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

在这个项目中，将对从美国购买的水培系统进行改进，以提高加拿大蒙特利尔地区冷水鱼养殖的硝化效率。这种水培系统对环境友好，不会排放任何鱼类废水，植物可以在单独的水培**水箱中充分利用这些废水。然而，现有的水培设施主要是在美国生产的温水鱼类(即**罗非鱼)，温度约为25°C。总部位于蒙特利尔地区的当地公司Aqua Bord-du-lac计划**在加拿大采用这一系统养殖冷水鱼类(即鲑鱼)。Aqua Bord-du-lac**购买了两套水培设施，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，否则鱼产生的铵不能有效地转化为硝酸盐。铵对鱼类有毒，并已导致鱼类死亡。在这么低的温度下，设备的生物过滤器不能很好地将铵转化为硝酸盐。因此，这项研究的目的是提高这一冷水养鱼的水培系统的硝化效率。**该系统的改进将首先使蒙特利尔当地生产商Aqua-Du-lac的业务受益，该公司计划投资数百万美元扩大这一水培产业。其次，它还将有利于加拿大室内冷水养殖的水产养殖业。这个封闭的系统也将**对加拿大的环境保护做出重大贡献。**我们的研究小组由麦吉尔大学水质管理专业副教授齐志明博士和博士后凯文·凯利博士组成，他是蒋千静博士的博士后研究助理。

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.