Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Do you have to wash 20mm blue metal gravel? I don't mind doing the work - I just want to know what the usual procedure is. Can you just put it all in your system and then do some cycling of the water and then flush it a few times? Or is it necessary to wash it first before putting it in the grow beds?

Also the only place I know of to get 20mm blue metal is Soils ain't Soils. Any other suppliers around Perth?

Regards Mac

Done my fair share of gravel washing with mainly pebbles and scoria, and still you get muck and cloudy water in the tanks. I think the best bet is to put the gravel in the growbed and hook up the outlet of the bed so it runs onto the garden, and then flood and drain the bed till it runs clear

Just my 2c

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Thats what i did with my hydroton. Heaps easer. I also have some 10mm blue metal at the bottom of my GB and heaps of crap came off that.

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Its kinda personal preference

I didnt wash my first lot and like matis said it does send a lot of silt through your FT but eventually ends up in the bottom of the GB's. Which is ok, but it takes time.

For this reason I used a cement mixer for the next lot.

This link has got some other opinions and idea's that is worth a read

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7757&hilit=washing+media

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Might depend on how dirty it is.. I had really dirty pea gravel and washed it in the trailer before transporting it around the back, then washed it in the beds running the water to waste as well. I've seen some people suggest that you never need to wash media when setting up, these same people also say that you can bury food scraps in the bed, and you don't need to wash soil off seedlings when planting. The same person now says that beds have to be cleaned out every couple of years because they get clogged.

Fayes system has been running for 5 years now, 2 fish crops a year, every year, and the beds have never been cleaned out.

Personally I think it pays to keep the beds/media as clean as possible.

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