Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Greetings,

I've been reading about AP for a while now and hope to set up a first system very soon, probably something like the 4-bed kit system advertised on this site.

I would like to put the system in a disused shadehouse (about 80 square metres and very shady).

I want to increase light enough for vegies, at minimal expense if poss. Also don't want to unnecessarily undo any advantages of the shadehouse (I guess shade over the fish tanks could be handy - right?).

The roof is tinted corrugated plastic, with shadecloth on top of that. There are sheds along the north and east edges (only low roof to north). Heavy shade cloth for walls south and west. Location is inland from Perth (Toodyay area).

I'm thinking to take the cloth off the roof at the western edge. May even need to buy un-tinted roofing.

My question is - Will this be enough? How much more modification might be necessary. One other option might be to put at least some grow beds outside (there is room along the western edge), but no roof at all and it would be a shame to waste the space inside.

help please...

p.s.

Any suggestions as to a particular set-up (incl fish spp.) that would suit this building would be much appreciated.

Hi Dazed. Take the shadecloth off and post pics of light inside the shed at various times of the day. 80sq m sound like a lotta fun.

Welcome to the forum Dazed.... any idea what the shade house was used for in it's past life???

You'd have to think that it was structured to reflect the area you live in, and I can't think what might have been grown that would require excessive shade....

If you see where I'm going, I'm suggesting that it might in fact be just right as it is..... you could always remove the shade cloth (as suggested) and replace with a lower shade percentage.....

Twintragics, I have some photos which I'll post if and when my old laptop finishes booting. Will post new photos once I've removed some shade-cloth. Might resort to some high school geometry to figure out how much shade the buildings will give.

Rupert, I think it was a fern house. There's an orchard + vege garden elsewhere on the property that just has bird netting.

I'm also inclined to proceed with caution - being a lazy bum I don't want to do any unnecessary work - especially if it's undong something I end up wanting back later.

thanks for the welcome and for getting back so soon

Welcome Dazed
Sound like you have the base for a good start
As Rupert said go slow till you can see what you really need to remove or add
Look forward to some photos
David

A combination of shade cloth and tinted roofing sounds a little excessive....

Pity you can't remove the tinted plastic and just leave the shadecloth....

Sounds like stripping the shade cloth might be the go first up..... could turn out that the tinted plastic might affect your plant growth on its own....

Ultimately you might have to replace it with laserlite or just recloth it all.

No pictures of the inside at hand.

The rainwater tanks fed from the shadehouse and outbuildings are only ever used for the occasional home brew. Any opinions about leaflitter etc (note the fungi on the roof, also the seal on top of one of the tanks is suspect) build-up affecting water quality adversely for aquaponics? My guess is that it'll be no prob, but just in case...

Ahh OK Dazed.... it's that old green corrugated stuff....

Sorry but I think it detrementally affects the colour balance of the light that passes to the plants.... Faye may have a more exact opinion here.

Time will tell just how much modification i'll need to do to the roof. Also wonder with the placement of the sheds will affect growth rates in winter and therefore potential stocking levels. Or is that not something I need to worry about at Perth latitude?

The shed at the North end wont be shading much light even in winter Dazed.... I'd put your fish tank at that end to take advantage of the fact...

In winter the flat roof wont be greatly affected by the sun angle either and you'll get full sun from midday on either season.....

I think you're going to have to lose or replace the roof sheeting.... and it would be nice if maybe you could attach a roller to the side shade cloth
so that you could wind it up in winter

Be an idea maybe to enclose the west side in greenhouse film to provide some extra warmth in winter. Again rig it up so that it's rollable for summer....
just leave the shade cloth down.... reverse in winter

Thanks for the reassurance about sun angle. Hadn't thought about roll-up shade cloth or greenhouse film. Cheers.

Excellent opportunity for a big system. Keep the shade cloth on and keep the FTs in there. Then build a massive GH next door for the plants.

Heh heh,

it has occurred to me, though I don't know that it would ever grow to that sort of scale - would need to do some water sums for one thing. Expense is an issue - might weigh the cost of an extension large enough for GBs of one module against re-roofing enough of the shadehouse.

Hey Dazed.... talk to Ev..... combined purchase of some laserlite perhaps

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2680

After a long delay we're actually going to get a byap system to go in the shadehouse - hopefully in the next few weeks. Probably 4 GB, 1 x 3000L FT, 1 x 1000L FT.

And probably all in the shadehouse, minus some of the shade. That said, the idea of putting the GBs outside the current shadehouse, along the western wall is still rattling around in my head. Can any of you old hands advise whether this would be a better option? (i.e. modifying shadehouse vs building suitable extension to protect growbeds against elements, roos and birds? In terms of expense, hassle, good growing conditions). NB, If I remove the corrugated roofing, I can't just put shade cloth over instead as it is the catchment area for the RW tanks.

Guess I better start looking for fish,too.