Aeration

The daily amount of electric paddlewheel aeration and emergency tractor aeration applied to the verification ponds varied through time (Table 4 and Figure 9). In ponds A1 and A2, the paddlewheel aerators were normally turned on when the dissolved oxygen dropped below 4 mg/l which resulted in monthly aeration levels ranging from 56 to 199 hp-hour/acre (Table 4). One hp-hour/acre of electric aeration is the equivalent of one hour of aeration for one 10-hp paddlewheel on a 10-acre pond. Considering that different feeding and aeration strategies were adopted in the other verification ponds for particular reasons, only the results from pond A1 and A2 are presented here.

Three aeration efficiency ratios were estimated (Table 6). The ratio of monthly electric aeration over feed ranged from 77 to 258 hp-hour/ton of feed. The ratio of fish production over electric aeration reached up to 10.6 and 12.0 lb/hp-hour for pond A1 and A2, respectively. The monthly cost of electricity for aeration ranged from 0.7 to 2.2 cents/lb.

Catfish farmers are encouraged to calculate those efficiency ratios for their own farm and compare it to the verification ponds. Are they lower or higher? What may be the reason? What could be done to improve the performance of your enterprise?

For more information, contact Steeve Pomerleau at 870-692-3709