Assessment of an automated IoT-biofloc water quality management system in the Litopenaeus vannamei’s mortality and growth rate

Abstract

Climate change greatly influenced aquaculture in the Philippines and the deteriorating water quality; in effect, fish production reduced drastically. Thus, fish farmers and aquaculture researchers have been searching for innovative technologies to address these issues. One technology is the biofloc systems. This technology uses a zero-water exchange and accumulates microorganisms that serves as a food source. In the biofloc, water quality management is highly recommended. This study aimed to assess the technical and operational effect on the shrimp growth and survival of the developed automated water quality management internet of things (IoT) system in a biofloc system. The hardware prototype comes with a mobile application which has features namely: account management, fish/shrimp profile, water quality management, auto feeding and manual controls. This study conducts experimental research which assessed the impact of an indoor pond biofloc with the developed prototype on the Litopenaeus vannamei’s growth and survival rates. Results were favorable to the biofloc system with the developed prototype, having a 10% higher survival rate and 3.2% higher growth rate, compared to the traditional recirculating aquaculture systems. Adapting the biofloc and the IoT prototype, a fish farmer may earn P78,300 pesos for each white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) harvesting period.