Ammonia control in a recirculating aquaculture system

In a recirculating aquaculture system supporting a selected species placed in an aquaculture containment and therein producing ammonia and generating potential pathogens, a water processing system receiving a water stream from said aquaculture containment, processing said water stream to control said ammonia and said potential pathogens, and returning a water stream to the aquaculture containment, comprising:

• a solids filter arranged in said water processing system downstream from the aquaculture containment for receiving the water stream and processing the water stream to mechanically remove solid waste;
• an electrocoagulation chamber positioned in the water processing system downstream from said solids filter, said electrocoagulation chamber containing therein spaced electrically driven adjacent plates operating with an electrical potential between said adjacent plates, receiving the water stream between the plates, wherein the plates are operative to electrolyze the water stream thereby removing the potential pathogens and operable to process saltwater to generate chlorine gas in the water stream;
• a first sampling locus in the water processing system, receiving and sampling water from the water stream at a position between the solids filter and the electrocoagulation chamber, said first sampling locus comprising an upstream ammonia sensor measuring upstream ammonia level in the water stream incoming to the electrocoagulation chamber;
• a second sampling locus in the water processing system, receiving and sampling water from the water stream at a position downstream of the electrocoagulation chamber, said second sampling locus comprising a downstream ammonia sensor measuring ammonia level in the water stream downstream of the electrocoagulation chamber;
• a controller connected to said upstream and downstream ammonia sensors to receive said measurements of ammonia level incoming to and outgoing from the electrocoagulation chamber;
• wherein said controller is operable in response to said ammonia level measurements to control the electrocoagulation chamber by regulating said electrical potential between the plates to be operable on saltwater to combine ammonia with said generated chlorine to form a chloramine compound in the water stream;
• and
• a carbon filter positioned in the water processing system downstream of said second sampling locus, operable to remove chloramine compound from the water stream passing through said carbon filter;
• and
• wherein the carbon filter provides the returning water stream for returning from the carbon filter to the aquaculture containment.