Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all

I live about 80kms south of Mackay and the sun is pretty direct and hot during summer. I was just wondering whether I should put my aquaponics system in an area without shade or situate it in a slightly protected area. I will be using gravel so it will be difficult to move it for winter.

Just wondering what you do with your system Jaymie in Townsville.

Thanks heaps

gav

Hi Gavin,
we've got 70% shadecloth over our system, because when we didn't have shade over one of the beds all the seedlings fried before they got any where. All the plants are doing well under shade. We have to watch that the tomatoes don't smother everything else though.

Thanks Jaymie...that was fast.

Will look into getting some shadecloth. Do you take the cover off in winter?

Cheers

gav

no, in winter we get more sun

Our green house also has a plastic roof to hold some of the rain out of the tank, 2 inches overnight is just too much

you only have two seasons there, huh? wet and dry?

Definitely need some shade. My plants suffer a bit in the full sunlight as they are. A lot of their energy is expended dealing with the excess UV.

pretty much, dry and cool, then wet and hot

used to have a girlfriend like that....

ahem

lalalalalalalalal for you SA I mean Jaymie

Would it be a good idea to post a couple of lists of sun loving and shade loving veggies and flowers that are aquaponic / hydroponic suited somewhere?

I think the problem in our area is that the gravel gets so damn hot that it fries the plants...generally if you can cover the gravel this will reduce the problem enormously...the easiest way has been just to cover the lot with shadecloth.

Johnnie, there has been some discussions along those lines, went looking but couldn't find it ...there are a couple of topics on summer and winter plants and one on aquaponic friendly plants

We have two seasons here.

Hot and Dry... Cold and Dry! DESERT YAY! Although the weather has been weird this year we have had about 20 inches of rain.