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Intensive Tank Culture of Tilapia in the UVI Biofloc System

James Rakocy, Donald Bailey Charlie Shultz and Jason Danaher


University of the Virgin Islands Agricultural Experiment Station St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Objectives
the production of tilapia in a 200-m3 tank employing aeration, solids removal, mixing, bacterial-based treatment in the water column, and denitrification. u Modify and improve the system during the course of three production trials.
u Evaluate

Initial Tank Design


200 m3, 16 m diameter, 1 m mean water depth u Surface area: 200 m2 (0.02 ha or 1/20 acre) u Bottom: 3 o slope to center u Center clarifier: 1 m 3, 45o slope, fiberglass, 10-cm drain u Outside standpipe for solids removal u Aeration: three -hp Kasco aerators u Water movement: one -hp Kasco aerator angled
u Size:

Biofloc Tank
16 m 1.09 m Total Culture Volume = 200 m3 3 Slope Sludge Cone Volume = 1.0 m3 Sludge Removal Line 0.15 m Freeboard

Biofloc Tank
Aeration device Central cone Base addition tank

Drain Flow Sludge collection and measurement

To storage lagoon

Procedures
u Aeration

continuously u Mix continuously to maintain suspension of biofloc u Remove settleable solid waste daily u Feed twice daily with floating feed (32% protein) u Feed ad libitum for 30 60 minutes u Monitor pH daily, maintain pH 7-7.5 with Ca(OH)2 u Add CaCl2 to prevent nitrite toxicity u Monitor important water quality parameters

Aeration with vertical lift propeller pumps

Clear well water before stocking

Established with biofloc and algae

Feed Trial 1
50 Feed 40 Linear (Feed)

Feed (kg)

30

20

10

y = 0.0369x + 22.13 R2 = 0.0784 0 14 28 42 56 70 84 Day 98 112 126 140 154 168

Feed Trial 2
50 45 40 35 Feed (kgs) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 29 57 85 Day 113 141 169 197
y = 0.1279x + 9.915 R2 = 0.6537

Feed Linear (Feed)

Total Suspended Solids Settling Curve


2000 1500 TSS (mg/L) 1000 500 0 0 5 10 15 Time (min) 20 25 30 Trial 1 Trial 2

Clarifier Efficiency

Clarifier effluent Culture tank water Sludge from clarifier

After 10 minutes of settling

External Clarifier Efficiency


Influent TSS (mg/L) Effluent TSS (mg/L) Sludge TSS (mg/L) Removal (%) 1178 136 26,230 88.5

Sludge Removal in Last 21 Days


Clarifier Total (kg) Mean (kg/d) Cone Total (kg) Mean (kg/d) Percentage Clarifier (%) Cone (%) 359.9 17.3 10.7 0.5 97.1 2.9

Total Suspended Solids Trial 2 (with external clarifier)


2000

(1744)
TSS (mg/L) 1500 1000

(600)
500 0
10 /5 10 /9 10 /1 1 10 /13 9/ 25 10 /1 9/2 9 10 /3 10 /7 9/2 7

Date

Total Suspended Solids


2500 Concentration (mg/L) 2000 1500 Trial2 1000 500 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28

Week

Greenwater Tank Trial 3


Denitrification tanks

Aeration devices

Base addition tank Pump

Flow Horizontal mixer Clarifier

Sludge removal to storage lagoon

Denitrification
5 HOAc + 8NO3- = 4N2 + 10CO2 + 6H2O + 8OHMust have a carbon source: e.g., acetate Denitrification recovers the alkalinity that is lost during nitrification.

Production
Trial Stocking Initial Rate Size (g) (#/m3) 20 25 25 214 73.6 70.0 Final Size (g) 912 678 707

Culture Growth Final FCR Survival Period Rate Biomass (%) (d) (g/d) (kg/m3) 175 201 182 4.0 3.0 3.5 14.4 13.7 15.3 2.2 1.9 1.8 78.9 81.0 86.0

1 2 3

Major Inputs and Outputs


Trial Initial Water (m3) 200 200 200 Makeup Water (L/day) 880 401 588 Sludge (L/d) 470 366 213 Feed (kg/day) 25.4 23.0 27.3 Base Addition (kg/day) 1.5 1.7 0.9 Electricity (kWh/day) 52.8 52.8 58.9

1 2 3

Feed Trial 3
50 45 40 35 Feed (kgs) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 29 57 85 Date 113 141 169 y = 0.1323x + 15.407 R2 = 0.6453
Feed (kgs) Linear (Feed (kgs))

Total Feed and Base Inputs


Feed (kg) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 4441 4590 4961 Base Ca(OH)2 (kg) 252 336 160

Water Quality
Parameter (mg/L) DO Water Temp (C) NH3-N NO2-N pH Total Alkalinity Trial 1 Mean 5.5 26.8 1.2 1.5 7.8 224 Trial 2 Mean 7.9 28.5 1.8 2.7 7.8 204 Trial 3 Mean 5.3 26.1 2.0 1.9 7.7 247

Water Quality
Parameter (mg/L) Chlorophyll a (ug/L) COD Settleable solids (ml/L) TSS Ortho-Phosphate Cl Trial 1 Mean 1895 353 29 476 16.9 301 Trial 2 Mean 924 363 48 855 19.2 317 Trial 3 Mean 820 292 23 317 34 95

Total Ammonia-Nitrogen Trial 1 - 3


9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 3 Concentration (mg/L)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

11

13

15 17 Week

19

21

23

25

27

29

Nitrite-Nitrogen Trial 1 - 3
20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1 3
Concentration (mg/L)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

11

13

15
Week

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

TSS Trial 2 and 3


2500 2000 mg/L 1500 1000 500 0 0 5 10 15 Week 20 25 30 Trial 2 Trial 3

Nitrate Removal in Denitrifying Tanks


400 350 300 250
mg/L Influent 1 day retention 2 day retention

200 150 100 50 5


11% removal

9
26% removal

11

13

15
Week

17

19

21

23

26

Effect of Denitrification Tank on NitrateNitrogen Concentrations


u The

average daily NO3-N reduction was 20.5 mg/L for the 1-day treatment and 45.8 mg/L for the 2-day treatment u The 1-day treatment reduced NO 3-N by 176.5 mg/L in the rearing tank during culture period u The 2-day treatment reduced NO 3-N by 197.2 mg/L in the rearing tank during culture period u Combined reduction for both treatments was 373.7 mg/L in the rearing tank during the culture period

Nitrate-Nitrogen Trial 1 - 3
800 700
Concentration (mg/L)

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1 3

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

11

13

15
Week

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

TAN
30 25 20 mg/L 15 10 5 Influent 1 day retention 2 day retention 5 0.86 1.82 3.33 7 1.02 3.10 4.35 9 2.69 2.94 5.72 11 3.53 4.07 5.82 13 2.14 4.38 6.04 15 0.95 5.59 6.84 17 1.46 4.73 6.44 19 1.12 6.82 13.86 21 3.58 22.51 26.97 23 4.37 16.70 11.35 26 2.42 10.17 5.30

Influent 1 day retention 2 day retention

week

Nitrite-Nitrogen
8 7

Influent 1 day retention 2 day retention

6 5

mg/L

5 Influent 1 day retention 2 day retention 0.64 1.23 1.52 7 2.56 3.63 4.04 9 0.29 1.23 2.61 11 1.90 2.07 2.84 13 2.31 2.46 2.17 15 1.89 2.92 3.20 17 2.19 4.14 4.88 19 0.88 3.67 4.88 21 5.07 7.56 3.38 23 3.54 6.70 3.19 26 0.52 1.62 0.50

Week

Effect of High TAN and Nitrite Levels from Denitrification Tank


u The

denitrification effluent is diluted 95% (1 day treatment) and 97.5 % (2 day) u The highest TAN values were 22.5 mg/L (1 day) and 27.0 mg/L (2 day) u These values would be diluted to 1.1 mg/L (1 day) and 0.7 mg/L (2 day) u The highest nitrite-N level was 7.6 mg/L (1 day) and 4.9 mg/L (2 day) u These values would be diluted to 0.4 mg/L (1 day) and 0.1 mg/L (2 day)

Biofloc Tank Culture Advantages


u Simple

management u Low water requirements u Algal die-offs do not cause mortality u Algae and bacteria supplement tilapia diet u No off-flavor detected u Production ~ 30 times higher than ponds for tilapia u No recruitment problem u Wastewater used to irrigate and fertilize field crops

Biofloc Tank Culture Disadvantages


u Requires

a 6-week period to establish bacterial populations u Suspended solids nitrification less stable than fixedfilm nitrification u Feeding response fluctuates u Algal die-off reduces feeding response temporarily u High energy input u Reliance on continual aeration and mixing requires backup power

Key Results
u Total

tilapia production: (3060 kg in 1/50-ha tank) u Daily makeup water averaged 0.29% (0.59 m3) of total water volume u Recovered approximately 36% (0.21 m3) of daily makeup water for irrigation and fertilization of field crops.

Conclusions
u This

biofloc tank process was nearly 30 times more productive than a standard earthen pond (15.3 vs. 0.5 kg/m3) u External clarification simplifies tank construction, improves solids removal and water quality and increases production u Simple open channels with solids accumulation can provide adequate denitrification u This production technology conserves water and recovers solids and nutrients

Future Research
(1,000 m2?, 4,000 m2?) uAeration requirement uMixing technique uSize and number of clarifiers uSpecies uEconomics
uScaleup

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