IAS Selected to Design & Build UBC Aquatic Research Facility
UBC Aquatic Research Facility 3D CAD Drawing
Integrated Aqua Systems, Inc. (IAS) was awarded a contract in Spring 2011 to design, build, supply, and commission the University of British Columbia’s new Aquatic Research Facility. The state-of-the-art facility is the largest of its kind in Western Canada and will serve students and researchers aquaculture research needs for many years to come. IAS is supplying a total of 13 recirculating systems which will occupy eight separate research rooms with over 7,000 sq.ft of combined laboratory floor space in the newly renovated Biological Sciences building located in the heart of the Vancouver, BC campus. The systems include seven 3,000 gallon recirculating systems designed for high-density (stocking 80kg./m3) fish rearing and six 2,000 gallon recirculating systems designed for low-density (stocking 20 kg/m3) fish rearing and holding. In addition to the recirculating systems, IAS also designed and supplied the effluent treatment system and seawater supply pump systems for the project. IAS collaborated on the project with JLH Consulting based in Courtenay, BC, Aquacare Environment, Inc. based in Bellingham, WA, and Fulcrum Technologies, Inc. located in Nanaimo, BC .
- Systems supplied by Integrated Aqua Systems are designed for 99.9% recirculation rate utilizing PermaBead™ filtration systems as the primary mechanical filtration and MicroBead biofilter technology for biological removal of ammonia and CO2.
- A facility-scale Windows based PLC backwash automation system was designed and supplied to provide complete automation of filter backwashing with freshwater for all 13 systems.
- Additional life support equipment used in the project include UV Sterilizers and ozone used for sterilization and disinfection, denitrification systems to remove nitrates, protein fractionators to remove dissolved organic particles, and low head oxygenators (LHO) supplied with pure oxygen from a centralized oxygen generator to support high fish densities in tanks.
- In addition to designing and supplying the recirculating systems for the project, IAS was retained to design the water quality monitoring, control, and alarm system for the entire facility.
Although the primary culture species are salmonids, the systems and facilities are designed to be used as “flex” research space to provide optimal rearing conditions for a wide range of saltwater and freshwater species in cold or warm water. The primary focus for UBC researchers spearheading the project will be to define the ideal fish rearing conditions, water quality parameters, feed rates, and stocking densities for commercial aquaculture. UBC research from this project will support commercial efforts to develop inland recirculating aquaculture throughout North America, which is a critical movement to provide sustainably produced fish under controlled conditions and with minimal impact to the environment.
Project installation is currently underway and slated for completion by Spring 2012. Project updates will be periodically posted on our blog in the IAS Community section at Integrated-Aqua.com. Feel free to check in with us to see updates of this monumental project in construction.
Celebrating Our New Aquatic Systems Website Launch With A Contest! Great Little Prize / Tool!
Integrated Aqua Systems is proud to announce the release of our new website! We encourage you to take a look around to see how we’ve improved the design, navigation and added functionality to help us to better serve our clients.
If you are not already a current IAS Community member, we encourage you to join by clicking this link to sign up for our newsletter. The first 25 people who visit our new site and sign up for our newsletter will receive a FREE 2GB Slim Flip USB drive – it’s business/credit card size & fits right in your wallet! This is a great tool designed to be attached to keys or a lanyard, making it easy to always have valuable data storage at your fingertips…so please don’t hesitate to sign up today! We will notify the winners (first 25 members who sign up for the newsletter) via a special email where we will request the mailing address to send your new FREE 2GB Slim Flip USB drive.
We also encourage you to join our IAS Community Page on Facebook. The IAS Community Forum is an open forum dedicated to sharing news, current events, new technology releases, and information pertinent to a wide range of topics that affect us every day. Some of the hot topics include aquaculture, aquaponics, hydroponics, drinking water, wastewater treatment, and more. If you wish to stay current with these important and relevant topics, please join us and feel free to contribute to the discussion.
Thank you for taking a moment to read this email. We hope to welcome you to our Integrated Aqua Community and look forward to serving your equipment and systems needs.
When Tuna Fly…successful import of tuna eggs and larvae
According to an article in the July / August 2011 issue of Hatchery International, yellowfin tuna eggs and larvae are flying! Researchers at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) recently completed the first successful air import of tuna eggs and larvae into the US from the parental stock hatchery, IATTC’s research laboratory in Achotines, Panama…where successful captive breeding has been a reality since 1996.
This is pretty major news, since there are very few captive breeding populations of tuna…the ability to ship these eggs and larvae internationally marks a big advance in culture technology.
Both of the San Diego-based research groups involved have compatible interests in improving the ability and techniques used to ship the eggs & larvae and have made several successful shipments so far, both with the yellowfin from Achotines and the yellow jack from San Diego. They continue to coordinate and improve on the process to increase survival rate and find the maximum stocking density that the tuna can be shipped at to yield the maximum survival rate. The most recent shipment in February 2011 was reported to have a survival rate of 90%…very impressive!
US scientists test techniques for shipping yellowfin tuna eggs and larvae
Oh by the way, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) just happens to be one of our newest clients, so we definitely want to send a huge congratulations out to them on their success!
