1st time NW missouri AP

[cedarswamp]

when figuring the size of the sump, it's a good bet to use 50% volume of water.. you want the sump to have enough capacity to flood the growbeds and leave water in the bottom so that the pump isn't sucking air..
i'd be more comfortable with a 250gal sump, but thats just me

Point well taken. I only used 25% as a minimum, not know what gravel he was settling on. On my own system I measured a gallon of media and measured how much water it took to fill it and extroplated to the size of the GB.. I wound up a little less than 40% with my media. I did forget to add enough to keep the pump under water huh?

[drdreww]

Well I am using a float switch on my pump so it won't suck air . And I am going to use haydite as my medium most likely. The 55 gal is what I have for now, I can change it later.thanks for the in put guys!

[drdreww]

Hey so a friend that just started down at morningstarfishermen almost has me convinced to finish my new system with floating raft instead of flood&drain chiftpist. Thoughts. Warnings? He makes it sound so much better HELP!

[davidstcldfl]

drdreww, you might consider a combo of both. The water going into the troughs with the floating rafts needs to be pretty clean anyway....so use some media beds as part of the filtering system.
The media acts as as a solids filter and as a 'bio' area. Plus, you can raise some veggies in it too ( instead of having a net type filter).
You might also consider a solids separator (swirl filter) to keep the load on the media beds down. The fish waste can be added to worm beds, or used on any in-ground plants and trees.

[keith_r]

+1 to David
you'll need very good filtration for the raft, a combination will also provide more volume of water and make the system a little more stable in temp swings..use growbeds with media as filtration or at least part of it
i'd also add air to the dwc troughs, maybe some mosquito fish or minnows (or dapnia, or scuds - these will also assist in breaking down solids)

[urbanfarmer]

The swirl or vortex filter will also allow you to remove the solids and use it as an organic fertilizer. From my experience, soil based plants go CRAZY when you add this stuff.

[rfeiller]

UF if the plants are delicate it has to be diluted especially orchids When I add the sediment from the koi pond prefilters to the worm boxes the worms attack it.

[urbanfarmer]

UF if the plants are delicate it has to be diluted especially orchids When I add the sediment from the koi pond prefilters to the worm boxes the worms attack it.

Pffft, if my plants aren't tough enough to handle a little sh** I don't want them in my platoon.

[rfeiller]

[drdreww]

wish i hadn't done so much work towards media based growbeds already...
what are ideal water depths for raft systems? and do net pot sizes matter? i was thinking mostly 2" with some bigger ones for larger plants