Aquaponics - Gravel

Gravel.
Heavy.
Late.

I got some 20mm blue metal road gravel, as growing media for my new, larger aquaponics grow bed.

It looks like this.

And unfortunately it needs washing.

Also unfortunately, there is three tons of the stuff.








Actually it's not necessary to be too fussy when washing gravel as the system takes care of a lot of it, but this seems like very dirty gravel so it needs a good rinse at the very least. It's one of those things that takes so much work to redo if you don't do it right the first time, that its worth putting in the effort the first time.

I was hoping the truck might be able to deliver the gravel directly into the grow bed, where I could then rinse it with a high pressure hose. Unfortunately the grow bed was a bit too high for that, so it had to be unloaded in a pile next to it.

Its actually a good thing it wasn't able to be be dumped directly into the grow bed, because it had much more dust on it than I had anticipated.









Washing gravel is hard work with all but one method. Some bright person came up with the idea of just washing it with a fire hose when its in your trailer, or truck. By all accounts this seems to work well, so if you have that option, it's probably worth trying.

Its been a few years since I shovelled 10 ton of stuff from one spot to another, and in those few years, stuff has got a whole lot heavier.  Even when it only weighs 3 ton.

Unfortunately it didn't quite all get done.












Thirsty.