Comparative Evaluation of Water Quality Properties: A Case Study of Coupled Commercial Aquaponics System

Year 2024, , 164 - 175, 28.08.2024

Labaran Ibrahim

https://doi.org/10.19159/tutad.1432401

Abstract

The current study intends to evaluate the influence of seasonal changes on the water quality parameters of a coupled commercial aquaponics system. The determined water quality parameters for the comparative study were total ammonium-nitrogen (TAN), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) and phosphate (PO43-), water temperature (WT), water pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS). The WT and DO analysis were carried out using a portable dissolved oxygen meter (Model: PDO-520, Taiwan). A portable electrode pH meter (Model: PH-220, Taiwan) was utilized for the pH measurement. The TDS and EC readings were obtained using a multi-parameter water quality meter (PHT-27, China). The TAN, NO3-N, and PO43- determinations were done using their individual Merck Spectro-quant® test kits. The research results indicated a significant (p<0.05) difference in the NO3-N, PO43-, WT, pH, EC, and TDS values among the comparative four seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn). However, the TAN and DO levels revealed no significant (p>0.05) difference. The observed significant increase of NO3-N, PO43-, EC, and TDS in the summer and autumn periods could be associated to the increased fish feeding rate (which increases waste production) as well as relative increase in microbial waste conversion/mineralization. The investigated water quality makers were within the recommended amounts in the aquaponics system. Thus, in this study, seasonal differences have induced variation in the NO3-N, PO43-, WT, pH, EC, and TDS amounts. However, these differences do not affect the TAN and DO levels.

Keywords

Autumn, nitrate-nitrogen, pH, parameters, seasonal changes

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