Aquaculture is becoming a critical source of food for people around the world, especially in the United States. With Americans eating more seafood each year, overfishing wild populations is a serious risk. Commercial fish farming, also known as aquaculture, helps meet the rising demand and makes the seafood industry more sustainable.
Air compressors play a significant role in aquaculture operations. In fact, they’re necessary for a thriving farm. Understanding why an aquaculture air compressor system is highly important can be useful for purchasing new equipment and maintaining a healthy population.
Top 6 Applications for Air Compressors in Aquaculture
Air compressors are versatile tools that can support various operations, including small- and large-scale aquaculture farming. The following are the most common uses of compressed air in the industry.
1. Oxygenation
Oxygenation, also known as aeration, is the primary purpose for using air compressors in aquaculture. It’s used in both onshore and offshore operations to protect the body of water from losing too much oxygen.
Oxygenation is essential for fish farming because aquatic life needs a consistent supply of oxygen to survive. Oil-free air compressors continuously inject clean, safe oxygen into the water to help fish grow while deterring the growth of unwanted bacteria and dangerous pathogens.
2. Circulation
An oil-free air compressor is a key component in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) because it provides the power needed for agitators or pneumatic mixing pumps to consistently stir and aerate the water. It’s essential to use oil-free compressors for this application, as water purity is critical for sustaining the health of your fish.
Circulation helps keep the water moving and the temperature consistent throughout the farm pen, eliminating the risk of:
- Thermal stratification: The temperature at the sun-warmed surface becomes dramatically warmer than the temperature at lower depths, which can no longer support life in the same capacity. While thermal stratification is natural in static bodies of water, it can be a risk for farm-raised fish that cannot swim to fresh waters.
- Lack of oxygen: Stagnant water is a serious risk in any aquatic ecosystem because it is lower in oxygen than moving water and can cause suffocation.
- Harmful growth: Lack of movement can also promote the growth of algae and unwanted bacteria, which can further reduce oxygen levels and impact your fish.
3. Biofiltration and Waste Removal
Living creatures produce waste, and allowing that waste to remain in a body of water can lead to the rapid spread of disease. An oil-free air compressor can help gently move that waste out of the water to keep your fish safe and healthy.
By blowing compressed air through a moving conical device, the system creates a suction effect that removes:
- Dead and dying organisms.
- Contaminated water.
- Organic waste.
The system’s suction effect causes these substances to rise to the surface, where farmers can easily remove them from the body of water.
4. Feeding
Feeding can be complex in large-scale aquaculture operations like hatcheries and offshore fish farming, as the food must be distributed well enough to reach every fish in an area. A pneumatic circulating system can help improve feeding distribution by blowing steady streams of air into the water, creating currents that pick up and distribute the food to every area of the aquaculture pen.
Oil-free air compressors are vital for this pneumatic system because they blow food pellets through the water using currents, which ensures the food travels effectively through your pens and feeds your fish. Because they don’t use oil as fuel, these compressors ensure the food can move through the system without introducing toxins into the water that could harm your fish.
You can also turn these specific systems off after feedings or adjust the settings to provide normal circulation when they are not in use to distribute food.
5. Fish Handling and Transportation
While handling live fish can be risky due to the possibility of exposing fish to pathogens, air pressure systems significantly reduce that risk by eliminating the need for workers to handle them directly.
Fry cultivation is an excellent example. Farmers grow juvenile fish, also known as fry, in drawers before moving them to nurseries or releasing them into the wild. Pneumatic transportation systems powered by oil-free air compressors gently move the fry from their drawers to their next destination so they can safely grow into adult fish.
6. Fish Protection
Predation can be an issue in aquaculture, especially in offshore and pond environments where the pens are surrounded by the natural environment. Unwanted species can invade your area, potentially putting your fish at risk and causing them stress.
Fortunately, there are solutions you can use to eliminate this risk. An oil-free air compressor creates a ring of clean air bubbles around the aquaculture farm, creating a kind of “bubble curtain” that walls off the population from the surrounding water.
In addition to keeping unwanted animals like jellyfish and sharks out, bubble curtains have been found to provide psychological and physical benefits to captive fish.
Benefits of Air Pumps for Aquaculture
Some of the most significant advantages of using premium oil-free air compressors and pump systems for aquaculture include the following:
- Reducing manual labor: Automated compressors power pneumatic systems for transporting, feeding and harvesting fish without exposing your fish to harmful chemicals. These devices lessen the amount of time farmers must spend manually working, which can reduce the risk of injury.
- Improving working conditions: Pneumatic air systems help to reduce the need for manual labor and speed up important processes, which can improve worker morale and ensure efficient time to market.
- Flexibility and versatility: Air compressors are highly adaptable to many different aquaculture systems, including ponds, RAS and tanks, so you can easily adapt your unit to new setups if needed. Custom air compressor solutions are also available to optimize performance in your specific environment.
- Minimizing losses: By protecting your fish with bubble curtains and quickly removing waste through circulation, you can keep them healthier and ensure more fish make it to market. This reliability provides a higher return on investment and improves your reputation as a dependable supplier of seafood.
If you have any questions about using an air compressor for your aquaculture operation, speak to an industry expert. The team at Quincy Compressor is here to support you.
Harness the Power of Compressed Air for Aquaculture at Quincy Compressor
At Quincy Compressor, we offer a wide range of oil-free air compressors for use across various industries, including agriculture, health care, breweries and more. Whether your aquaculture farm is offshore or onshore, our experts can help you determine the right product for your application so you get the right size compressor for your pens.
We also offer maintenance services and genuine part replacements to keep your investment functioning for many years to come. Plus, connectivity and remote monitoring capabilities through ICONS provide intelligent insights into your business to help you enhance productivity and improve your bottom line.
Upgrade your aquaculture systems today. Contact us today to request a free quote for any of our air compression products.
