Has anyone ever used small pea sized round gravel for net pots to grow in same size and appearance as clay pellets but free. I'm making my own Dwc but blew my cash on seeds,and soil etc..... for my outdoor thing. Putting some autos in a homade box (last minute idea) i wanna watch them closely my first grow,and i wanna run a dwc next to a soil grow for future reference.
i used it once many years ago.bad idea. clay pellets are ph neutral gravel is not especially if its river rock. its one of the NO's in Rosenthal book...early edition
I know it sucks to order especially when you don't need that much. Have you checked ebay sometimes you can get a small amount for not to much. Also check out a local grow shop or even Craigslist. Here's an example HYDROTON Clay Aggregate Grow Media .5/1/2/3/5/10/15 lb. Bags Hydroponics | eBay5 bucks for a half pound with free shipping that's not to bad.
I made my own net pots out of cottage cheese containers and used pee gravel in my first hydro experiment. I did get a small yield, but the second grow with hydroton and real net pots was 400%-500% better. Now all I use is neoprene inserts, no medium!