Abstract

Conventional fish ponds in Minna exhibited elevated ammonia levels in wastewater, yet the Recirculatory Aquaponic Systems (RAS) application for water treatment remained understudied. In view of this, the fish pond wastewater generated from catfish was treated using RAS. Standard formulas were utilised to design and fabricate the RAS and its filter. The media bed's length, width, and depth were 0.50 m, 0.3 m, and 0.41m, respectively. The filter (drum) of the RAS had a filtration rate of 4.43 m/h, and its solid rate was designed to be 0.0008715 kg/m²/min. The RAS was a preliminary study with ten (10) catfish and nursery-raised vegetables to test the system. The fish pond wastewater generated after filtration was subjected to four water quality parameters, such as Ammonia (NH4), nitrite (NO2), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. The Micro-Kjeldahl method, spectrophotometer, turbidity meter, filter paper, and weighing balance were used to determine the concentration of ammonia, nitrite, TSS, and the pH level. From the results of this study, the percentage reduction of ammonia was 74.40%. Other parameters reduced by percentage were nitrite (65%) and pH (4%). These findings imply a significant reduction in the concentration of ammonia and nitrite. The RAS and its filter demonstrated a high filtration efficiency (64%). Future studies should use this RAS to raise catfish and vegetables while monitoring TSS, Ammonia, nitrate, and pH levels weekly.

Copyright of the paper named above is hereby assigned and transferred to the Nigerian Journal of Applied Science and Innovative Technology published by College of Engineering, Bells University of Technology, Nigeria.