Catfish has been widely cultivated in Indonesia through various technological developments. One of the developments is the cultivation of catfish using the aquaponic system. The system aims to improve water quality in fish farming with the help of plants. Plants in the aquaponics system cannot directly utilize fish farming waste directly, because there is a need for the nitrification process first.
Nitrification is a change of inorganic compounds into organic compounds by utilizing the presence of bacteria. The nitrification process requires bacteria that are colonized and are non-motile or unable to move. So the substrate is needed as a place for these bacteria to attach, so the nitrification process can run on the aquaponic cultivation system.
In the aquaponic system there is a filter container for the filter media. There are many filter media that can be used in many aquaponics systems, including bioballs and bioring. The function of the filter media is to substrate the nitrifying bacteria needed to reduce ammonium in water, to produce the final form, nitrate.
This research aims to find the most optimal media to be applied to catfish aquaculture with aquaponic system. By using 700 catfish seeds and water spinach plants, this study applied four treatments, namely control treatment (P0), bioball substrate (P1), bioring substrate (P2), and substrate combination of bioball and bioring (P3).
The result showed that P3 (bioball and bioring substrate) is the best and optimal substrate to use as filter media for aquaculture catfish farming. The filter media affect the content of ammonium, nitrate and nitrite contained in aquaculture water, so it is more optimal to be used as a medium for fish farming.
In treatment P3, the results of water quality measurements recorded were the best compared to other treatments, with an average ammonium content for one month of treatment ranging from 0.008 mg / L, nitrite in the range of 0.045 mg / L and nitrate in the range of 14.40 mg / L.
It is also supported by good concentration of temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen in accordance with the optimal range of water quality for the nitrification process. Plant growth in P3 is also the most optimal growth compared to other treatments.
So it can be concluded that the combination of bioball and bioring (P3) which is used as a filter media, has the best effect on the absorption of ammonium, nitrite and nitrate concentrations in aquaponic system catfish aquaculture, compared to other treatments.
Author: Prayogo
Reference: Lukmantoro T.A, Prayogo, Rahardja B.S. 2020. Effect of different filter media use on aquaponics system on ammonium (NH4+), nitrite (NO2) and nitrate (NO3) concentrations of catfish (Clarias sp.) aquaculture. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 441 (2020) 012121. doi 10.1088/1755-1315/441/1/0121
