hello from n california

[aLuunatic]

Hello All,
I am new to the site and new to aquaponics. I have just started obtaining materials to build my own situation after spending the last week watching youtube videos and dreaming of the setup :). I hope to meet interesting ppl in this forum to further my knowledge of the aquaponics and improve my setup. Thanks for reading and see you later.

[JCO]

Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers. Be sure to go to your profile and put in where you live. There might be some members close by. :mrgreen:

[davidstcldfl]

Hi aLuunatic .... :D ....welcome.

Are you any where near Mad River/ trinity county ? It's been many years ago, since I was there....but I remeber it being very nice.

Hope to hear some more thoughts/plans on your system.... :)

[aLuunatic]

JCO - of course! it would be great to meet AP farmers locally to the San Jose area.

David - no. i live in San Jose area and its in the south bay of the Bay Area.

[badflash]

Probably worth the drive. I went 200 mile from Olando to meet with my coach when I was on Vacation at Disney. Way more than the worth of the trip.

[jackalope]

aLuunatic Welcome to the Forum!! We used to live in San Jose! I worked at FMC doing re-furbs of Tomato Harvesters .....
Glad you're here!

[JCO]

Be sure to go to your profile and put in where you live. That way it shows up on the left each time you make a post and there might be some other members close by. :mrgreen:

[troypearce]

Welcome,

I used to live in SJ when I was a kid..... Now in Petaluma....bout two hours north.

Have fun....bunch of good info here

Troy

[tikifrog]

Greetings,

I'm in the East Bay. I just got into this so you're further along than I am. I'm thinking about attending a class in Oakland on the 27th. It costs $25 buck though.

Good Luck!!

[davidstcldfl]

Hi tikifrog....I don't think I said 'hello' to you yet (?) I hope you let us know how the class goes.... :)

[kyledwards]

This thread hasn't been touched in awhile, but I thought I'd try to see if I could see how any Northern California Aquaponics farmers are doing.

I'm interested in starting an aquaponics system in my backyard. Thinking of purchasing a greenhouse and designing my own system. I love growing veggies and have fish tanks so I thought I might as well combined them.

I've been reading that you cannot have tilapia in northern california. Would anybody recommend an edible fish similar to the tilapia? I was hoping for tilapia, but I might be out of luck.

Thanks!

[stucco]

WELCOME!!! I wonder if you could do trout there.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi kyledwards....welcome.... :D

I don't remember 'exactly' where the 'line' is....for wether you can raise tilapia or not, in you part of CA ? Some of the other CA folks should know.....unless you already know kyledwards (?)

Maybe, some kind of bluegill or catfish ?
I just bought a few channel catfish. On the positive side...They are more tollerant of cooler waters, then tilapia. Negitive side....they grow slower and I'm not set up to breed them....I'll have to keep buying fingerlings.

Keep us up-dated on what your doing/planning....and we 'love' pictures !

[kyledwards]

Thank for the quick response! I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Concord CA).

Weather from wiki:
Official data from the National Weather Service cooperative station in Concord shows average January temperatures are a maximum of 57.2°F and a minimum of 41.6°F. Average July temperatures are a maximum of 87.8°F and a minimum of 58.2°F. There are an average of 45.0 days with highs of 90°F (32°C) or higher and 3.8 days with lows of 32°F (0°C) or lower. The highest recorded temperature was 110°F on July 23, 2006. The lowest record temperature was 24°F on December 23, 1998.


Tilapia sounds like the best fish to breed and eat. Trout might work, but I'd assume I'd have to stock the tank.

Again thanks in advance.

[kyledwards]

Thanks Ernie! I will definitely check out that url. Now I know I can get tilapia it's time to start researching this forum, looking at DIY systems, youtube, and books. :D



I've been reading that you cannot have tilapia in northern california. Would anybody recommend an edible fish similar to the tilapia? I was hoping for tilapia, but I might be out of luck.
Here's my views on fish in our great state of Colliefornia. There is a difference between closed system home aquarium usage laws and importation, production and sale laws.

Isn't a backyard aquaponics system just a big outdoor aquarium? It's not a pond, as it is not in contact w/ the ground and the grow beds are just your filter. No water changes are made into the sewers, ditches, or waterways. If you don't sell, trade or give away fish your system is contained.

You can't import restrictive species. End of story.

That said, people culture tilapia all over the state. If you keep searching Craig's List you'll probably find some near you. i use an automated Craig's List reader and have used a query set up to scan for tilapia and got hits all over the state.

If you search Craig's List for tilapia in San Diego you'll find at least 3 or breeders selling fish. One is a pro and is where i got my fish. She may ship fish to other parts of the state. i do not know for sure. Her URL is mybackyardfishfarm (http://www.mybackyardfishfarm.com)

AFAIK, Overnight shiping inside the state is not inspected.

That said, i've had many boxes of fish sent to me from AquaBid from all over the country w/o problems. i gotten them from UPS, Fedex, and US mail.

[qaz]

Hi kyledwards, I'm also in the SF Bay Area. Just wondering if you ended up getting tilapia and how things turned out.

[urbanfarmer]

Welcome! :lol:

[rfeiller]

welcome,

i live in San Jose, not doing tilapia, but koi and goldfish.

[qaz]

Hi rfeiller,

Glad to see another Bay Area person on the forum. How big is your system and what kinds of things do you grow in the winter?

Qaz