I put in a couple of soil gardens this year along with wicking beds. One wicking bed is watered with aquaponic water and the other with tap water. Both have only bagged potting soil. Neither is doing as well as the hydroponic bed next to them. The soil bed in the same area is also doing poorly with bagged garden soil. The other soil bed is doing great with the same soil. Only difference is the second bed gets a little less sun. I'm thinking next year doing something similar to what you did with the grow bags.


Quote Originally Posted by davidstcldfl View Post
Hi rangebob, We tried some dutch buckets at Sahib aquaponics.

They worked ok. The only draw back was the small tube that fed each bucket...would occasionally plug up.

We ended up switching to 5 gallon buckets with holes at the bottom (on the sides). They sit in about an inch or so of water. The mix we use, wicks up the water. We also use commercial grow bags that come with holes in them.

Her's a video...around the 2:40 mark...you can see the grow bag set ups...



As far as the size of the sump...the larger sump, just means your pump will run less often.
Yes, use a float switch. The pump can be a little on the large size...it'll only run for a few mins at a time.