Aquaponics - gripset51

I just did a test on the rubberized paint that I painted the grow bed with, and it didn't come up to scratch.

Or rather it did.

I'll start again.

The paint scratches too easily.

It might just be because its not quite dry, but I'm losing confidence. As far as I know, the product is fine. I'm just concerned that the grow bed media will scratch through to the zinc coating and I'll be left with fish losses. I'll be using scoria, and from experience with the small test system, I'm convinced it will wear through and expose the original tank underneath. Scoria is very hard and very sharp. I'll still be the gripset for the sump

I think I'll contact my fish breeder, and see if he still has grow beds for sale. When I was there to get my fish he offered me some. From memory they were once used for growing oysters or abalone or something so there wont be any issues with them being food safe or fish safe.

I have a funny feeling the current grow bed might become a solar heater. And I have an even funnier feeling I might be using it to heat my new 1000 l fish tank to increase the fish growth through next winter.

Aquaponics - My second system

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The new aquaponics system has started to take shape. We cut the first tank in half and it will become the grow beds.

Two 1750 mm x 1100 mm x 300 mm grow beds to start with and we may add another later. Two grow beds this size will feed my partner and me with all the veggies we will need but she's keen to try a cut flower garden as well, as am I. We have decided on pumps, sumps and plumbing  that should allow for some expansion.

I think we will need to brace the middle sections of the grow beds with some wire stretching from the center of one side to the center of the other to stop it bulging. Each bed will hold half a ton of scoria so there will be some pressure on the longest sides. Once cut, the tank halves lost a bit of their structural integrity, this was to be expected and should be easy enough to fix.

We are still struggling with the decision regarding painting with gripset51 or using a pond liner. I think at the moment we are leaning toward using pond liner simply because it will be faster and there wont be any drying time. And I hate the smell of paint. I also just get the feeling that even though its plastic the pond liner will suit aquaponics a bit better than paint.

Just in case anyone cares, from what I can work out a ton of scoria is roughly 1000 litres in volume (as bought in 25 kb bags from the hardware), and a ton of  7 - 14mm blue metal gravel is roughly 670 litres

A thousand litres of scoria bought in bulk will cost around AU$145 and a thousand litres of blue metal road gravel will cost around AU$90