Biofiltration Systems In Aquaculture

[frikkiedeboer]

i have noticed that there are more and more people posting on filters and biofilters.

i am no expert on the subject but over the years have spent much time researching and building my own systems for koi rearing and high density cartfish farming.

]Before constructing a biofilter it is very important to know and understand the principles involved,and the various processes and their effects. Here are a few links I found which might help.-and good luck, once you start getting interested in this subject you will spend many thousands of hours researching - and hopefully get to the point where you can build yourself a system that will suit your needs, without spending all your money.

The one thing that you will notice is the importance of high levels of oxygen in the system to make the process work, and even though each author will tend to push his favourite design, the common thread is oxygenation- the single most important step in the process of water purification using aerobic bacteria. Note that anaerobic bacteria do not perform the primary function and can be harmfull in your system

.

http://www.biofilters.com/webfilt.htm

http://www.biofilters.com/webfilt.htmhttp://www.madaboutkoi.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=12234&forum=DCForumID9&viewmode=threaded

http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Wastewater/Advanced_Water_Treatment_Plant/Virtual_Tour/Post-Aeration.asp

hope this proves useful- great to see that there is more interest in high density rearing of fish and that the importance of using biofiltration to do it has been recognised

frikkie

[Tilapia]

i have noticed that there are more and more people posting on filters and biofilters.

i am no expert on the subject but over the years have spent much time researching and building my own systems for koi rearing and high density cartfish farming.

]Before constructing a biofilter it is very important to know and understand the principles involved,and the various processes and their effects. Here are a few links I found which might help.-and good luck, once you start getting interested in this subject you will spend many thousands of hours researching - and hopefully get to the point where you can build yourself a system that will suit your needs, without spending all your money.

The one thing that you will notice is the importance of high levels of oxygen in the system to make the process work, and even though each author will tend to push his favourite design, the common thread is oxygenation- the single most important step in the process of water purification using aerobic bacteria. Note that anaerobic bacteria do not perform the primary function and can be harmfull in your system

.

http://www.biofilters.com/webfilt.htm

http://www.biofilters.com/webfilt.htmhttp://www.madaboutkoi.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=12234&forum=DCForumID9&viewmode=threaded

http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Wastewater/Advanced_Water_Treatment_Plant/Virtual_Tour/Post-Aeration.asp

hope this proves useful- great to see that there is more interest in high density rearing of fish and that the importance of using biofiltration to do it has been recognised

frikkie

Hi Frikkie.

Thanks for the links, I have spend a huge amount of time trying to seach for the right thing, but as you say, the correct thing dosent exsist, all systems are different depending on your water-parameters, all the experiments done can be used as guide-lines only that, and you work on from there. I have reach the point now with my Tilapia, that the rural and not expensive solutions, just wont do it anymore, I know the problem and how to solve it, but I dont like the amount of money it cost, it is madness how much they charge for a piece of plastic. What I'm doing now, is building my own bio-reactor and see how that works, according to the specifications from the company it is very effective, well time will tell.

The future in fish farming will be recirculations systems, there is no doubt, in my mind, and to use the biological process to brake down the bacteria, and not polute the rivers like the cage-farmers.

Tilapia.

[chownah]

Frikkiedeboer,

Thanks for the great links!!!

One question: I've been reading about Bakki Showers with Biohouse media (I think that's the name of the ceramic media they were using)...and they claim it is a completely stand alone system with complete removal of nitrogen.....where does the nitrogen go? There doesn't seem to be anyway to remove waste material from this system.

Chownah

[frikkiedeboer]

Frikkiedeboer,

Thanks for the great links!!!

One question: I've been reading about Bakki Showers with Biohouse media (I think that's the name of the ceramic media they were using)...and they claim it is a completely stand alone system with complete removal of nitrogen.....where does the nitrogen go? There doesn't seem to be anyway to remove waste material from this system.

Chownah

the one thing all the links and all the info available on the net or in books, is that the more you know, the more confusing it seems to get! experimentation and evolution in your own system will be the key, as it was with mine. you will know when you got it working when your fish stop dying!

in my system, i started with what i thought i knew, then added on until i got something that worked for me. there is absolutely no point in spending huge amounts of money on media, iif you missed the point in the first place. i set mine up ,plus my tanks,hatchery etc at the time when my money was almost finished-had only 10000 baht in the bank after my wife did her little "number" plus a few hundred kilo of catfish in my pond, and i managed to set this all up, and support myself and my two sons for a farther three years,reinvesting and improving as i went along.

the pump and the first couple of months of electricity should be your main expense-the media is available for free! once you start turning over enough fish on a monthly basis, the electricity bill becomes irrelevant. eg:

the first ton is going to cost 9000thb to produce and thereafter only 1500 to 3000thb per ton depending on how clever you get!

the idea is to start small, and grow both your stocking density and your filter and as you see it beginning to work for you, you can start to push the limits. remember that any biofilter you use is going to take about 5 weeks before it works properly so do not think you failed after you set up and your overstocked tankful goes belly-up. also: never clean your filter!

the nitrate removal still seems to be very vague in all the biofilter systems i have studied, and i do not believe there is a biofilter which actually removes all of this waste product. i am told that this is not very harmful -at least to catfish, anyway, and most farms are replacing a percentage of the water daily to reduce nitrate levels.

there is, to my mind only one way to remove these nitrates, and that is by way of a plant or so called "vegetable filter"

in nature, wetlands provide this function, and are in fact simply a natural biofilter. nitrates are used by plants in the growing process. you do not have to set up an hydroponics system to make use of this system- a large tank or pond filled with water weed will perform this function,as will a pond full of algae. i used both. my filter pumped from the pond through four tanks, aerated by spraying the surface. first tank- no media,-a simple baffle system allowed trapping of solid waste plus aeration allowed for sludge activation. second tank with large media, then finer media, and then to my tank full of oxygen weed-hydrilla, i think they call it. crystal clear water flowed from here to my rearing tanks, after which adjustable standup pipes-(outside the tanks) allowed the waste to flow to a small settlement pond back to my large pond, always green with algae-full sunlight and nitrate laden waste water facilitating this.

i do not know enough about biofilters to tell you if any part or component of my system was designed or built correctly, or was the key to sucess, but it worked very well, and i believe that the "vegetable filter" plus vigorous oxygenation were probably the key to the whole thing.

good luck and please let us hear about your progress

frikkie