sterilized medium

[Kendall]

Hi Ron!! Where to start!:

I am from a small island in the Caribbean. The library as you could imagin isn't exactly the most up to date one in the world but i
get by on online information.

I am interested in your '28 plant gallon system.' I as you may have guessed have an unlimited supply of coconuts and I heard
that the fiber can be used as a good media for growing. Can you tell me how it is prepared..

I am also having great difficulty locating a water pump the only one that I can seem to find is the aquarium tank pumps Can this
work for the '28 plant system.'

nutrients are also non existent but I found some information on the internet that says that "Peters Professional Plant food"
contains the complete nutrient elements and also is completely soluable Can you confirm or deny this.

Do you know any good sites on "Do it yourself Aquaponics"

And what about the use of Animal excretion (worms & sea birds) as nutrient solution or fertilizer.

P.S. I think that this is a great service here that you are doing KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK :-)

P.P.S Could you e-mail me directly along with posting the reply Thank You greatly for your assistance Kendall Cable
mailto:kcable@caribsurf.com

[Ron]

Hello Kendall
What ever medium you use just make sure it's sterilized with a 10 percent bleach solution or you can boil your medium in water for about 20 minutes to sterilizes it.
The reason we use a submersible pump in the ebb and flow gardens is because when the pump shuts off the nutrient solution that was pumped up to the garden has to drain back through the pump to the tank.
But with the top drip system that you want to use you can use a regular pump that sits outside of the tank because the water doesn't need to drain back through the pump. You still have to have a return back to the tank for the solution.
Just because it says water soluble on the fertilizer doesn't mean you can use it for hydroponics. It should say on the fertilizer bag that it can be used for hydroponics.
You can make what we call organic tea by filling a barrel with water and your favorite animal crap.
Let it ferment for a few months. Stir it up every few days and take a big whiff to see how it's coming along. It helps if you don't have any close neighbors.
Ron