Experimental investigation on the transport of different fish species in a jet fish pump

A jet fish pump with a throat of ø60 mm was designed to study its performance in the transport of different fish species and the physiological changes in fish thereafter. Experiments were conducted to investigate the fish transport rate and energy required to transport each ton of fish when transporting Carassius auratus, commonly known as the Chinese goldfish, Megalobrama amblycephala, or Wuchang bream, and Ctenopharyngodon idella, the grass carp. Fish were examined for external injuries as well as for several important enzymes and hormones which are indicators of tissue injury and stress. The results showed that the transport rate for all three species of fish rose dramatically with an increase in the primary stream rate. In this experiment, the transport rates of C. auratus, M. amblycephala and C. idella reached 2357 ± 37.2 kg ∙ h⁻¹, 2888 ± 41.6 kg ∙ h⁻¹, and 2060 ± 40.2 kg ∙ h⁻¹, respectively. However, both injury rate and energy required to transport each ton of fish increased no matter whether the primary stream rate was too low or too high. Considering both transport rate and injury rate, the mean primary stream rate of 80 m³ ∙ h⁻¹ was determined to be the optimal operating condition in this experiment. Fish were stressed and most likely some of their organs were damaged. However, most physiological indexes almost fully recovered after several hours.     

Engineered-airlift pumps for aquaculture applications using multiphase flow analysis

Currently, very few aquaculture operations are employing airlift pump technology for water recirculation, aeration, and waste removal. This is likely due to the poor design and lower efficiency of traditional airlift design, the limited amount of research effort that has been invested in improving performance capabilities of air lift pumps and the general lack of awareness of the industry about the inherent advantages of airlift systems. A new efficient airlift pump is hydrodynamically designed by incorporating the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multi-phase model along with the K-ε turbulence model utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. The pump is designed to offer a substantial reduction in total energy usage as well as an improved quality of the culture products in order to make it attractive to aquaculture industry. In this study, both numerical and experimental investigations were carried out for airlift systems operating under two different submergence ratios of 50% and 90% in a lab setting using 2.54 cm diameter pumps. Also, the performance of a large-scale pumps of 10.16 cm diameters were also tested in an aquaculture raceway to determine its effect on the operation. The numerical results were found to be in agreement with the experiments within ±20% which is considered very reasonable for multiphase flow analysis. The present study was found to present a great tool for modelling the airlift pump performance, and potentially proposing new designs.     

Simulation of future dissolved oxygen distribution in pond culture based on sliding window-temporal convolutional network and trend surface analysis

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a key ecological factor to measure the quality of water in the aquaculture. As the pond water body is affected by the breeding environment, the spatial distribution of DO shows a certain law in the entire pond. Therefore, to simulate the distribution of DO in aquaculture waters and grasp the temporal and spatial variation of DO is the key to achieving precise regulation of DO. For this purpose, this paper proposed a method for simulating the temporal and spatial distribution of DO in pond culture based on a sliding window-temporal convolutional network together with trend surface analysis (SW-TCN-TSA). This paper first utilized SW to construct DO data sets with different prediction durations, and then used the improved TCN model to realize one-dimensional time series prediction for DO at single monitoring point. Based on the prediction results of DO, a TSA method was performed on the predicted values of DO at the extreme moments of all discrete monitoring points, so as to realize the simulation of the temporal and spatial distribution of DO in the pond. Experimental results show that the SW-TCN model has better prediction performance for one-dimensional time series prediction of DO. Compared with traditional deep networks, such as CNN, GRU, LSTM, CNN-GRU and CNN-LSTM, the values of evaluation indicators (MSE, MAE and RMSE) have been greatly improved. In the process of trend surface fitting, all fitting R² of DO at different water depths are higher than 0.9, indicating that the TSA can accurately reflect the temporal and spatial distribution of DO. This method can provide a basis for the prediction and early warning of DO in the three-dimensional space of the pond and has high practicability in aquaculture.     

Typical hydrodynamic models for aquaculture nets: A comparative study under pure current conditions

The net is regarded as the most critical component in marine aquaculture facilities as it is the only barrier which protects the environment from fish escapes. Accurate predictions of the net cage deformation and drag force on the nets are needed, both for ensuring fish welfare and for dimensioning of the mooring system. Thus, an appropriate hydrodynamic model is essential. In practice, two types of hydrodynamic force models, i.e., the Morison type and the Screen type, are commonly used to calculate the hydrodynamic forces on nets. Application of the models depends on the underlying structural model and the availability of data. A systematic review of hydrodynamic models is therefore undertaken to compare the models and various parameterisations, in aid of model selection during the design. In this study, eleven commonly used hydrodynamic models, i.e., five Morison models and six Screen models, are reviewed comprehensively, and implemented into a general finite element (FE) solver for dynamic simulations. Sensitivity studies on different current velocities, inflow angles and solidities of the nets are carried out. Moreover, different wake effects are also considered in numerical simulations. The numerical results from different models are compared against existing experimental data under pure current conditions. Suggestions for selection of suitable hydrodynamic models are provided, based on the model comparison.     

Monitoring shrimp growth with control charts in aquaculture

This work proposes a method for the statistical monitoring of the weekly weight of shrimp in a fish farm. The design of control charts for shrimp growth presents several challenges, the main ones being the presence of trend and autocorrelation. Several control charts are proposed, the most efficient being a chart based on the residuals of a second order autoregression whose parameters vary with the week. A control chart with less computational complexity is also provided. It is simply based on growth rates and works well at detecting negative weight changes. Real data from a large shrimp farm has been used for both the design and the evaluation.     

Drag force and reconfiguration of cultivated Saccharina latissima in current

The design of aquaculture systems requires an understanding of the drag forces on cultivated kelp. This study measured the drag on line segments of cultivated Saccharina latissima in a towing tank. The drag on segments of farm line with full kelp bundles and with stipes alone (fronds removed) was measured at tow speeds of 0.10 to 0.50 m/s. The drag on individual fronds cut from the line was also measured. Video images were collected to evaluate the plant reconfiguration. Both kelp blades and stipes contributed to the total drag force on the line bundle. Within the velocity range of our experiments, the kelp blades were essentially horizontal. However, the pronation of kelp stipes increased as flow velocity increased. The reconfiguration of kelp stipes was observed to decrease the vertical extent of the kelp bundle. Due to this reconfiguration, the measured force, $F$, increased with velocity, $U$, at a rate slower than quadratic, and was consistent with scaling laws derived for reconfiguration. Specifically, $F\sim U^{\alpha }$ with $\alpha =1.35\pm 0.17$.     

Performance evaluation of venturi aeration system

The venturi aeration is an effective practice to increase the dissolved oxygen accessibility in the water bodies. This study aims to optimize the various geometrical parameters of the venturi aeration system. A non-dimensional technique was applied to find the optimum performance of various geometric parameters i.e. throat lengths (t_l), number of air holes (N), and converging and diverging angles (α and β). These experiments have been carried out using 1124 L capacity of tank having dimensions of 105 cm long, 105 cm wide and 102 cm deep. The experiments were conducted at a constant flow velocity of water (1.096 m/s) with varying throat length (t_l = 20–100 mm keeping 20 mm as interval between two consecutive length), number of air holes (N = 1–17 at an equal hole to hole distance of 5 mm between them), and converging and diverging angles (α and β = 10°, 15°, 20° and 25°). Multiple non-linear regression equations were also developed from the linear relation with the dependent variable (Non-dimensional form of standard aeration efficiency, NDSAE) and independent variables (t_l and N). With the geometrically optimized venturi aerator the optimum performance was found for t_l =100 mm, N = 17, and α and β = 15°. The maximum value of standard oxygen transfer rate (SOTR) and standard aeration efficiency (SAE) obtained was 0.0216 kgO₂/h and 0.611 kgO₂/kWh respectively. From the non-dimensional study, it was found that the NDSAE is the function Reynolds number (Re) and Froude number (Fr). The simulation equations were developed on the basis of Re and Fr for NDSAE, and subjected to 7.378 × 10⁻⁶ < Re < 3.689 × 10^-5 and 0.163 < Fr < 0.817, respectively.     

养殖尾水处理系统填料生物膜氮循环微生物功能特征

为探讨填料生物膜在养殖尾水处理中对水体氮循环的影响机制,采用16S rRNA基因扩增子测序和宏基因组测序技术,对填料生物膜、水体细菌的群落结构及其与氮循环相关的功能基因丰度差异特征进行了研究。结果显示,填料生物膜微生物主要参与氮代谢活动。在属水平上,Pseudomonas、Spirochaeta、Opitutus和Syntrophus是填料生物膜氮素转化过程的重要功能微生物类群。与水体相比,填料生物膜的碳代谢活动能力较强（P<0.05）;填料生物膜上固氮功能基因nifH、硝化功能基因hao、反硝化和异化硝酸盐功能基因napA、nirS、norB、norC、nrfA、nirB和氮代谢调控基因ntrC及其相应的关键酶均显著高于周围水体（P<0.05）,且对含氮污染物有显著去除效果。研究表明,养殖尾水处理系统内复合填料生物膜具有比周围水环境更强的氮周转能力,主要通过关键功能物种介导的固氮和反硝化作用实现养殖尾水氮素的转化和迁移。研究结果作为野外实验证据,可为复合填料生物膜系统在水产养殖尾水治理中的应用提供理论依据。     

地衣芽孢杆菌降解水产养殖中残余饵料的特性研究

从土壤及饲料添加剂中筛选获得了一株能较高效降解水产养殖中残余饵料蛋白、淀粉的功能菌,经鉴定为地衣芽孢杆菌.通过研究养殖水体中饲料浓度、pH值、温度等因素对地衣芽孢杆菌降解饲料中蛋白质、淀粉的影响.结果表明,该菌降解饲料中蛋白质、淀粉的适宜条件为:饲料浓度≤5g/L,pH值6～7,温度25～30℃,盐浓度0～1%,溶氧浓度约4mg/L.地衣芽孢杆菌在这种水体生态条件下接种5%,饲料中的蛋白质与淀粉降解率约为60%.     

富藻养殖水体中金鱼藻和篦齿眼子菜的抑藻效果研究

夏季高温时,养殖水体水华现象频繁发生,给养殖业带来巨大的损失。常见水生植物释放的活性物质在低浓度下可以起到抑藻作用,对藻类调控具有重要意义。本研究采用实验室静态模拟方法,取养殖池塘暴发蓝藻水华的水体,与沉水植物金鱼藻(Ceratophyllum demersum)及篦齿眼子菜(Potamogeton pectinatus)进行共培养,研究这2种沉水植物对养殖水华水体营养水平、藻类生长、藻类结构及浮游藻类生物多样性的影响。结果显示,金鱼藻和篦齿眼子菜可显著降低水华水体氮、磷等营养水平(P<0.05);金鱼藻和篦齿眼子菜可有效抑制水华蓝藻(Cyanobacteria)生长,尤其对颤藻和微囊藻(Microcystis sp.)效果显著(P<0.05),且篦齿眼子菜对水华蓝藻抑制效果更为显著。实验结束时,篦齿眼子菜培养组藻密度下降93.6%,生物量下降98.9%,叶绿素a含量下降60.5%;金鱼藻培养组藻密度下降72.5%,生物量下降86.8%,叶绿素a含量下降54.3%;金鱼藻和篦齿眼子菜的存在可促进养殖水体浮游藻类生物多样性增加,且金鱼藻提高浮游藻类生物多样性效果更显著。金鱼藻培养组浮游藻类生物多样性升高98.4%,篦齿眼子菜培养组浮游藻类生物多样性升高50.3%。本研究结果可为未来生态养殖提供理论依据和参考。