Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello All,

I am in Kern county and have my second system up and running with catfish. The system is controlled by a Mega Arduino and the data is uploaded to xively https://xively.com/feeds/215699358 .

Hi all,

I am in the OC (Irvine). Starting to build my above ground pond. Have small talapia in a tank waiting for my system to be built.

Finding talapia on Craigslist is pretty easy, but does anyone know where to get catfish in So Cal?

thanks!

Good morning and firstly, thank you for the wealth of information and research.

I'm in So. Orange County as well and have spent about a year looking into the systems and comparing the setups to the available space I have here at Home. Like everyone else in the OC, we're slammed into a pretty small spot (4,400 SF with the house taking up around 85% of that) So I'm essentially forced to the perimeter of my property. I do have a couple of ideally sized locations to plan around. The main area which is close to power and water is approx. 7'-0" X 12'-0"

I'm mainly interested in controlling my food production and providing some level of food security. We live in interesting times, as many here have said... But would love to be able to put out a basket or two for my neighbors to pull from on the honor system, as well as feed an herb garden for the same purpose.

I had initially planned to start with a smaller system (25-50 Gal.) to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of Aquaculture, but after a lot of consideration we are going to assemble at 250 Gal. IBC system for the FT and want to utilize my space, so I'll hopefully build a hybrid system of both DWC and NFT. To me the media beds seem like a redundant cost at this point and if I can avoid putting those two words together I'd be more than happy!


I'm really excited about finally getting started and hope to be able to lean on you all for a little more help in getting it assembled. I'm a carpenter by trade and am confident on the assembly part of the system, I'm scared to death about the prospect of managing the aquaculture but also have an extremely handy Wife when it comes to the details... This will of course a partnership or family endeavor and hope to get everyone involved.

I'll start a system thread and post a few pictures of the space and a pencil draft of the layout I hope to build. My hope is to troubleshoot it as much as possible prior to the actual build to avoid some of the mistakes as we are raising two little ones and funds are extremely limited.

Again, Thanks for all of the interesting content you've all provided already.

Best,
Steve

Please add me to ur so cal list, currently in sd in the research stage right now, main concern for my setup right now is fish type as previously mentioned and sunlight, I've got a small backyard that faces north to south with a large tree to the south.

Hello,

I am in Modjeska Canyon, Orange County. I'm very excited to get started. I've been researching all I can, but I'm a little nervous about the wildlife here and how it will effect the aquaponic system. We're also located under a canopy of Oak trees with filtered light, so were designing a greenhouse system.

Hello all,

I just set up an IBC plus two 55 gal barrels. This gives me 175 gallon FT (200 before overflow), a 75 gal IBC growbed and four 25 gal growbeds. I've been cycling for just over a week. I added 12 goldfish 12/30 and a
few plants last night (1/4). No separator or filtration yet... Looking forward to getting bacteria established.

Hoping to raise trout someday due to cold winter nights in my area (water temp to 47°), but not sure I can keep it below 65° for long. Probably wind up with catfish. I'm in Santee, CA and I look forward to sharing, as well as learning from the experience here. Thanks for the forum.

PS: Ronmaggi, I look forward to getting to know the locals. I know I can use some guidance and I'm willing to provide any value I can. I like the discussion about area Tilapia fingerling and seed sharing.

-Dave

HI, I'm in Orange County and still deciding where to put my system. This site is wonderful!

For some reason, I missed a lot of posts here... Welcome everyone. If you are thinking of using fruit trees, bare root season is upon us. It is the right time to buy them.

Hi,Im in the SoCal Mtns.We are starting our first full season with goldfish koi and pumping water with an airpump.Made with treated lumber,trex and redwood,have about 2500 dollars in system

Welcome spuds!

Not sure how I missed this thread but Ill sound off for the So Cal roll call. I'm out in Barstow. Any of the other high Desert guys still following this thread ? Wondering how the trout thing worked out.

Hi Sterfire I'm out here in Riverside but come down to OC every weekend,( my mom 98 still lives in Yorba Linda ) it would be fun to get together with some other fish heads and talk AP. Watch out MarkyMark the California fish and game take a dim view of growing tilapia north of the Tehachapi mountains. I agree with you Todd61 too much to pay for fish you could catch any day in the salton sea for free. Sterfire drop me a line at fishyjohn@aol.com lets talk.

Thanks for the welcome Ron,appreciated.Im next to Lake Arrowhead a little lower.I do get snow which is why we overbuilt the hoop house,thicker poles,2 foot centers,ridgepole,I had No Problem with the snow this winter,mild it be.

Our system started late summer 2014 first 2 beds,got beds 3 and 4 started a few weeks ago.I had an issue this winter with the tank freezing for three weeks with ice from 1-3 inches around,aqua-zen styled pump froze,my air-stone froze,but my goldfish made it,amazing!This winter I will hang stone dead center in tank and run a large volume of air to try to keep an opening free.

I also had several plants survive the three weeks in frozen solid beds of hydroton (craigslist used,1/2 price,they were growing 'tomatoes' indoors ),so to say aquaponics is great is an understatement,kale,a napa cabbage,watercress,a parsley, a lot of celery,a couple radishes,go figure!

Ive since added some Koi.

OK,a lot of background to ask a question,is there any possible food source fish I can raise in these extremes?

And thank you people,I lurked here a while and a lot of what Im doing was gleaned from ideas here.Nice to see so many SoCal folks.

Where there are the classic supplemental food sources. Black soldier fly larve, duckweed and the like. I say supplemental, as with anything, you need input to get output.

No no,I mean like what kind of edible fish can i raise,is there anything with the system as it is, or am I destined to be the Koi Man? Which is OK,Im understanding why peeps like koi,they are a pretty nice fish. But I like food too!