Assessment of Water Quality and Fish Production in an Intensive Pond Aquaculture System

Pond aquaculture plays a major role in world aquaculture production, especially in China. To make pond aquaculture more precise, ecologically sound, and efficient, in this study, an intensive pond aquaculture system (IPAS) was designed and built to produce freshwater fish that are commonly reared in China. Aquatic plants and filter-feeding, omnivorous fish were used to rehabilitate the aquaculture water quality, and the particle size distribution (PSD) model of suspended solids in the pond raceways was investigated. The results showed that the water quality in the purification pond was improved compared to that in the sedimentation basins, and it was close to the water quality in the raceways, which were within the acceptable range. The number distribution of suspended solids can be described by the power law model (R-2 = 0.901 +/- 0.032), which can provide guidance for solids removal using different methods. Moreover, during one production cycle, economic benefits of the IPAS were also evaluated; the return on investment (ROI) of 35.69% and benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 1.36 indicated that this kind of aquaculture mode has achieved a better profit. There are many fish species in China, so developing an IPAS with a wide application range requires further study in the future.