Optimizing tilapia biofloc technology systems, part 1

Hi Femi Monitoring requires a dynamic approach in that at start-up one needs to monitor nitrites in addition to ammonia (NH3_N), pH, dissolved oxygen and floc volume (Imhoff Cone) where once nitrites stabilize monitoring can exclude nitrites (NO2_N). After three months one needs to be monitoring copper, iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc in addition to nitrates - these become more important to monitor under very low water exchange rates. We used 98L of new water to produce a kg of tilapia to dilute concentrations of metals (and another 52L for backwashing filters). Zero exchange is not practical in BFT tilapia culture and resulted in growth depression in our fish. Hope the above helps you in your journey to discover what to monitor in BFT tilapia aquaculture. Best Ray