Air Compressor Used For Aquaculture|5 Things You Need To Know
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Kotech air compressor used for aquaculture plays a key role in the water recirculating purify system and resisting the harmful effects of green algal blooms on aquatic organisms.
For aqua fish farms, harmful algal blooms caused by high CO2 levels and eutrophication of water bodies can lead to massive fish kills if donโt take timely effective action to it.
In this article, you will know 5 facts about the impacts of harmful algal blooms on aquaculture and why air compressor used for the water recirculating system is significant and irreplaceable:
Where Green Algal Bloom Pollution Comes From?
Algae are found in Marine and freshwater ecosystems and together with bacteria form the basis of aquatic food webs. According to statistics, algae also produce about half of the oxygen on Earth! However, under certain conditions, some algae can grow out of control, producing toxins that can be harmful or even deadly to humans, fish, shellfish, Marine mammals, and birds!
Rising ocean temperature
due to Global warming causes rising sea temperatures, and it is often deemed to be an important reason of frequent algae pollution in recent years, as this warming environment provides an ideal condition for algae to rapidly grow. That is why green algae blooms are more common in the summer or during El Niรฑo events, hot and dry weather can bring extreme droughts, leading to higher water temperatures.
Agriculture land runoff
Land runoff, especially from agriculture, is also recognized as a major factor in the current intensity and frequency of red tides. When rain on the agricultural lands, nutrients from fertilizers and manure can flow into streams and lakes and eventually into the ocean. then, these nutrients can quickly lead to algae growth. Extreme weather events also exacerbate the effects of red tides-for example, in Australia, prolonged droughts are often followed by heavy rains.
Eutrophication of aquaculture water
Another raised concern about the formation reason of harmful algal blooms is the intensification and eutrophication of water in aqua fish farm. If not managed, aquaculture can negatively impact nutrient concentrations in the surrounding environment. This is caused by fish overeating and unused pellet feed falling to the seafloor. As the pellets dissolve, nutrients are released into the water, causing nutrient enrichment (eutrophication). This changes the water chemistry, leading to algal blooms.
What Are Algal Blooms Harmful Effects on Aqua Fish Farm?
When talk about the impacts of green algal blooms on aqua fish farm, the influence can be devastating.
Green algae blooms deplete oxygen in the water in a number of ways:
- Algae consume oxygen at night, which lowers oxygen levels in the water.
- Dead algae are broken down by bacteriause oxygen. In the process, bacteria also consume oxygen in the water.
- Additionally, large blooms of certain species of algae can clog the gills of fish, preventing them from absorbing oxygen from the water.
For fishes, insufficient oxygen can cause them to become stressed or even die, especially fish like salmon that require high oxygen levels.
Green algae blooms produce toxins that are harmful to aquatic organisms.
Some specific kinds of green algae produce toxins that can be accumulated in organism bodies, especially severe in senior organisms(include human) and even kill the weaker organisms. Of course, the economic impact on aquaculture farmers is also detrimental.
Unfortunately, green algal blooms are expected to become more frequent in the future due to rising ocean temperatures (climate change), increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and eutrophication of water bodies. So how can aqua fish farm workers mitigate harmful algal blooms?
How to Use Air Compressor Solve Green Algae Bloom for Aquaculture?
Application 1 – To Remove The Substance That Beneficial to Green Algae Bloom Out
Recirculating aquaculture system is widely used by land-based aqua fish farm due to its environmentally friendly, sustainable and highly predictable production credentials. The success of recirculating aquaculture system depends largely on the effective interaction of many factors.
One of the important factors is compressed air pressed by air compressors. Now letโs see some of the key roles in this system that require compressed air, and explain why an efficient and reliable supply of pressed air is so important to the overall success of a recirculating aquaculture system.
The harmful nitrogenous byproduct of life activities
In aqua fish farm, fishes need feed and oxygen to thrive. When digesting feed (and protein, which makes up a large part of the feed), nitrogenous byproducts are produced. Most of them are ammonia and carbon dioxide, and since ammonia is toxic to fish, it needs to be removed from the water, either by flushing it out of the system (via a flow-through/semi-circulation system), or it needs to be converted into a non-toxic form of nitrogen (nitrates).
How to eliminate the nitrogenous byproduct?
Bio-filter is essentially a large container filled with biological media. The effect of a bio-filter is to convert dissolved nitrogen byproducts from the toxic form of ammonia (via nitrites) to the non-toxic form of nitrates (via nitrification process). T
hey can be designed as either a moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) or a fixed bed bioreactor (FBB). In either case, bacteria break down ammonia in the container, both of them rely on a reliable and constant supply of compressed air to function properly.
How can air compressor used for the bio-filter?
In an bio-filter, a constant pressed air flow produced by air compressor is required to be the oxygen source of biochemical reaction, and to keep the biological media(bacteria) moving. The movement is to keep the specific kind of bacteria constantly in contact with large volumes of water so that they are always exposed to nutrient-rich water and perform optimally. And air compressor can be used for creating turbulence so that any settled debris can be flushed out of the filter.
How to remove another harmful factor—CO2 from the water?
โ Through aeration well system:
By blowing pressed air into the water during the upward and downward circulation reflux, the high concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide in the water will spontaneously diffuse into the air to reach equilibrium and eventually be stripped from the water. In this case, water resistance and air resistance must be overcome at the same time during blowing operation. The best choice that can meet the total circulation driving force requirement is the air compressor, it come into effect by using the buoyancy of pressed air to drive the mixed fluid to rise together as well as the pressed air being the total circulation power.
โ With a trickle system:
Making the fluid hit multiple obstacles so that disperse the water droplets into many smaller droplets with greater surface area. It allows the gas molecules to exchange more easily and reach equilibrium if enough fresh pressed air is provided. It is the opposite of aeration, but the end result is the same, removing CO2 from the water.
Both biological filtration and CO2 removal require constant operation in 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If these processes fail, even only for 30 minutes can lead to massive mortality of the fishes. Therefore, that is why investing in reliable and adequate air compressors used for aqua fish farm in recirculating aquaculture system is so critical.
Are you looking for a reliable and efficient power source for your industry? Kotech dealers are experienced in finding the perfect air compressor for your needs.
Contact your local Kotech dealer today and discover how an air compressor can increase your productivity and safety.
Application 2 – To Introduce More Oxygen For Fish Surviving
Oxygen is one of the key factors in a recirculating aquaculture system and is often one of the first limiting factors for fish survive. Neither the natural system of air transferring through water surface contact nor the aeration/trickle systems can provide enough oxygen to maintain fish and bacterial biomass. This is why the system often needs an additional oxygen supply.
Where can get sufficient oxygen supply?
Oxygen can either be purchased in liquid form from a gas company or produced on-site. On-site production is often the better option in situations that farms are located in remote areas, or where electricity costs are low, or even when aqua fish farm workers do not want to enter into long-term contracts with gas companies.
Why itโs better to choose to produce oxygen on-site?
If oxygen is purchased in liquid form, the tanks need to be cooled and if demand fluctuates, the tanks need to be released at a certain pressure if demand falls below that pressure, the fish farm workers must release the oxygen into the atmosphere. Even if aqua fish farm workers choose to purchase oxygen liquid, it is best to also have enough on-site oxygen production ready to go so that fishes can survive even if an unexpected event occurs and there is no chance of oxygen delivery.
How can air compressors used for producing oxygen?
On-site oxygen production in aquaculture is primarily accomplished through one of two processes – pressure swing adsorption or vacuum swing adsorption.
โ In pressure swing adsorption system, after pressed air is generated, make it flows through a column of zeolites. The zeolites act as molecular sieves, binding nitrogen compounds in the air (which can account for 78% of the atmosphere) and thus providing high-purity oxygen.
This approach now allows the air compressors used for operating at a lower power, saving more energy. In addition, advanced zeolites can further increase the adsorption efficiency. Then the gas flow is pressurized and can be injected directly into the water, oxygen cone or diffuser.
โ In vacuum swing adsorption system, produce oxygen with oil-free air compressors. They operate at lower power than the other system and therefore have lower operating costs.
However, they have a higher investment cost, and depending on the specific application, it also requires an gas pressurizer, this is because of its low oxygen outlet pressure.
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