Abstract

Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) have been practiced in the nursery of fish and shrimp post-larvae in the aquaculture industry of Vietnam for a long time. However, this technique has been put into practice for nursing of white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) post-larvae at intensive shrimp farms recently. In our study, we developed an RAS-like water filtration system embedded in a waste management system for an intensive shrimp farm in Soc Trang province. The quality of siphon water discharged from the intensive shrimp pond was evaluated after pasing through the RAS-like water filtration system by measuring its physical, biological and chemical parameters. Results showed that the quality of the siphon water was improved significantly due to a decrease in organic contents and total suspended solids. The pH and DO parameters showed their linear correlation to each other and to other studied parameters, except for the NO₃^--N parameter to which the pH and DO parameters showed their non-linear correlation at a medium level. Moreover, the water recirculation was useful for water savings, and the built-up waste management system showed its effectiveness for the waste management of the shrimp farm. The study pointed out the pivotal role of the waste classification and the RAS-like water filtration in reduction of wastewater and solid wastes discharged into the environment, as well as the necessity of monitoring the pH and DO parameters during the shrimp farming activity.