PRODUCT(S) Aquasend Beacon®

APPLICATION Aqua Farming

PARAMETER Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature

LOCATION Mecca, California

ORGANIZATION Kent SeaTech, LLC

Located in southern California, Kent SeaTech, is a supplier of live fish for an extensive Asian Supermarket and restaurant industry. The company’s production facility is situated on a 160-acre agricultural valley and includes 96 circular concrete tanks, each with a 50,000-gallon capacity and a large circular raceway with a 500,000-gallon capacity. The aquafarm utilizes artesian groundwater that flows through deep bedrock to the site from the mountains around Arrowhead Lake to the north.

Kent SeaTech was seeking help from Aquasend® to determine tank capacities to avoid risks such as over stocking, excess feeding cost and potential fish kills. Aquasend Beacons® were installed to monitor dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature levels and provide the essential data Kent SeaTech needs to reach its goals.

The Aquasend Beacon® Detects a Drop in Dissolved Oxygen

Kent SeaTech was outfitted with three Beacon buoys, two of which were installed in separate tanks and the third installed in the raceway. All three Beacons continuously monitored DO and temperature in real time. The advantages of monitoring DO and temperature levels in tanks, raceways and ponds is gaining the essential data needed to enhance fish health, increase yields and alert managers before losing product.

During a 3-month deployment, the buoys successfully alerted farmers of a tank’s dissolved oxygen crash resulting from a failed aerator. Dissolved oxygen levels hit a life-threatening concentration of .08mg/L followed by an excessive amount of liquid oxygen pumped into the water causing a sharp increase to 20mg/L. Kent SeaTech farmers quickly responded to both drastic changes alerted by the Aquasend Beacon® bringing the water to safe levels and successfully preventing a costly fish kill saving valuable resources.

Why Kent SeaTech Chose the Aquasend Beacon®

The Aquasend Beacon® is designed for outdoor aqua farming raceways, ponds, tanks and lakes to record water quality data, specifically dissolved oxygen levels and temperature then sending that data to an online portal via the cloud.

The Buoys can communicate with other buoys in a mesh-networked arrangement across long distances. The buoy has a series of anti-fouling options, is solar powered and designed for all weather conditions and intense farming environments. These challenging environments include extreme fluctuating temperatures, highly eutrophic aquatic conditions, large fish hitting the buoy and elevated amounts of suspended solids that can cover the sensor and clog the mesh.

Alerts and alarms keep the farm manager informed on changing water conditions based on the Beacon’s adjustable settings. Visible exterior LED lights flash green and red for on-site visibility of alert status of water conditions.

The Aquasend Beacon® measurement accuracy and programmed response provided Kent SeaTech with instant alerts when DO levels were drastically too low and too high preventing both financial and product loss. The Aquasend Beacon® real-time water quality monitoring technology offers farmers peace of mind and responsiveness required for successful aquafarming.