Increasing nitrification efficiency of an aquaponic system to cultivate cold water fish in Canada

在本项目中，将改进从美国购买的鱼菜共生系统，以提高加拿大蒙特利尔地区冷水鱼养殖的硝化效率。这种鱼菜共生系统是环境友好型的，不会释放任何鱼废水，这些废水被植物充分利用在一个单独的水培水箱中。然而，现有的鱼菜共生设施主要是在美国生产的温水鱼（即 **罗非鱼）在大约25 °C。蒙特利尔地区的一家当地公司Aqua Bord-du-lac计划 ** 在加拿大的冷水鱼（即鳟鱼）养殖中采用这一系统。Aqua Bord-du-lac购买了两套鱼菜共生设施，实验已于2018年1月开始。初步结果表明，冷水鱼的水温必须控制在16** °C以下，在此温度下，鱼产生的铵不能有效地转化为硝酸盐。铵 ** 对鱼类有毒，并导致鱼类死亡。在这种低温下，设备的生物过滤器不能很好地将 ** 铵转化为硝酸盐。因此，本研究的目的是提高这种鱼菜共生系统的硝化效率，用于冷水鱼养殖。这一系统的改进将首先有利于蒙特利尔当地生产商Aqua**Bord-du-lac的业务，该公司计划投资数百万美元扩大这一鱼菜共生产业。第二，它还将有利于加拿大室内冷水养殖的水产养殖业。这一封闭系统也将 ** 对加拿大的环境保护作出重大贡献。我们的研究团队由麦吉尔水质管理专业的副教授齐志明博士和博士组成。学生凯文·凯利，博士后研究助理蒋倩静博士。

In this project, an aquaponics system purchased from U.S. will be improved to increase nitrification efficiency**for the cultivation of cold water fish in Montreal area, Canada. This aquaponic system is environmental**friendly without releasing any fish wastewater which is fully utilized by the plants in a separate hydroponic**tank. However, the existing aquaponic facility is mainly produced in the United States for warm water fish (i.e.**tilapia) at approximately 25 °C. The Aqua Bord-du-lac, a local company based in Montreal area, plans to**adopt this system for cold water fish (i.e. trout) cultivation in Canada. Two sets of aquaponic facilities were**purchased by Aqua Bord-du-lac and the experiment has started in January 2018.**Preliminary results has shown that the water temperature for cold water fish has to be controlled below 16**°C under which the ammonium produced by the fish can not be efficiently converted to nitrate. Ammonium**is toxic to fish and has caused death of fish. The biofilter of the equipment does not function well in converting**ammonium to nitrate under this cold temperature. Therefore the objective of this research is to improve the**nitrification efficiency of this aquaponic system for cold water fish cultivation.**The improvement of this system would first benefit the business of the Montreal local producer Aqua**Bord-du-lac who plans to invest million dollars to expand this aquaponic industry. It would also secondly**benefit the aquaculture industry in Canada for in-door cold water cultivation. This closed system would also**significant contribute to environmental protection in Canada.**Our research group consists of Dr. Zhiming Qi, Associate Professor at McGill specialized in water quality**management, and a Ph.D. student, Kevin Kelly, a Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr. Qianjing Jiang.