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Recirculating Aquaculture System
RAS is the acronym for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems. RAS fish farms are characterised by an integrated water treatment unit that constantly cleans the effluent water from the culture tanks in mechanical steps and bioreactors to remove solids and toxic nitrogen compounds that are excreted by the fish or shrimp. After being cleaned, the water can be reused and is pumped back to the holding tanks thereby closing the loop. In contrary, in the “open” or “flow through” systems all the water passes through the culture tanks makes only once and then leaves the system often with a significant impact to the environment
The design of a RAS fish or shrimp farm is very complex and requires knowledge, expertise and the right technology. FutureFish RAS for fish and shrimp farming are the right choice to provide best conditions for successful production and represent a unique, eco-friendly and reliable way to farm fish at high densities in land-based, indoor tanks with a controlled environment.
In our RAS facilities new water is added to the tanks only to make up for water loss due to splash out, evaporation and the backwashing water to flush out waste materials in the mechanical filters. With the high percentage of water recycling, our RAS systems are especially well suited to areas with limited water supplies and also enable the operation of marine farms away from the seashore and close to the markets.
The required quantity of water needed to successfully grow fish and shrimp varies with the farmed species and the farm size. As a general rule, 0.2 to 0.4 m³ of fresh water per day is needed for every ton of fish produced. For shrimp the required sea water intake is 0.3 to 0.5 m³ per day respectively (without optional water recovery).
The water can be taken from wells, municipal supplies and surface waters such as the sea for marine productions. Surface waters need to be sterilised before being fed to the RAS, but FutureFish has the technological solution for such a firewall system.
A significant reduction in water intake corresponds to a reduction in the amount of loaded effluent water. This limits the environmental impact, opens the possibility to polish the effluent for a discharge into municipal systems or to subsequently use the nutrient-rich effluents for a further biomass yield from an aquaponic plant production.
FutureFish RAS farms allow fish to be stocked and safely raised at high densities, as their metabolic waste is mechanically flow-washed from the tanks and the water leaving the filter system back to the culture tanks is sufficiently oxygenized. As land space required per ton of fish is rather low and farms can be located in or near to urban areas where large areas are not available or very expensive.
The low water consumption in Futurefish RAS farms opens up the possibility to economically control water temperatures and to allow the aquaculturist to produce a fish species that could not be raised in a flow-through system in our geographic area. The water temperature in RAS can be maintained within an optimal range in order to maximize food conversion and provide best growth throughout the year without seasonal impact.