Water Is More Than Just Water.
Not all water is created equal. Water content varies greatly from our faucets, to rivers and lakes, being composed of much more than simply hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Almost all water which is retrieved from a primary source includes a variety of minerals and organisms, some which may be beneficial for healthy growth, and some which may be detrimental. Common practice in shrimp industries is to use chlorine and other chemicals to attempt to prevent and limit the growth of these harmful pathogens and bacteria in the water. Water is an essential component in shrimp growth, seeing as their entire environment is water. It is important to obtain adequate physicochemical and properties in the water, to ensure the most efficient and healthy growth cycle possible. Seeing as water can vary in these properties by the hour, and can harbour dangerous pathogens, growers are always looking for ways to efficiently standardize their water quality at its optimal values.
How Does Water Quality Affect Shrimp Production?
it is essential that water quality in aquaculture is closely controlled to maintain the health of the species under culture and maximize production. Optimal water quality creates favourable conditions for animal growth and reduces hazardous water parameters, like ammonia and organic particles, which can reduce the risks for diseases. Improved water quality can also reduce environmental pollution which arises from wastewater from aquaculture farms. Several parameters must be maintained within ideal ranges in order to ensure highest productivity, these parameters are: temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, alkalinity, pH, settleable solids, “N” chemicals, phytoplankton, vibrio and hardness.
What Can Engeenuity Offer Your Aquaculture Production?
Faster Growth Cycles & Increased Animal Weight
Engeenuity has worked alongside one of the largest and most important shrimp farms in Panama, for over 6 months, in order to test and prove the efficiency of Engeenuity´s technology. Managers and technicians in the farm noted that larvae’s exposed to our optimized water grew from Z1 to Z2 stage without any inconvenience, showed full digestive tracts, and very good lipid vacuoles and growth, , while control tanks presented slow growth into Z2 stage, empty digestive tracts, and very little growth. We were able to speed up growth from M2 to M3 stages in post-larvae, providing synchronicity in our tanks and progressing almost 1 day quicker compared to control groups. At the end of the test, results showed we increased final weight by approximately 18% and reduced total growth times by approximately 3 days.
Environmental Control/ Bacteria & Pathogen Reduction
By introducing our bacteriostatic mechanism of action in the water, we were able to prove our capacity to reduce the presence of bacteria and pathogen in growth tanks. In bacteriological tests of water placed in TCBS agar, Engeenuity’s samples showed less growth of yellow colonies compared to control groups. Controlling the environment in which shrimp grew, allowed us to increase survival rate by 2% compared to control groups, as well as improving average survival by 113%. We were also able to reduce bacterial load significantly in Engeenuity’s test tanks.
Reduced Chemicals in Water Management Systems
One of the main water parameters which Engeenuity is able to modify is surface tension. By reducing surface tension in water, we are able to weaken the water’s molecular bonds, allowing more efficient unions between chemical and water molecules, which also causes for the water to more readily soak into pores and organisms. On several tests run in a chemical production plant in Panama, we were able to reduce by >50% the amount of active ingredients in Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, and Degreaser/Hard Surface Cleaner, yet provided improved cleaning capacity compared to the original mixtures. In the specific tests run in shrimp farms, as mentioned by technicians who supervised the test, tanks which were treated with Engeenuity’s technology required lower costs by eliminating chlorine and other chemicals used in washing the tanks, and reduced by 80% (to less than 1 day) the unproductive time used to wash the tanks, opening the possibility for many more sowings during the year. They also mentioned that one of the 4 quantifiable objectives of improvements caused by Engeenuity´s technology was minimizing the use of chlorine and other chemicals used in their processes, which reduced costs and improved workers´ health.