Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a 1.8mt x .8mt tank in under shade cloth covered on 3 sides, because of small algal problems I placed another shade cloth cover above my tank but at the same time added 25 freshwater mussels to my tank, tank is now almost clear.
A mate who has a farm with 2 dams suggests that having the other cover above my tank is causing to much shade and inhibits oxygen build up, but others in this forum have suggested (after viewing pictures) that I need more shade??? I have no doubt that mussels have cleaned the tank up out of site, so what do others suggest Sun or Shade? In the dam situation no shade at all and no problems, he has silver perch and marron and both seem to be doing well.
I am going to remove the cover above tank for now and see, but winter and cloud cover coming so may get false results, mate above also suggested that algae could be due to over feeding and food left in tank, so have cleaned out the food as well

Algae is caused by nutrient build up in the water (which is what we want for plants).

If you get algae blooms, cover the tank. If you dont - dont cover the tank

See if some goldfish survive with the marron, they will clean food off the bottom effectively.

Your main concern with sun (especially in summer) will be temp.

The algae by itself is not a concern to the fish, but the PH and Oxygen problems caused by it will be. Run a bubbler, cover tank and algae will go away.

What shade levels/regimes are people using for plants in aquaponics?

I'm going to try 50% shade this summer for days over 35 C to see if the plants cope better here. I've had a lot of leaf scorch, and at this stage, don't really know how much of it is either:
a) excessive radiant heat from the sun (direct burn)
b) hot dry winds (rapid moisture loss) OR
c) combination of above

I haven't got the plant thing happening as yet, but not far off, am getting suitable grow beds etc (and finishing the beer shed, Now Open ) but the algae thing stressed me out, but again mussels appear to have this under control, PH is about 7.4 marron are happy and can tolerate 8ish, the thing that stressed me most about algae was marron were slowing down almost lifeless and shell was getting a white patch on, so thought it was fungus and disease, but this is normal I have since found and they are just shedding shell for growth spurt, they were eating fine so kept feeding,
but when they started ecdysis they stoped eating and food has just sat and probably contributed to algae as well.
Have some goldies going in Outback but things are looking better since mussels, and removing food should clean things right up, so will go with full sun (except for shade house tank is in now) and get grow beds happening. I feel better knowing marron aren't going to cark it before they go in the pot

Adam - 50% seems to be the general consensus for overhead shadecloth, I would say you leave problems would be wind and sun related, moisture in the beds is not usually a problem.

Nocky - What do the mussels actually feed on? Do they take suspended solids out of the water?

50% sounds good- do most people leave it on for the whole summer or just when it's hot?

Mussels- should be able to answer this one since I work at an oyster hatchery. Mussels are filter feeders and will take small particles out of the water- pretty much anything that's edible- their preference is algae. Large (eg food) particles won't go through their intestines, which are relatively small. Filter feeders can consume a massive amount of algae and so should be very efficient at solving any algae build-ups. One comment I'd make is that they might not do too well in systems without any algae (ie just relying on very small bits of food in the water).

Depends on water temp adam, if my water starts to get too warm for trout, I will cover to keep them cool. However as soon as plants start to get wilty, its covering time.

where can i get some mussels for my system. I live in Perth??

DP - we need to find nockys house and steal his I think

Aqua blue Seafoods NSW is the only place to get them, but he won't have any til months end, I am getting another 100 so if WA boys want some PM me and we can share freight.

Outback they just sit their and suck shit in one tube and blow clear water out the other (opposite to us) but they do a magnificent job..

Man I'm sitting shotgun on these, have 2 farmers wanting them for dams as well as a few others with tanks, may get 200, we have freshwaters in WA, Blackwood river is one spot, but problem is they taste like crap and need flowing water, these babies I have live in and breed in still water and taste ok, so are ideal

wow Nocky,
What a neat idea... mussels... I thought they're saltwater creatures? are yours a freshwater variety or something?

see thread from beginning Jensilaedi, but is another thread by looming cactus from US who got the idea started found here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3240 so not entirely my idea but I have the mussels in, yes freshwater mussels that live in still water

Nocky get them in and I can collect from your place