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Comment by Gerald Bush on April 27, 2013 at 8:54am

My name is Gerald Bush. I am a part time San Diegan but my Aqua setup is in Corona just up the 15. We have converted our track house into an urban farm with front and backyard gardens, greenhouse and tilapia.

I am interested in joining your group and sharing my experiences and learning from others. if you will have me.

Comment by Brad Moreau on April 13, 2013 at 9:45pm

Hello

I'm Brad out of  Oceanside, Ca. starting up my system, going to be using  two ibc 275 FT w/ a 300 gal sump, four raft beds - 4' x 8'  eight 1/2 barrels w/ gravel, flood & drain  ten vertical towers. FT's one trout, one catfish. trout tank will have 2" rigid foam insulation board on sides & top. cooled by 316 stainless  1/2" soft tubing 100' long ran through a small refridgerator. ( thats my plan anyway) still workin the bugs out .this is my first try @ aquaponics, so its a learning experence 4 me, any feed back would help !!! my ft's are cycling for the first time, so I have a couple weeks or more to finish build. will post pic latter when more is done

Comment by Emily DeJoode on February 22, 2013 at 9:39pm

Used food-grade is always good, I've only bought used, and I've yet to see anyone advise getting new.  New food-grade would be as good, but new non-food would be bad.  You can always use a longer process for cleaning/airing/testing the used ones.

For Glenn, have you run any systems with other fish?  I've run with big pond/comet goldfish so far, which are low-care.  My only real issue had been tank cooling, due to its small size (55g) and location (I did have a heater though, for the same reason as you).

I've been thinking about sinking the tank into the ground, or having a sub-tank underground and cycling water to level out temps.  Tank temp is really my main planning hurdle right now.  The rest I know how to handle.

Comment by Jason Finn on February 22, 2013 at 4:31pm

That's awesome to hear this group is fairly active. I have a question for the two of you (Glenn and Emily). You guys said SD drums and totes is a good place. I visited there to check out the totes and bought some barrels and was happy to see his stuff and talk to him about it. Did you guys buy the used food grade totes or did you buy new (he said he just got them)?

I was considering going new because its guaranteed to be uncontaminated but if you guys had no problems with used then I will reconsider. the price is like double if I go new and I was thinking of getting 10 totes total so its like a grand $$$ difference (literally!). Plus he said he doesn't make as much profit on the new ones and I'd like to help a brother out. 

And Glenn, I may be interested it checking out your system some time but it would have to be in the future (couple months maybe) because I am not quite ready to perfect my design yet (installing cisterns now, building greenhouse after, then building aquaponics in the greenhouse).

Comment by Glenn Davis on February 22, 2013 at 2:38pm

Hi all, thanks for joining the group. Hopefully we can continue to grow and learn from each other. I'm down in Chula Vista. My aquaponics system has been up and running for less than 6 months, trying to continue to work out kinks and learn the basics of keeping one running. I have a 300G ibc tote fish tank, with 2 hydroton media beds, and one DWC bed. I'm growing mostly lettuces, which has been working out great. Just trying to battle aphids right now, they don't effect the plants much but you have to wash good before you eat.

The fish I'm using are catfish, bluegill, and koi. I got my fish from Alpine Fishery, they have great wholesale prices and are knowledgeable. I avoided using tilapia because I didn't want to heat my water 80F+, but ending up still having to use a 1000W heater to keep my water temps stable and stop the fluctuations from day and night, That's the only complaint I have is the cost of the heater is around $150+ a month.

Emily's suggestion of using SD Drums and totes is perfect. That's where I bought all my IBC's and barrels. His product is clean and is affordable. I've had no problems with any of his stuff.

If anyone has questions or wants to come check out my system feel free to ask.

Again thanks for joining and lets hope we can get a solid group of people to promote aquaponics in San Diego.

Comment by Emily DeJoode on February 19, 2013 at 10:17pm

The Hydroponics place on Miramar Rd also has an aquaponics setup in store, along with SD Hydro, which is more downtown.  I think I saw an AP system up on top of the Leucadia Pizza place in Encinitas.  Birch Aquarium supposedly has one to go look at/tour if you know someone.

Comment by Emily DeJoode on February 19, 2013 at 10:11pm

I live in San Diego proper, Mira Mesa area.  

I was recently running an AP system using the blue 55g barrels, we had one growbed that didn't drain properly along with too much real-life drama, and so all the fish I had in that system died to lack-of-time/energy to figure out the problem.

Before the last few months it ran no problem and was great!  I have an IBC tote and a greenhouse construction project for my coming system.

---

For sources of stuff, I went to SD Drums & Totes (SDDrums.com) - they have a very large supply of a very large variety of drums, barrels and totes.  I used just plain comet goldfish in my system, as it was small and while I've cleaned fish I didn't think I'd probably want to put that effort in to test how much I liked having a system running.

Comment by William J Silverthorn on February 15, 2013 at 2:00am

one more san diegan just joined the group.

just a forwarning im hear to learn, not teach.
i have zero experience with AP, and as well with farming.

this is a new hobby for me, and I'm not going to be able to build my first project until late June so I'm just keeping my eyes peeled for information and eagerly checking out all my neighbors AP systems so I can gather ideas and research before I get the chance to screw up my own design.

so... when I joined I was member number 4... this group seems to be rather new.

I know there are more people from SD that could join though.

Comment by Jason Finn on January 28, 2013 at 12:27pm

I don't know how active these group members are but:

I am from the city of Fallbrook. I have done TONS of research but have not started my system yet. I am currently working on a greenhouse (PVC hoophouse) for it. 

I want to use tilapia and maybe some sort of prawn or shrimp or something in the sump. Any recommendations on where to source fish or prawn? Or IBCs, gravel ect.? I think I have my sources figured out but I am wondering if anyone has had a great experience with any specific provider.

Comment by Glenn Davis on November 9, 2012 at 6:36pm

How many people do we have from San Diego?