Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

More pics - the toms have taken over this system! I will have to replace the shade cloth soon as this is 70% shade at the moment and I am sure that I will get better results with something like 40% shade...

Fabulous stuff AM and students.....

the nasturtium in the pictures has deepened in flavour too - the older the plant gets the stronger the flavour in the leaves... almost too peppery now

AM, I have 50% shade cloth up and it works fantastic, so yeah - 40-50% would be ideal

Love the growth, give me another month (sorry this is AP) give me another week and I'll be up there also with my plants

some update pics of plants in the school system...
The massive cherry tom plant which was threatening to overgrow the paw paw has died - there is a grub which attacks the inside of soft wood plants and it chose my most promising cherry tom plant this time ... I made cuttings from the tips of the plant, but have lost the fruit and root stock... this stuff happens I guess

more photos...
I decided to net a fe of the school barra today. The average weight were between 190 grams and 250 grams... they were not happy at all about being caught

I have also put a small raft into the one bathtub (with the ornamentals in it) to see how well it works - if it works well I will connect the 2 spare baths tubs I have and use them as DWC...

are you rolling those poor fish in the grass AM?

The buggers would not sit still and kept flopping about, off the table and into the mulch! ... you have to be careful with these fish as they seem to have twice as many sharp bits as any other fish... after getting a few extra hole in my already sensitive hands I just let them flop about till they gave up

AM, I have read different articles while trying to decide which shade cloth would work the best in our new system. All I have found say that 30% is best with vegetables. Some reports:
Shade summer vegetables to keep them fruiting. Shade cloth can be purchased at garden centers and nurseries. Cover tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers and other sun-sensitive vegetables with 30% shade cloth. Support the shade cloth with stakes or poles to keep the cloth off of plants. - Updated: June 19, 2002 - found in site http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/news/calendar/6.html#3
It also depends on which type of veggies you are growing as shown here:
http://www.protect-o-net.com/guidelines.shtml

What I find odd here in Cairns is that 70% shade cloth is cheaper than 40% shade cloth ... surely it takes more plastic to make the denser shade cloth!!!

That is odd, if I buy 30% or 40% the cost at 12 foot wide is 1.39 per foot, 50% is 1.52 per foot, and 70% is 1.94 per foot. I don't know why yours cost more unless more people buy the 70% thus the supply and demand drives the cost down.

I can only think that its a supply and demand thing too Joyce