Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everybody.

I am new to the game. I have been keeping fish for about 25 years. I dont really have any experience with gardening in my adult life, we always had a garden when I was a kid though. So I have cleared the hardest hurdle (I hope) having a spot to put an aquaponic setup. I am thinking about putting mine in a sort of green house but more designed to shield my stuff from the sun. Daytime temps will soon be 105F+ here Any others with a setup in the desert have any advice before I get started?

Welcome to the madness and get some shade cloth.

+1 for welcome and shade cloth in the desert

good luck with your system

Welcome to the forum.
You will be able to get good advise from OBO (Outbackaussie) in Kalgoorlie - the climate there is about the same as yours (and hotter).

Welcome and I believe there are a few other members here in AZ and NM.

+1 for the shade house.
I'm in central Florida and over the main section of my AP system I built a shade structure that I am also able to put plastic over for a couple months in the winter but I strongly advise against an actual complete greenhouse for anyone in a hot climate since it winds up way too hot most of the year.

TCL - I agree re enclosed greenhouse in a hot climate, we get temps up to 110 - 114 F (45 - 46C) during summer here
but I still would like to have the greenhouse enclosed because I hope to grow some vegetables during our 'cold' winters - we get frost here - down to 28 - 30F (- 6C). So......what about putting shadecloth over the top in summer and opening up at least 80% of the sides for ventilation.

Hi Heka welcome

a green house that you can roll up the sides would work for you in the hot desert

putting shade cloth over it for the summer would work too

having such cold frosts could be a challenge for some fish breeds too ... how often does the temp get this low in your part of the world ?

good luck with your system and greenhouse .. jealous already

Hi Mal - don't want to 'highjack' somebody elses thread! But just to answer you question - we can have up to 14 nights below 0 C. A couple of years ago it it got to - 9 C - burst waterpipes collapsed plasterboard ceilings
and walls. We had a burst wterpipe as well.
My system is somewhat different to what most ppl got - my tanks are underground - will be able to keep watertemps at about 14 - 16 C in winter and below 23 C in summer. Hoping to do trout all year around -
BUT I haven't got a backup system yet.

Hi Heka thanks for the reply
and minus 9 is pretty for my part of the world -2 is about as cold as we get here ( come on rupert disagree with me here

sorry for the hijack Sandman i guess you might have abetter idea of what weather conditions you might have and what you might have to do to keep a stable water temp all year round

underground tanks seem to be the go with a green house with roll up sides to let out excess heat and the ability to add shadecloth when needed

hope to see a design on here soon Sandman

Hope to post some pictures.......(I'm only about 0.01% computer literate)

You should move about 50km up the coast Mal... it's about a degree warmer up here...

Howdy
I am in N.W. Arizona at 3500 ft. We dont get many 105 deg. F days here but do get down to 10 in winter. I converted a garage with 18" overhang to a green house and run three fish tanks, two grow beds. Dont look for tomatoes untill fall but will yield all winter. I open up everything in the heat and get lots of chard peppers chillies and basil in summer. For fish I started with feeder goldfish from the pet store and recently stocked bluegill. I cant provide anough heat for talapia or cold for trout. Browns fish farm in Pima will deliver whatever you need with a "Stocking Permit" from Az. fish&game.

Great info everyone! I am figuring out how to make shade here now and more importantly where.

Heres why

Have you seen TCLynx's shade tunnels? 5'x16' welded wire panels covered with shade cloth in summer and plastic in winter. Other options are bamboo, scrap wood, brush on a frame.... what resources do you have?

Next subject: what fish do you keep down there? Do you shade them?

Those southern deserts are nice.....from December through Feb or March... *grin*
But the citrus are great!