it.

Gratitude and Regards

Abhishek

Permalink Reply by Anir Chanda on June 25, 2012 at 9:28pm

try black gravel, think about temperature control before you begin, delhi is brutal on aquaponic systems with its amb temp range. fish of types are easily available in kolkata. I am only aware of indian carp available live in delhi, but someone i know has had no success with keeping them alive, ornamental fish is available , if you can work around the tighter controls required for them, you may have a shot. good luck!

Abhishek Shrivastava said:

Friends, i am looking to start it in Delhi NCR area, I only know about GBC as of now for LECA, i need supply in delhi and also i need some information about the fishes, where could i buy them in bulk. Please share if someone has information on it.

Gratitude and Regards

Abhishek

Permalink Reply by Abhishek Shrivastava on June 26, 2012 at 4:10am

Thanks a ton, Anir, what is the ambient temperature i need to maintain for my aquaponics system, in Delhi i have found a market in a place known Seemapuri and as per my friend there i might get live fishes as well, i would be visiting this Saturday, also a friend of mine is doing some organic farming in North East India and is using a green house so i am planning to check with him how the temperature is maintained, Seems a bit more paper work is required. I will keep posting my findings.

Permalink Reply by Anir Chanda on June 27, 2012 at 2:21am

its the water temp that is crucial, the bacteria become inactive at below 15 degress and water looses DO at alarming rate above 30 degrees. Ideal range is between 20 and 28, can go a little above thirty with additional aeration but at 35 the fish are under stress.

I personally dont think just a green house will do the job for you in delhi, it will help in winter , but summer is the real issue, I would consider putting the tank underground or indoors and still invest in heaters/chillers and a solid greenhouse with proper ventilation and shading facilities. good luck!

Abhishek Shrivastava said:

Thanks a ton, Anir, what is the ambient temperature i need to maintain for my aquaponics system, in Delhi i have found a market in a place known Seemapuri and as per my friend there i might get live fishes as well, i would be visiting this Saturday, also a friend of mine is doing some organic farming in North East India and is using a green house so i am planning to check with him how the temperature is maintained, Seems a bit more paper work is required. I will keep posting my findings.

Permalink Reply by Mathew Pylichen on July 24, 2012 at 11:10pm

Hi all,

I am new to this group, some how managed to setup an experimental stage successfully. Initially had problems due to pH value of the Bangalore ground water source. Had to flush out that water and use RO purified water. This has helped the plants grow a bit. Thanks to Anir's advices.

About hydrotron, it would be nice to find local producers of it. Sourcing it from Mumbai or gujurat is an expensive affair. Instead i choose the normal gravel. But some how i feel the stones are little sharp edges here. I just top the gravel with a bit of expanded clay , the one that the aquariums sell. Costly though. 100Rs/kg. Used only 1Kg.

I am going to check with Geek Gardener about his source of Hydrotron, vermicellutie and Perlite. http://geekgardener.in/ and the cost. I hope that it would be cheaper than the ankur pricing of 1110Rs for 50Ltr bag + 900Rs courier.

Gravel, those nasty people are trying to charge me 20Rs per shovelpan. THankfully some kind builder allowed me to take a bin full of gravel from his heap for free.

Now trying to look for duckweed.

I guess going for a hybrid is a good option. Gravel is too hard for the hands to transplant the plants.

Permalink Reply by Mathew Pylichen on July 24, 2012 at 11:20pm

Btw i stumbled upon this "Sure to Grow Flood & Drain mats" has any one tried this out. Is this a viable thing. Do we get these kinds of thing in India?

http://www.suretogrow.com/hydroponic-flood-mats

Permalink Reply by Abhishek Shrivastava on July 25, 2012 at 6:47am

Friends, i had a talk with a local Gardner and they are using soil less media for Orchids, he suggested to use half cooked earthen pot or earthen flower pot, break it into small pieces and mix with wood coal, for maintaining the humidity coconut shell powder can also be used, he said that raw pot has good water socking capability. i haven't tried it yet but would be meeting with him again on next Saturday / Sunday and will gather material and will give it a try.

Permalink Reply by Mathew Pylichen on July 25, 2012 at 11:20pm

Hi Abhi,

Thanks for this bit of info. Now the next question is volumes of flowerpots required to break in to small pieces?? Is it bit costly to get that many pots and then get wood coal. Currently in bangalore, the wood coal selling for 20Rs a kg. Now wood coal is in large chunks.

So when we break it to further small pieces, would not it clog the media system near the siphon?

Give it a try. Would be interested to hear more from you.

Abhishek Shrivastava said:

Friends, i had a talk with a local Gardner and they are using soil less media for Orchids, he suggested to use half cooked earthen pot or earthen flower pot, break it into small pieces and mix with wood coal, for maintaining the humidity coconut shell powder can also be used, he said that raw pot has good water socking capability. i haven't tried it yet but would be meeting with him again on next Saturday / Sunday and will gather material and will give it a try.