To enhance and control production and quality
of seafood that is grown and harvested the industry is increasing its focus on the construction of in house aquaculture fish farms commonly referred to as aqua farming. The most popular species of aqua farming continues to be salmon, tilapia, catfish, and carp. With the increase interest in the United States aqua farming facilities have been developing in parts of southern Florida where climate conditions and water conditions are favorable.
When considering several types of fish species to grow for harvest it is important to keep in mind the need to control the quality of the water. If the aqua farm is intended to utilize man made tanks they will depend upon a constant flow of incoming water. If the aqua farm is focusing on salmon than both the water quality and water temperature plays a major role on mortality rates and production yields of the operation.
Having water with too high of hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, total Organic carbons, and even turbidity can increase mortality rates among the younger fish species and is especially critical to salmon.
Having high levels of metals
such as Iron that is identified as either “ferric” (Fe-) or “ferrous” (FE+2) and is naturally occurring within the Florida waters and other parts of the US will cause significant damage to young salmon species because the metal accumulates within the gills of the fish causing suffocation. Other metals are also detrimental to fish including copper, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, Lead, manganese, mercury just to name a few and the water quality must be evaluated and tested in the early stages of design to anticipate the required types of process systems needed.
Utilizing pressure filtration
is an excellent method to remove metals and oxidize iron without adding harmful chemicals that may impact fish mortality rates, growth, and certainly will increase operating cost. DeLoach Industries specializes in the design and manufacturing of water purification equipment for the aquaculture and pisciculture industry and they have been designing and supplying process water purification systems including degasification, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, pressure filtration, and ultraviolet disinfection systems for the past 60 years. The best way to remove harmful contaminants like hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is with the application called degasification. Degasification strips the hydrogen sulfide gas from the water and also removes harmful levels of carbon dioxide. During this process, any iron (Fe+2) that is present will oxidize with proper pH control. After the oxidation process the water can be pumped through pressure filtration units to remove the oxidized solids along with other suspended solids that are greater than 15 micron in size. This selection and method of treatment provides the lowest operating cost and minimizes the impact on salinity rates if the species requires brackish to salt water conditions.
Controlling water quality
is a science and removing or treating one contaminant can often bring about undesirable changes in the water quality if the wrong process is selected leading to increase operating cost and low production rates. An example is the need to adjust pH properly to allow a degasification process or iron removal process through pressure filtration to perform properly. When utilizing reverse osmosis pH adjust is also often required when attempting to reduce the solids level down to below 2 or 3 microns. However if the desired water quality includes higher salinity levels than utilizing reverse osmosis may remove too many salts from the process stream. These different variables are the reasons to seek out water professionals like the ones at DeLoach Industries Inc. DeLoach Industries has 60 years of experience in the technologies like reverse osmosis, degasification, decarbonation, pH control, and water pressure filtration down to levels of 0.5 micron. For more information or to learn more contact the professionals at DeLoach Industries Inc. at (941) 371-4995.
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