Aquaponics (Growing Plants with Fish Poo)

Step 6 Prepare the Hydroton

After doing some research on the matter, I decided to use Hydroton grow media. It is clay balls, about 1/4" in diameter. They are pH neutral and inert, which is nice, because they won't leach stuff into the water and make me adjust the pH all the time like some gravels will. It is more expensive than gravel though. In the bag, it looks just a bit like dog food. I find it a bit odd...

Hydroton has to be washed before you use it. Nothing dangerous, it is just to get rid of the dust that inevitably is generated when thousands of clay balls get jostled around during shipment. Use a pot and a strainer, clean them in the sink (or tub). I used a solution of a splash of vinegar per wash them, and rinsed them with clean water. If you don't do this, you'll get brownish gunk in your fish tank. Who needs that?

Another tip - put a strainer in your drain hole before you start. You will spill some rocks, you will have to reach down the drain to get them.

Oh, and rinse twice. There's a lot of dust. I used the 2nd rinse water from the last batch to rinse the next, but my stones still dumped a lot of dirt into the tank. Use fresh water each time.

Luckily, beta fish are quite difficult to kill in my experience, I've heard they don't mind murky water that much. Either way, I'm still doing a water change soon.