Utilization of Corn Residues for Water Filtration at Fish Tanks

Abstract

Filtration has been widely used in re-circulating aquaculture system to remove waste. However, the study of some agricultural residues (corn) usage as the filter medium has not yet been studied. Therefore, the aim of this study is to construct a filter made from inexpensive and readily available corn residues and to analyze its effectiveness in controlling suspended solids that directly impact health of fish through abrasion of gill tissues or indirectly through water quality deterioration. The performance evaluation procedure was carried out in an aquaculture system with production in glass tanks located indoor in laboratory at Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, Egypt. The evaluation included three concentrations of total suspended solids (450, 900 and 1,350 mg/L); four residues particle size distribution (3.35, 9.53, 12.7 mm and ascending order to mentioned sizes from bottom to top); and four thicknesses of filter layer (9, 21, 33 and 45 cm). The effectiveness of this filter was measured by determining filter efficiency (ηf), % and filtration rate (FR), mL/min. It was observed that the maximum value of (ηf), % was achieved at 450 mg/L concentration of total suspended solids, ascending order to sizes from bottom to top and 45 cm thickness of filtration layer. The maximum value of filtration rate was achieved at 450 mg/l concentration of total suspended solids, 12.7 mm particle size distribution and 9 cm thickness of filter layer. Results indicated that this filter is efficient enough to remove suspended solids. Therefore, this milled corn residues filter can be used in aquaculture systems for Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus culture system.