Aquaponics Digest - Sat 04/07/01

Message   1: more details from Red
             from "Steven Medlock" 

Message   2: Grow Bed Media
             from "Hurst, Steve ( China)" 

| Message 1                                                           
Subject: more details from Red
From:    "Steven Medlock" 
Date:    Sat, 7 Apr 2001 20:41:13 -0500

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I am using the same basic system that S&S is using.  I have some gold =
fish since early this winter.  diden't have any proble untill just about =
a month ago.  It is not bad just one fish at a time seems like.  I =
always remove the fish.  I have put in some channel cat, because I =
diden't want to go with talipia untill I had all the bugs worked out.   =
I have cut down on the feed, that seems to have helped the last couple =
of days.  The fish are around 4 to 6 inches in 800 gallons of water,  =
right at 100 fish.  I am raising tomatoes, or trying.  It seems to be =
working.    Thanks for the help,

Steve (Red)

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I am using the same basic system that =
S&S is=20
using.  I have some gold fish since early this winter.  =
diden't have=20
any proble untill just about a month ago.  It is not bad just one =
fish at a=20
time seems like.  I always remove the fish.  I have put in =
some=20
channel cat, because I diden't want to go with talipia untill I had all =
the bugs=20
worked out.   I have cut down on the feed, that seems to have =
helped=20
the last couple of days.  The fish are around 4 to 6 inches in 800 =
gallons=20
of water,  right at 100 fish.  I am raising tomatoes, or =
trying. =20
It seems to be working.    Thanks for the =
help,
 
Steve (Red)

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| Message 2                                                           
Subject: Grow Bed Media
From:    "Hurst, Steve ( China)" 
Date:    Sun, 8 Apr 2001 03:58:41 +0100

Hi,
 I am new to the group and have just started to set up my S&S style system.
I am currently building a trial node.

I am aiming to use local materials wherever possible. I plan to use gravel
obtained
from our local river as a growing medium. It will be sieved to get an even
pea-gravel size.

I was wondering if any body has had experience using gravel of Volcanic
origins as a 
growing medium. The material appears to be made up of several minerals all
of a grey
color. There is definitely some Pumice stone in there, in fact, most of the
gravel is formed
from "aerated" rock of some sort. 
>From a surface area point of view, I beleive it would be ideal, with plenty
of pores and rough
places for the bacteria to collect and cultivate.
I plan on doing some tests to see if this material affects the waters PH
significantly.

Has anybody else used this type of material before in their systems ? I am
particularly
interested in any negative experiences anybody might have had.

This brings me to another question. I beleive I am going to have to sanitise
this material
pretty well to remove any unwanted organisms. Again I am looking for
Sanitising solutions
that I can obtain locally.
So far I have found a source for Lime, and Sodium Metabisulphate. The Sodium
Metabisulphate
I was interested in as I know it is sometimes used as a remedy for killing
off unwanted
organisms for Aquarium owners. I guess it would not do the system a lot of
good once the bacteria
or plants were established. I have used Lime before for sanitising pond
bottoms. I also know that
nothing will grow in that area for a long time afterwards !
My main concern, especially with the porous nature of my grow bed media, is
if any of the sanitising
solution ( or dried residues of ) does not get flushed out of the media
before I start up the system,
 I could end up killing my plants, fish, bacteria or all of them. 
I guess there are commercially available solutions to this problem
available, however, due to high
shipping costs I do not have the option to use these. 
I need to find a way of safely sanitising this material, with solutions
readily available locally
( Philipinnes ).
Any advice on the above questions would be greatly apreciated,

Steve H