Using molasses to control inorganic nitrogen and pH in aquaculture ponds bby Dan Witet and Catrone Morrison ‘The bit up of ox norganie forms cof nivogen especialy ammonis- Nr) [san inront prebiom in aquacute ponds. Even the best practoes cannot voi thi enc has bean shown thatfah and ovetaceans ony a= ‘Simao botweon 20-40% of ingested food he es bing excreted it the ator cob. is general accepted that approximately aif of the aon Inputs ino a pond (as fod prot) wil ‘eventual be converte into ammonia Ina well managed pond, ammonia ceumulaton Is contole! tough Uptake by algae. But alge sos ‘only patel erimonia sink and fod ponds slocked at caren conmercia Sensis, ammonia can accurate at 1 gree ao than canbe assimilated byalgg. Surplus ammona becomes valde to lying bacteria ana this can somatimos lod os bul potter it~ an termediate byproduct of nisfeaton. In aio, overgrowth of algae can iad to Blom {rashes and subsequent release of fmmonia The most cammon vy Home wih wae conservation lesuee and pent lecharge its, ‘ashing he pra sno always the ‘most desrate solon. organic hivogen cone however, can be ‘achieved by acing carbon. ‘Stuses a the Bri land Aquacu ‘ure Receareh Cai aro evststing nirogan waste conal in quacutie ponds using caon adaton. is net 2 new concept and early expermonts ondicted inimited-exanange shone {nd tlapia production systems over ‘eas nave shown that adeng carbon {othe water promotes norgantemio- (en uptake by Petertophe bactena ‘Sohow doos it work nthe simplest toms, hetererophic bacteria use ‘organ carbon as an energy soures {han conunction wth vegan fo ‘Synthasa pron for now cal mat ‘alm aquaculae wastoator hoo is a nivegen suplus, but carbon fie Ing. we boost organic carbon eves, Sostesa ean meiabaoe more ofthe valable arogen. infact acter ul scavenge a bo-avalabesoutcos {trarogen=incing armenia and I ener nti i ther is stele organic ‘bon avaiable ‘So exactly how much earbon is needs to remove inrgant rito- (gn? This question remain ict 0 answer oven ough tis not so hard ‘9 calouate a thooretes value, For Instance, barteri biomass has CN ‘aloof about 61 and carbon aeons ‘Should aim fo maitan this balan FHowover in tho same way shrnp and {ah ofl asin» porvon ofthe ingested feed, bactora wil esmiote ‘ony roughy 40% of te added carbon “Tearing we need to compensa by ‘ang arganie carton to achieve aC Nato 28 Molasses is an dal form of organic cabo ass cheap and largely car bohyarata with no edatonal nitogen ‘> complete he equation. Ircan be sy seed by emsly mixing wih ator and splashing dec nthe ond, Molasses i approxmatey 40% ‘xrbon whieh means we need 9 ada shout 32 gf malaeses to account for ‘very gram of bosavaiate nitogen. Wa those figures are ony approx rate values, sn adétona compo tons tat ammonia and nite ae no the only form of Boavatabl nivogen, Dissoved ergnt irogen amino ‘20s leached from feed) ean canst- tie vaning but subtantial prion of bie-avalabenitopen and bacteria may scavenge those bofore upaking fmmonia, Tecbore moiastes ad tons based ony onthe Ttal Ammonia Nivogen (TAN) ovl may be under. dosing, Since disoted organic nito- fen evels need to be determines in {he laboratory ts fit to get real ‘me (orthe-day) handle on how much carbon to 8 in order to move the {ove fama of trogen DPIBF tals have locked to etabish ‘2 appropriate dose rate of masse {oeneure thorough removal of ammo ‘la: Daly ished tang of amo ‘i's standerd practice so al looked ‘lmolasses dosing based soa on “TAN concerraton (32g molsseslo ‘TAN nthe pond), ls doses based double that amount oseeount or {he oxta unmeasured bio avaate ‘lrogonproront (549 TAN), Rest of tepicated experment are sum ‘mars nthe gue blow Rests show that witha singe ad ‘in of molasses, ver 65% 0! TAN is removed rom th waterbody fin Schours However he lamer dose ‘fmolasses vse consumed ty bactra before compte ammonia ‘ssimlaton was achieved. The higher ‘oee alowed contnued bacteria _ssimiaton so at ator 12 hours, ‘ammonia was vty eliminated, ue Uobactoral enesoanes and excre- tion, TAN levels began to iso again as carbon was depleted, suggesting daly ‘molasses acluons are necessary for Contnued anmonie management Me ‘Uredosed contol ponds showed ony Inerssing ammonia lovls during he tra “This bacteria assimilation is an erotic proces wich places an ad ‘tonal oxygon domand, so aaron Is required bot o maintain DO levels and isealy, keep ongarie partes Slspended to provide belle access bybactora othe be avaiable no gen. Baciria vl end to foceuste ‘round suspenced paris, which ‘emesivas can become an addUsing molasses...continued.. tional ood (protein) source for grazing ‘uted stock and this foe te basis of zeo-exchango bacteratos prasucton systems euch as tho Boze ‘shrimp fact, Ofcourse, ereating ig vlumes of foceuited organic ‘ater ponds can mean that pt (3 cranng of concetates soe f ‘euied 2 that asaved oxygen can be maintained In ation to itrogen conto, use: {ulsie eect of molasses cesng ie ‘moderating pond aH. High pond ps fare usualy 2 rosut of dense olarkon blooms sipping carbon axe rom tne pond wate or potoeyntest ‘The ality to nerease bacon num ber though molasses aon ents the equllorum that exists between photosynthetic and heerovoph ro- esses in the pond by lowing bac” tonto compare more elective with the phytoplankton, thereby mederat- ing both ho algal loom and hep Regu daly, or hice daly, acatons ‘of molaseas a ato of approximately So tes pernectare provisos aria tly sto reliable ana inoxponeve means to reduce pond DPIBF tls have demonstrate hat ‘2ppropiate carbon desing toctniques an have broad application for conte ng tove ferme of trogen in ponds ‘ane managing pH. Such vestments ‘may form the basso ifonive zo xchange suspendd:gromth produc. ‘ion systems or may be utised as part ofan emergency response io adverse ‘pond and water quality conditions.