A one-of-a-kind facility in the Midwest, joining only a handful in the nation that offer similar aquaculture research, demonstration and education opportunities. The facility has raised over 15 different freshwater finfish species in various incubation, larval and grow out systems. As a northern campus of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the facility is located in Bayfield, Wisconsin. Learn more at: aquaculture.uwsp.edu
Thank you for asking, all of our systems are freshwater, but we work with partners at Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology that is doing research on salmonids in saltwater systems: www.umces.edu/imet We are collaborating on a national collaborative salmon project that involves research in both fresh and saltwater, more info here: salmononland.org/
Hello @YeeKhaiify we can do this several different ways. In our Atlantic salmon tanks, the tanks have been manufactured with water jets that are formed into the side of the fiberglass tank. The inflow water is supplied to these jets to create velocity in one direction. In addition, we can also create velocity using a capped PVC pipe with holes drilled down in a line for our inflow pipe. The size and amount of holes determines the velocity of flow (larger and more holes creates lower velocity, fewer and smaller holes creates greater velocity). I would be happy to discuss or send photos, email us at: ehauser@uwsp.edu
Hello @gabimatei855 our facility is 8500 square-foot production barn (what you are seeing in the video) which has the two RAS along with incubation, larval and flow through systems. We also have four half acre ponds that utilize power for aeration throughout the summer months. It is difficult for us to give you an exact number for one of our RAS apart from everything else, but an estimate would be around 28600 kilowatt hours per month for one of the RAS systems. The salmon RAS has three, 4hp, 3-phase pumps running consistently, which is most of the systems energy consumption.
@@uw-stevenspointnorthernaqu8491 Thanks for your response. I wanted to calculate roughly how much I would consume if I opened a 600 square meter facility. If I had two pumps, I still think that I would consume around 2000 kilowatts/per month. I don't know much at the moment, I'm new to this topic but I'm documenting myself day by day. Thank you for your answer!
@@gabimatei855 if you are pursuing RAS, it is critical that you utilize a proven system and design. If you like we can share with you some further resources for this, feel free to contact us: ehauser@uwsp.edu
CO2 levels is of course dependent on the species, age, water temperature and more factors, we have make up air units in the facility that remove the CO2 from the facility and bring fresh air in. Yes RAS can be an expensive system but also enables optimal control over the fish environment while reusing water. Regardless, economic and biological planning is critical for these systems to be economically sustainable and successful.
We have done research on nano bubbles but in these two RAS in this video, we are not using nano bubble technology, we are using oxygen speece cones (for our warm water system) and low head oxygenation unit (four our cold water system).
Depending on the project, system and densities, we do have some overflow or supplemental water that is coming into the system as makeup water. This gives us a bit of a buffer for water quality, cleaning, evaporation, etc. Yes, this water could be collected and used as irrigation or sent to a separate aquaponics set up. Please reach out to us and I can explain further: ehauser@uwsp.edu
What are you doing with the solids wastes? I am guessing that it can be used as a soil amendment or fertilizer for growing food. Like using it to grow duckweed or other plants to feed back to the fish?
The effluent stream is sent to a settling basin where we collect the solids and can land apply as fertilizer, we donate this fertilizer to local farmers. The water that overflows the settling basin then is sent to a created wetland where nutrients are taken up by cattails and wild rice. Both the settling basins and wetland size was designed to handle a maximum feed load for our facility.
If you want to learn more about this RDM shrimp, check out this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-48Gr99j_O9g.htmlsi=BA5ALp7Pdzrk8EIS
Hello Michele, thanks for asking. We feed our fish a diet consistent with the nutritional needs of the species, as well as have ingredients that are certified for human consumption of these food fish. All of our fish are fed a pelleted diet when they are raised indoors. These diets are also specific for use in water reuse systems. We utilize a variety of Skretting diets for this purpose: www.skretting.com/ . There are many misconceptions of fish food, especially utilization of pigments in the diets. These pigments are actually an important antioxidant for the fish as well as for us, known as astaxanthin or canthaxanthin. You can actually purchase these at a health food store as a supplement. For more info on fish food, check out the National Aquaculture Association page here: www.nationalaquaculture.org/aquaculture-sustainability/ or feel free to let me know any other questions you may have.
In their a reason for siphoning? Instead of siphoning why couldn’t you utilize a pump on a drill inline? Why risk getting that nasty stuff in your mouth.
Hello, thank you for your question, generally this system has about a 60% water reuse potential, mainly the limiting factor was oxygen. Again, this system does not have a drum filter or biofilter so we relied on the fresh water to flush ammonia and solids from the system. We had 8 tanks in this system, calculation for reusing the water is approximated here: 8 tanks 2000L each, 2 exchanges an hour 8X2000X2=32000 Liters per hour 533LPM 141Gallons per minute 60% of that is 19200LPH of recirc water 19200/60=320LPM, about 85 Gallons per minute. The remaining is 12800LPH = 213LPM or 56GPM fresh water.
@@uw-stevenspointnorthernaqu8491 Where does this new water come from because 56 gpm is a lot of water, 3360 gph, or 80000 gallons per day . That would be expensive here. About 84 dollars a day or 2400 a month.
@@vtecmissle thanks for your question. The facility has two high-capacity wells, they are able to provide around 800 gallons per minute each, although generally we are using a maximum of 500 gallons per minute for the entire research facility, most of this flow is going to our flow through larval and raceway systems. Yes, depending on your location, 56 gallons per minute may be significant to run, but this idea was comparing against a flow through system. In that case we would have to run 141 gallons per minute if this system was flow through. This system was created as a way to save water without using a drum or biofilter.
Thank you for your information. I’d like to come visit your facility so. I’d love to start a shrimp farm up here in Nebraska. We have a few and I think they are a wonderful idea.
Hi Jody. RDM is certainly one place to approach for help. Another good source for this kind of aquatic knowledge is Kentucky State University Center for Aquaculture. They helped set up Black Iris Farms in Ann Arbor, Michigan which is a state of the art marine shrimp farming facility. I was one of the lucky few that got a tour of Black Iris Farms and all I can say is “I want one too!”. The owner is also an amazing person and one of the most honest people that I’ve ever met in my life.
Thanks for the informative video. If I can suggest, it would be great if you can add a video of your normal day. This explains what you do on daily basis like how you perform that tests, how these test kits look like, how you feed, what system you have in your farm etc. Just a suggestion for your next video.
When I look at how Asians run their ponds - outdoors and in buildings - with almost no facilities at all, apart from tanks and - yes, let's call them filters - then I still have my own experiences ex-aquarist. That means: you establish your system and leave it alone. Only if it doesn't work: you have to intervene! Water always has to be moved - and the more technology you use - the more complicated it becomes and also: it constantly becomes more expensive because you have to purchase more or less technical consumables periodically! Back then I had a good, efficient supplier: a centrifugal pump and a single filter material. Today you would say: that's just a coarse filter! This means that the high water circulation runs endlessly through the filter, which can be washed out! The Asians do it the same way: they break up old plastic and create an area that is potentiated, i.e. offers a lot of small areas. This is important for bacteria and algae! and cheap! The filter is a sponge cloth, a woven one: this is the pre-filter. so far so good! And you use a third canister to prevent larvae from getting into the filter: this is a kind of grid! As a former aquarist, I had a system back then that no one else had - a bottom flooder. Coarse gravel and plants in the water - that was over 4000 liters - ensured that the aquarium was planted - and everything - gravel and plants - stood on a plate hollow chamber system that was flowed through - from top to bottom! In the tank I had tropical fish, snails and ground fish with sucking mouths: these kept the aquarium free of algae - thus reducing the algae growth due to too much light! Later I put floating plants up there - where fish could spawn, hide and find resting places! Others had conventional, minimal technology with an air pump for ventilation and nothing else! It was constantly tipping over - because they had no bottom fish, no snails that ate leftover food! The most important thing about a culture, hydroculture, is that you don't aerate water or, as in Asia, move it with paddles: that's like mixing the dirt in a kitchen mixer - but rather letting it flow! The second important thing is to use mussels and snails: mussels filter water and snails eat leftover food. And the third thing is that you don't introduce feeding times: it's better to overfeed them than to underfeed them! Asian apple snails that grow very large eat all the time - so they need something to eat. You need my filter if you have plants in the water - and creatures, snails and mussels, that filter water. you just have to pump the water and move it! There is someone - also an American - who says: clear water is like the plague - because it contains no bacteria. Admittedly, the bacteria come along sooner or later through the digestion of the fish or animals! My experience is: never filter, always move water, aerate - but not with air pumps! Water that is moved - oxygen tears into the water as it flows - so you have to spray the water through pipes and let it fall! You don't need any technology: you can use a hydraulic ram to generate water pressure and operate the hydraulic ram as a pump without any technology, i.e. without electricity! Many fish - including shrimp - don't need that much light. You can generate this moderately yourself: running water that you need and generate yourself through the hydraulic ram - it has to fall again, fall down: you can interpose impellers - these are waterproof motors - and let it generate electric current endlessly. As long as water flows, there is electricity! You don't need any technology and as food, shrimps eat practically anything green, including fruit and vegetables! you don't need to buy anything! For cultivation: if you get the larvae, that's expensive! A single female can lay over a million eggs!. Raising the shrimp yourself from the egg to the larva to the shrimp can significantly improve your cultivation. This means that the conditions you create have an influence on whether your returns are good or bad. Most of the time the result is moderate - because the conditions are inadequate in parts or as a whole! The best way would be: to find the best way - for yourself! the round pools - sorry - they suck! Try an oval pool - like a race track - you have everything on one level - and it can flow. You can dress your shrimp quickly and easily! If you need a pattern: take a look here - you can't buy it, you have to build it yourself or have it built! look there: grabcad.com/library/farm-for-pangasius-and-ducks-1 It doesn't matter what you have in the water: with the system you can do it in the water: you can block the oval - then everything goes in the middle: your shrimp can be fished out of the water in just one place, so to speak. The thing has almost 2 million liters of circulating water! About the hydraulic ram: it works with water pressure - that means you only need one place, which has to be deeper, in which the hydraulic ram can be operated. Start it once and it will continue running forever! contact me via grabcad - then I will receive an email if you want! Kind regards from Berlin, Germany
This is a dip treatment where we can dip from 1 to 3% , if you were looking at a bath treatment, that would be much lower level like a .3%. check out this article: www.thesprucepets.com/using-salt-in-a-freshwater-aquarium-1378797#:~:text=When%20treating%20external%20parasites%2C%20a%20dip%20is%20the,make%20a%20solution%20of%201.5%20to%203.0%25%20salinity.
Hello Tim, interesting video. Do you have a brochure or any information related to the amount of gemma micro diet to use per tank or per larvae biomass? or how to calculate it?
Thank you for your comment, if you go to the video settings you can increase the resolution, otherwise we will be posting the PowerPoint presentations in the description once they are loaded online, hoping this will be done in the next week or so.
Hello, apologies on the late response, all the presentations can be viewed and downloaded here: uwsp.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_893964fb-c5bd-470b-bcd0-f4b87b231d35/ Also, if you increase the quality of the video playing on RU-vid (under the settings icon in the video), the slides should show up better in the video.
Hi Peter, I am unsure, we normally use food grade iodine free salt for this, it is cheap and biosecure. If you are using seawater, you may be exposing pathogens to your fish.
Hello, thanks for the comment, be sure and quarantine the fish from any others. Generally, salt is for parasites or bacteria issues, and may help with a bacterial infection that could be causing the sores. Check in with your local aquarium about some treatment options, maybe melafix or pimafix. Unless diagnosed, it may be hard to treat. Salt dips can also be done, but do some research first on dipping your koi and what others have found effective, adding aquarium salt to a quarantine tank following the brand's instructions may also help to heal the sores and prevent further infection.
You don't need a bio-filter on an aquaponics system...the plants are your biofilter. Plants uptake and indeed prefer ammonia over Nitrate. If you have Nitrate, add more plants. Biofiltration in grow-media beds is incidental to the plant uptake. It's amazing how widely misunderstood this is.
Hello thank you for your comment and watching our video, here are some thoughts to your comments: 1. You don't need a bio-filter on an aquaponics system. a. This is true if it is a small aquaponic system, hobby to family-size. There are enough bacteria in the tanks, pipes and plant roots to serve the role of a biofilter. b. But if this is a commercial-sized system, then an additional biofilter may be necessary because there isn’t enough surface area for the bacteria to grow on just in the tanks, pipes and plant roots. Especially since the plants will be on a revolving harvest schedule. 2. Plants uptake and indeed prefer ammonia over Nitrate. a. Plants can uptake both ammonia and nitrate. Which they prefer is a factor of pH and the type of plant. If the plant uptakes ammonia it needs to assimilate it into a transferable form. 3. Biofiltration in grow-media beds is incidental to the plant uptake. a. Most aquaponic systems that use grow beds do not require a biofilter because the grow-media provides enough surface are for the beneficial bacteria. As you know, there is such a diversity of aquaponics systems from size, design and species raised. Therefore how the systems operate including biofiltration can be widely different.
Hello, thank you for your comment, results have yet to be published but the project page is here: www3.uwsp.edu/cols-ap/nadf/Pages/Walleye-Reared-in-Traditional-vs-Integrated-Aquaculture-Systems-.aspx also check out some of these cost estimate templates for raising walleye in RAS: www3.uwsp.edu/cols-ap/nadf/Pages/Walleye-for-Food-and-Stocking.aspx
Excellent video. Lot to learn. Still RAS Modeling software is not develop yet. You are expert, you should develop real time sensors based Modeling software
Thank you for your comment. Fish health and welfare is a top priority for us as well as many aquaculture farmers. Fish are highly sensitive animals and prolonged stress can quickly lead to disease or mortalities. It is crucial for us and farmers to provide optimum water quality and environment for fish to thrive and survive. We strive for sustainable fish culture to support a healthy protein source for communities but also to support research for fish conservation efforts. In the U.S., fish farmers are regulated by a number of agencies including EPA, USDA, DNR, NOAA, and Dept. of Agriculture. If you have any other questions about how fish are raised in the United States, please contact us.
we have salmon grow out farms in New Zealand, salmon species not native. the advantage is that no lice is present in our waters. but human impact is resorting us towards ras tech. we have kingfish ras dominating our aquaculture industry tho I'd like to diversity with freshwater and ocean water ras project. being aquaponics and algae cultivation playing a key role in reducing operational costs to a minimal. would love to learn the tech as salmon ras nz is very new to us.
Thank you for your comment, check out our deliverables specific to RAS here: www3.uwsp.edu/cols-ap/nadf/Pages/Recirculating-Aquaculture-Systems.aspx Also, there is a great book resource on RAS: www.amazon.com/Recirculating-Aquaculture-M-B-Timmons-Vinci/dp/0971264694/ref=asc_df_0971264694?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80539356894430&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584138878389083&psc=1
