Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

do fish grow better in a tank with light or with a lid on in darkness ?

discussed quite a bit in the past

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13358&hilit=fish+light

I think sometimes the 'picture' gets lost.

Think about fish in nature. They stick together. Have sunny spots and shady spots, let them decide.

'Aquaponics' happens all around us in nature. We really are just going back to basics we are just trying to

control it in our own systems. You need to be more concerned about your water temp, the things you are controlling, not nature.

Maybe i should have another wine

Good plan. I think I will too.

ok thanks for the points but it seems nobody knows ... i guess a little filtered light is enough . I have Barra and i am thinking they would normally be in dark water when young hiding out to avoid getting eaten .....

Most fish are fine with a rather dark environment. They need enough light so they can tell night and day apart but otherwise seem quite happy with deep deep shade.

Now if you are trying to breed certain kinds of fish, more light could be helpful but just for growing them out to eat in an aquaponics system, they really don't need sun.

In expansive pond culture where they bloom algae to feed the fish, then sun is needed to grow the algae but in aquaponics we don't want the algae steeling the nutrients from our plants so it is best to avoid too much sun hitting the water so covering or shading tanks helps.

Covers over the fish tank are also to keep debris, children and small pets out of the tank and keep the fish in.