Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

Author(s):
Maloth Mohan, Gora Shiva Prasad, Rajesh Kumar Dash, Kakani Vijay Prakash, Nur Mohammed Mollah, Pabitra Barik and Varadaraju S

Abstract:
Dissolved oxygen is the single most important water quality parameter, which makes shrimp or fish survive in the water and makes aquaculture production possible with high stocking and feeding rates. The major sources of oxygen in ponds are phytoplankton photosynthesis and mechanical aeration. Aeration can increase the carrying capacity of an aquaculture system. Mechanical aeration is applied to avoid nighttime dissolved oxygen concentrations from falling below the critical level for fish of 2 mg/L. Oxygen is essential for the production of all species of fish and shellfish. The cost of the mechanical aerators is more and it requires more operational and maintenance costs. The present study few conventional aerators were designed and fabricated such as three-tier perforated tray aerator, cascading wooden plank aerator, rotating wheel aerator and vertical perforated cylindrical aerator. Using these fabricated aerators, experiments were conducted in the ponds to check their dissolution of oxygen rate during the day and nighttime. Overall, results show that in shallow ponds, aeration during the day yields better results than during the night, as it increases oxygen concentration throughout the water column.