Murray's new Flomedia demo system

[Earthan Group]

What is he now saying media beds can be used in commercial systems? Previously he was teaching media beds have no place in commercial aquaponics.

Good on him for taking another view.

[phri]

Nobody is expert in this area yet. Paul, commercialization of this technology has to come from people like you, not from academics. btw I am a fan of Wilson and don't try to put him down.

[Earthan Group]

Nobody is expert in this area yet. Paul, commercialization of this technology has to come from people like you, not from academics. btw I am a fan of Wilson and don't try to put him down.

That may be the case phri, however there are experts in hydroponics and aquaculture who have no problem working out the minor integration issues, I sat down with 18 of them at a table last month. I think there are far too many trying to set aquaponics aside as something special, which it is not.

lol I am sure most people are fans of Wilson, phri he cuts a great video on a bad day.

Though seriously, I don't believe media beds have a place in commercial aquaponics unless it is a very low density system, which in my opinion is pointless. So Wilson and I differ in experience and opinion. I doubt there is any "putting down" going on, I simply disagree with him on some points. As much as we would like, we can not all agree on all things.

I read an interesting thesis recently on the economics of several media bed systems which all but one was viable and it was only viable under very specific and fragile conditions. Not to say it was the be all and end all of media beds systems, however they were all very low capital set up and still struggled to make a profit.... Begs the question why.

Perhaps I have my aquaculture goggles on, but I have no problem with that. I am more than happy to be lead by the guys with some 30 years hydro and aquaculture experience.

Regards
Paul

[Pugo]

I am starting to wonder if media beds should be used at all in an Aquaponic system.

[DaveOponic]

I am starting to wonder if media beds should be used at all in an Aquaponic system.

So am I after spending most of m holidays washing and shoveling gravel into grow beds. While I would love to have all deep water beds and NFT pipes, these are more expensive for me to set up and in the tropics, the temp. Of the water is a factor. Plus some things just don't grow well in water alone and need the media bed for anchorage.

What I have learned though is not to rely on the gravel Growbed for filtration of solids.


Dave

[GaryD]

Hi,

It might well be that the ideal growing system mix might be DWC, NFT and wicking beds. Between them, every type of plant is covered.

Having said that, there's nothing wrong with using media beds (provided you're using supplementary filtration) since all of their problems stem from not using filtration.

Gary

[Pugo]

Well As I see so many issues come up with the use of growing media, I am starting to come to the consensus that a form of DWC maybe be a better option, along with wicking beds.. A good filtration system really is just a mimic of mother nature. As no fish would survive high density, so we are force to intervene on her behalf. As our fish density is an unnatural.

[Wayne Lenhart]

Hi
I Just wanted to say once I had a small NFT without filtration that dumped back into the fish tank. as the plant roots grew they caught much of the wast and trapped it in the pipe. As time went on one day I removed some plants and shook the pipe some and it was like dumping the sewer right into the fish tank. Hope you can learn from my mistakes. There are good ways to do it, but do it right. When I designed the system I did not realize this could happen.
Wayne