Sunleaves Rocks

[Fish Frenzy]

Hi,

How many people here have used Sunleaves rocks in their grow beds? I was told by my local store that it is selling better and working better than the Hydroton.

http://www.sunleaves.com/detail.asp?sku=SR365

[brent]

Are they heavier than the clay balls? I actually used chicken grit(crushed granite) for a grow experiment and it worked good, but heavy.

[urbanfarmer]

It is heavier. I can tell because the 50 Liter bag weighs 65 pounds whereas the 50 Liter bag of Hydroton is 54 pounds.

[rfeiller]

If it didn't float like hydroton I would look into it.

[urbanfarmer]

I don't think the Hydroton floats for more than a day or two... Mine stopped floating after the first day, and in "Aquaponics Made Easy" he even explains that the Hydroton will float the first day, but stops floating after. It has to do with the porous material. It takes a while for the water to penetrate the medium, but once it does it stays pretty much saturated on a flood and drain cycle. Unless of course you flood and drain only a few times a days. Mine floods and drains every 12 minutes or so; so, the medium stays heavy.

[rfeiller]

urbanfarmer it moves constantly, the fact that it is round prevents it from anchoring. there are numerous substances that can be used that do not have this problem. it is a matter of preference. i understand that it is lighter than some media, if your beds are of quality construction this is not an issue. oh and after it soaks up the water it is no longer light, but it is still unstable, which i personally feel is a detriment to the plant creating a good root system. the bell syphon cycles continueously. i am always interested in new products, god knows i've bought many and disgarded most of them.

rockwool or core; rockwool for annuals, core for perinals in the large commercial hydroponics systems that i have toured, in fact i have not found one commercial set up with hydroton so far. i have not found a large commercial system with bell syphons. i believe if someone gets a large commercial aquaponics system it might be different.

[urbanfarmer]

Well, you might be right that for large commercial setups they don't use Hydroton because of the quality of the product; however, I would think it has to do with the cost more than anything. In writing my business plan (and I am starting construction next week) for a small commercial farm, I quickly realized how cost ineffective Hydroton is. I mean seriously, have you added up how much it would cost to fill a commercial size grow bed? It costs more than everything else combined including equipment, and maybe the land!!! Gravel is cheaper, but water is the cheapest (and air is free I guess if you went that route).

In my small systems with Hydroton, the clay balls do not float unless I flood it substantially. If your balls are floating, there might be more serious problems to address! Typically, you want the water line to be an inch or two below the top of the Hydroton. This creates enough weight for the rest of it to stay down and prevents algae.

As far as the shifting around being bad for the plants, I disagree! Have you ever pulled up a plant by the roots in Hydroton (or gravel) and seen what happens? Even with GRAVEL the roots hold all that heavy stuff in place. When I dismantled my 50 gallon tank and grow bed I pulled out the plants by the roots after flooding it (it's pretty easy on the plants). All the balls were stuck in the same place they were and I had to forcefully flick or pull them off to get them off the roots, and the roots were not damaged. They are tough, and the movement of the water from flood and drain is very beneficial and probably not very harmful if at all!

I will tell you more about root systems when I finish my botany and horticulture classes for the Master Gardener program!

[rfeiller]

I know you will enjoy your classes if there is any substance to them. Thanks for the offer, but I understand root development in plants.

[Oliver]

From BWGS web site:

Sunleaves Rocks are a reusable growing medium with serious H20-holding power for use in any kind of garden. They're made by superheating shale to temperatures up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, rendering them pH-neutral and chemically inert. Gardeners can make their lives a little easier, take care of their plants, and take it easy on the planet when they grow with the rock that doesn't roll! Mined and manufactured in the United States.

Including shipping, it is about the same price as Hydroton.

Oliver

[rfeiller]

I checked out their Wed site.
Aquaponics offers challenges not found in hydroponics, even bioponics. Two of my biggest concerns are disease, both bacterial and viral, fungus infections, and insects and pathogens.
All media to me is throwaway at the end of the crop. In a commercial application this could be a problem. Spent Hydroponic media is a hazmat issue in some areas. I look at core as an additive to the landscape, gravel maybe ok. Hydroton and rockwool definitely a disposal problem.
How to deal with these issues.