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Disease suppression is an essential aspect of shrimp farming. To control water quality, a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) is employed in worldwide. In RAS, water quality is achieved by nitrification biofilter treatment, whereas disease prevention is achieved by the application of an oxidizing agent such as ozone (O3). This study investigates the proper residual ozone concentration (ROC) dosage for controlling pathogenic bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP) and minimizing mal-effects on nitrifying bacteria activity in the biofilter media inside an RAS. Juvenile Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vammanei, were cultured for 4 months in a lab-scale brackish RAS integrated with ozonation. Results showed that although the system biofilter's nitrification activity was influenced by ROC, the 0.3 mg L−1 ROC dosage provided an optimum condition which effectively eliminated VP in the biofilter but did not inhibit ammonia removal. At a higher ROC (approximately 0.4 mg L−1) ozonation dosage, the biofilter's ammonia oxidation rate significantly reduced. Over a 40-day shrimp-rearing operational period, the viable VP count in an aerated (non-ozonated RAS) gradually increased, but the viable VP counts in both biofilm and water in a 0.3 mg L−1 ROC treated RAS significantly reduced down to undetectable levels. As such, the conclusion was drawn that a 0.3 mg L−1 ROC ozonation treatment in the biofilter tank of a RAS can effectively control VP pathogens without influencing the activity of the nitrification biofilter, thus providing a balanced control between water quality and safety to the shrimp.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of salinities on the nitrogen removal performance of a pilot-scale down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor and an up-flow sludge blanket (USB) reactor which was installed in a closed recirculating aquaculture system for the purpose to maintain the water quality in the aquaculture tank. In this study, water quality and the growth of the Longtooth grouper, Epinephelus bruneus, were investigated at 30‰, 22.5‰, and 15‰ salinity for over 1000 days. The tested DHS reactor has successfully maintained total ammonium nitrogen in aquaculture tank at less than 1.0 mg-N·L−1 at various salinities. The abundance of nitrifying bacteria detected in the DHS reactor was higher at salinities of 15‰ and 22.5‰ than at 30‰. The USB reactors achieved a nitrate removal efficiency of over 60%. All fish survived all salinity conditions, exhibiting the highest daily weight gain of 2.0 ± 3.4 g-fish·day−1 at 15‰ salinity, which was 1.6 times higher than that at 30‰. The DHS-USB system could exert nitrogen removal under changing salinity conditions.

A high-rate nitrogen removal process is required to maintain the water quality in aquaculture tanks used to produce high-density fish populations in recirculating aquaculture systems. In this study, a combined pilot-scale system of down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactors and upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactors was applied as a nitrogen removal system for a longtooth grouper Epinephelus bruneus recirculating aquaculture system. The DHS reactors demonstrated high total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) removal efficiencies and the TAN concentration in the aquaculture tank was maintained at 0.32 ± 0.12 mg-N·L−1. The USB reactor fed with sodium acetate acted as a denitrification unit and adjusted the pH through denitrification reaction. All E. bruneus survived the entire experimental period and the daily weight gain rate of 0.6%·day−1 was comparable to that in marine aquaculture. This result shows that the DHS-USB system to be a novel applicable system for nitrogen removal processes in recirculating aquaculture systems and further study at a large scale should be recommended.

This research investigated the efficiency of a pumice stone biofilter tank for nitrogen removal from a recirculating aquaculture system. The pumice bottom substrate nitrification-denitrification tank was a glass tank packed with a 5 cm depth of pumice stone (approximately 3 mm in diameter) at the bottom. It was found that the pumice stone could perform as a nitrification biofilter under aerobic conditions. When applying methanol as the external carbon source at a COD:N ratio of 5:1 and then covering the tank with a plastic sheet to reduce gas exchange, pumice stone could remove nitrate through denitrification. Thereafter, nitrification and denitrification treatments using the pumice tank were applied to a 100 L moderate density (10 kg m −3 ) recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) under laboratory conditions. The RAS consisted of a 100 L tilapia culture tank connected to a 100 L pumice tank packed with a 5 cm layer of pumice stone. It was found that the nitrification treatment performed by the pumice tank could control ammonia and nitrite concentrations within the required safety range throughout the 121-day culture period. When nitrate accumulated to approximately 50 mg-N L −1 in water, water recirculation was paused, after which batch denitrification treatment was performed by adding methanol at COD:N of 5:1 in the pumice tank. With nitrification-denitrification treatment, ammonia and nitrite concentrations were below 1 mg-N L −1 and nitrate was kept below 50 mg-N L −1 while nitrate in the control tank was as high as 352.47 ± 9.67 mg-N L −1 . Moreover, the pumice bottom substrate tank with methanol supplement had no negative effect on growth and survival of fish in the recirculating system.

Aquaponic systems (APSs) are based upon the sustainable utilization of nitrogen and phosphorus from a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) as the nutrient source for plant production. Since the proper management of nitrogen and suspended solids are important for nutrient utilization efficiency, their optimization was evaluated. The RAS integrated with filtration unit and nitrifying biofilter provided complete nitrification without solid accumulation. Under the optimal treatment condition for 16 d, the treated water was low in ammonia (0 mg-N/L) and high in nitrate (> 6 mg-N/L) concentrations, which was appropriate for use in the cultivation of lettuce (Lactuca sativa). The RAS was then incorporated with hydroponics at a 5:1 fish: plant weight ratio. Moreover, the simplified APS was compared with a typical APS system that incorporated filtration unit and nitrifying biofilter. The natural growth of nitrifying microorganisms in the simplified APS could perform complete nitrification after 20 d of operation giving low ammonia and nitrite concentrations. The nutrient removal efficiency of the simplified APS resembled the typical system. During the aquaponics, the hydroponic unit in the aquaculture system was sufficient to control the nutrient concentrations within the appropriate levels for fish cultivation, i.e. nitrate (< 20 mg-N/L) and phosphate (< 3 mg-P/L).

This research focused on the solid and nitrate removal efficiency in a solid digestion-denitrification column. The 20 L up-flow column consisted of 18 L acrylic column with 2 L down-comer inlet tube located in the middle. In the first part, the wastewater with high suspended solids from the Tilapia fish tank was applied into the sedimentation unit at 5 variable flow rates i.e., 11.25, 25.71, 60, 105.88 and 360 L/h. The results indicated that the flow rate of 11.25 L/h (0.57 m/h) gave the highest solid removal efficiency of 72.72% ± 8.24%. However, the total suspended solids removal was highest at 360 L/h (18.13 m/h). In the second part, methanol was added as an external organic carbon source for denitrification process in a hybrid column containing settled solids. The COD:N ratios of 0.5:1, 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1 and 6:1 were investigated and compared with control without methanol addition. This experiment was operated at the HRT of 1 h with 450 L wastewater from recirculating aquaculture pond containing 100 mg-N/L sodium nitrate. The results indicated that the COD:N ratio of 3:1 gave the highest nitrate removal efficiency of 33.32% ± 21.18% with the denitrification rate of 5,102.88 mg-N/day.

A bottom substrate denitrification tank for a recirculating aquaculture system was developed. The laboratory scale denitrification tank was an 8 L tank (0.04 m 2 tank surface area), packed to a depth of 5 cm with a bottom substrate for natural denitrifying bacteria. An aquarium pump was used for gentle water mixing in the tank; the dissolved oxygen in the water was maintained in aerobic conditions (e.g. > 2 mg/L) while anoxic conditions predominated only at the bottom substrate layer. The results showed that, among the four substrates tested (soil, sand, pumice stone and vermiculite), pumice was the most preferable material. Comparing carbon supplementation using methanol and molasses, methanol was chosen as the carbon source because it provided a higher denitrification rate than molasses. When methanol was applied at the optimal COD:N ratio of 5:1, a nitrate removal rate of 4591 ± 133 mg-N/m 2 tank bottom area/day was achieved. Finally, nitrate removal using an 80 L denitrification tank was evaluated with a 610 L recirculating tilapia culture system. Nitrate treatment was performed by batch transferring high nitrate water from the nitrification tank into the denitrification tank and mixing with methanol at a COD:N ratio of 5:1. The results from five batches of nitrate treatment revealed that nitrate was successfully removed from water without the accumulation of nitrite and ammonia. The average nitrate removal efficiency was 85.17% and the average denitrification rate of the denitrification tank was 6311 ± 945 mg-N/m 2 tank bottom area/day or 126 ± 18 mg-N/L of pumice packing volume/day.

This research aims to describe the nitrogen and phosphorus removal in Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) by crop plants biomass production. The 3 experiment systems consisted of 1 treatment (fish tank + baked clay beads + Chinese cabbage) and 2 controls as control-1 (fish tank only) and control-2 (fish tank + baked clay beads), were performed. With all experimental RAS, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was cultured at 2 kg/m3 density. The baked clay beads (8-16 mm in diameter) were filled as a layer of 10 cm in the water treatment tank of control-2. While in the treatment tank, Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis) was planted at 334 plants/m2 in baked clay beads layer. During 35 days of experiment, the average fish wet-weight in control-1, control-2 and treatment systems increased from 16.31±1.49, 15.18±1.28 and 11.31±1.49 g to 29.43±7.06, 28.65±3.12 and 27.20±6.56 g, respectively. It was found that the growth rate of 0.45±0.15 g-wet weight/day in a treatment tank was higher than in those 2 controls, which were rather similar at 0.37±0.16 and 0.38±0.05 g-wet weight/day, respectively. The fish survival rate of all experimental units was 100%. The average Chinese cabbage wet-weight in treatment system increased from 0.15±0.02 g to 1.00±0.38 g. For water quality, all parameters were within the acceptable range for aquaculture. The assimilation inorganic nitrogen in a treatment tank showed a slower rate and lower nitrite accumulation relative to those in control tanks. The nitrogen and phosphorus balance analysis illustrated that most of the nitrogen and phosphorus input in all systems was from feed (82-87% and 21-87%) while at the final day of experiments, nitrogen and phosphorus in tilapia culture revealed at 15-19% and 4-13%. The accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water, up to 56% and 70%, was found in control-1 while water in the tank with baked clay beads had substantial lower nitrogen and phosphorus concentration. The most important part was unaccounted nitrogen and phosphorus as high as 60% and 17% in treatment and 53% and 10% in control-2 systems. Nitrogen and phosphorus incorporated in plant (treatment) was only 1.31% and 0.11%, respectively. It can be implied from the results that the assimilation in plant was a minor process for nutrient removal in this RAS. On the other hand, the nitrification and denitrification occurred in the sediment layer of baked clay beads tank were the major treatment processes to maintain water quality in the recirculating system. Without baked clay bead, nitrogen waste was accumulated as nitrate in the water while in treatment tank with backed clay beads, nitrogen was significantly removed by denitrification process.