Moving Bed Bio-Film Reactor (MBBR) to replace Hydroton/Coco/Lava

Indoor Growing Hydroponics
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Ok, no i see bro. The point of the thread was to awaken curiosity in the community to grow in plastic in order to mimic mother nature with synthetic media, and see if it works or not, and if it does how good or bad it would be.

I take it back, lava rocks work just fine. I would have to argue that your lava rocks may differ from mine, because of obvious geographical/geological reasons. I might take a handful of the lava rocks here and wash them to see where they stand in respect to pH and EC, would you do the same? It might be interesting!

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Sorry, I thought this was a different thread. I got off-topic. I have some fresh lava rock here. I can try a few tests and report back. In soil, the pH and EC donā€™t really mater, so Iā€™ve never done that.

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And my point was that precisely. I want to encourage people to use synthetic media in order to save nature, ironic as it might sound. But like anything in life, irony defines us too. Like the snakes poison serum for bites, comes off the actual venum they extract from the very animal that uses it. Our cure might be under our nose. The power of one is to do something. Anything.

I am gonna get me some fresh lava rocks and follow up on it, thanks @ReikoX!

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Check it out, recognition from my peers

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We got love for you Uncle. :grin:

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What? Someone doesnā€™t???

Ninety Nine

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LOL. Im not sure ironic is strong enough word for what you are proposing as a reason to use synthetic or plastic media :slight_smile: Please dont take this the wrong way, but I dont think you have thought this through all the way :slight_smile:

Your idea does not quite fit the typical conservationist recommendation, which would be to use natural, renewable products - like soil - in order to NOT use synthetic ones. One of my daughters is about as green as you can get, and I bet she would give you a hard time about using synthetic, processed, or manufactured materials so you could avoid useing soil - especially plastics that are made from crude oil :slight_smile:

Soil is a natural, 100% renewable resource. Plastic is as far from that as you can get. Digging up dirt to use in your garden, or better yet, composting, would be the natural, conservationist way to grow. Soil is renewable and has the least impact on the environment. At the other extreme is using plastics that start with oil wells, use huge amounts of energy to produce, never break down, and have lots of toxic byproducts.

Somewhere in the middle are things like hydroton, vermiculite, perlite, and ceramics, etc, that are all fired in ovens and or machined or processed in some way, as part of the mfg process. These are all materials that require a lot of energy to produce and have nasty by products that occur during manufacturing. Of course, plastics are the worst, but none of them are 100% safe, or natural, or renewable resources.

That said, please dont think Im trying to guilt trip you in any way. I am not even close to a hard core green crusader. I grudgingly recycle, and try to save energy where possible - mostly to save money, not the environment. I am very much against pollution in any form - but - I drive a gas powered car and truck and own an outboard boat and gas lawn mower :slight_smile:

Bottom line - I think using any of these products is perfectly ok in our grows. Its impossible to grow indoors and avoid using manufactured and artificial products in one form or another, so if it will save time, money, or grow better weed, Im all for it :smiley:

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By no means whatsoever, no way i take it wrong, thanks for your time. I mean to say if we were to use all the plastic abandoned in the sea and beaches and rivers to use as a media to grow crops, not just weed, we would clean the enviroment for good. Not making new plastic but using whatever is out there, like old bottles, toy boxes and such.

God forbid i would have to face that, you canā€™t winā€¦ LOL

Itā€™s about breaking schemes and rethinking the world, if we always go the way they tell us, we will never get anywhere. Itā€™s recycling if you think about it, long and hard.

Thanks for your candour brother overgrower. Nice of you to take the time and answer.

HppHrvst

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Just for fun, I got a cup of RO water, pH 7.0, PPM 25. I put a handful of lava rock in there and swisher it around until the water was red and muddy. OH 7.0 PPM 37. I thoroughly rinsed them and have them soaking overnight.

That being said, there are many types of lava rock from pumice to obsidian. The specific rock I am using is scoria, red lava rock sold at home improvement stores for landscaping.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Kolor-Scape-0-5-cu-ft-Lava-Rock/50040758

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I can get a handful of those tomorrow, and do the same, Sunday everything is closed down here, religiously.

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Ah, I misunderstood. That is something my daughter would agree with I think :smiley:

Interesting timing with you pointing that recycling aspect out just now! I was literally, in just the last few minutes, trying to think of cheaper ways to get some plastic bits that might work, and it occurred to me I have a bunch of PVC, CVPC, and PET plastic pipe scraps that could be cut up into even shorter pieces and used as grow media.

Im thinking of cutting it into 1/2" long sections and mixing it with the aggregate I have and using it in my ebb/flow tote. The plastic would save a bunch of weight, and create more open space between the rocks for better airflow. The plastic pieces wont have the surface area of some of the ones you were talking about, so they would not be as good that way, but these will be recycled. The rocks will hold and wick water much better than the plastic, so the two different things would work together, each providing a plus factor to the whole - I think.

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Im looking forward to the results you both get. Im liking the idea of lava rock instead of the aggregate I have in my yard. I think it will be lighter, and more porous, so should work even better. Plus its pretty cheap :slight_smile:

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Ive been looking on-lne at Lowes and Home Depot at lava rock. I wonder if the red landscape lava rock is died to make it more red?

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I still wanna see how the biopipe deal pans out.
Iā€™d love to try hydro but its organic only in my garden. I wish I had the room to try aquaponics.

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There are organic nutes arent there? Rocks are organic too I think :slight_smile:

As far as space, you can do hydro in a single 5 gal bucket.

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Those are bad plastics, when cut up or ground up to a useful size for use as growing medium they will outgas their chemicals at an accelerated rate, there are cleaner plastics

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Never mind - no dyes

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What are better ones? These are all safe for drinking water, so how bad can they be? Im pretty sure those bio balls are made from the same types of plastics.

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This isnā€™t great,

Not a fan of this at all

Too much plastic as is +1

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Well, then hydro isnt for you for sure :slight_smile:

Plastic rez - buckets, totes, etc plus the lids.
Pastic net pots
Plastic hoses
Plastic pipes
Plastic tents
Plastic spray bottles
Plastic pumps

Heck, even ā€œfabricā€ smart pots are made from plastic, so you soil guys dont get off easy either :slight_smile:
No way around plastic in our modern world - especially if you are going hi-tech.

Of course, you could go dig a hole by hand outside - but dont water your plants with a plastic garden hoseā€¦

Sorry, couldnt resist. :smiley:

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