Our Services
We Offer a Range of Services to Meet Your Needs
We have been involved with every aspect of intensive aquaculture from facility designs to construction to operations management, spawning, fingerlings, production, sales, etc. We are now offering our knowledge to help others push aquaculture into the future.
Facility design and construction management
Site analysis, system design, facility improvements and expansions, custom oxygenation systems, custom water treatment systems (wells and pumps, gas exchange, biofiltration, disinfection with UV or ozone, heating and cooling systems, solids removal, effluent treatment or re-use). We can provide engineering plans by a licensed civil engineer and assist with construction if desired. Some systems would be custom built by our team due to unique skills and techniques required. We can also source a variety of manufactured RAS fish tanks and treatment systems and auto-feeders.
Water and wastewater treatment
As civil and aquacultural engineers, we specialize in water treatment systems custom designed and built for commercial scale intensive aquaculture operations. We studied the best systems used around the world for aquaculture and waste water facilities and then applied them to our own facility. Anyone can make a glossy brochure showing "state of the art" RAS systems for sale with expensive equipment. But how many of these sales companies have built and successfully proven their systems in the real world over decades? Designing a basic layout on a computer and sourcing equipment is only the beginning, the real challenge is in the design and construction of the hydraulics and plumbing and sizing everything correctly. This is where a professional engineer becomes worthwhile. It's much smarter to spend the money up front building a great facility before stocking it with fish and realizing it's not performing as desired or costing much more to operate than planned.
Live haul systems and live holding systems for stores and restaurants
During our first year building Red Top Aquafarm, we had the opportunity to buy a live fish wholesaler's truck and business. We suddenly became live fish haulers to all the Northern California Asian fish markets selling thousands of pounds of various fish species each week. This gave us greater control over our markets and a first hand look into current demand trends. We have continued this aspect of the business to this day. The trucks are also useful for moving fish around the farm(s) or for stocking ponds and lakes. In addition, we have experience installing live fish holding systems for stores and restaurants.
Fish husbandry and trouble shooting
Broodstock selection, spawning, fingerling training and grading, disease management and prevention, best practices for maintaining healthy fish, feeding strategies, nutrition, stocking densities, moving fish, harvesting fish, hauling fish. There are a lot of moving parts to aquaculture which can be optimized if analyzed carefully. We can provide suggestions on all of these factors as well as troubleshoot issues you may be having that may be causing problems.
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Other unique issues that arise in aquaculture include algae control, bird control, shade structures, ventillation for indoor systems, and fouling of pipes and tanks.
Power and oxygen efficiency analysis
RAS systems rely heavily on power and liquid oxygen deliveries or production to sustain high densities of fish in controlled environments. Power and oxygen are two of the greatest costs to the business. Pumps must be sized and selected to optimize efficiency, water flow hydraulics should be optimized to lower power inputs, and oxygenation systems must be designed and operated at near 100% transfer efficiencies. Our systems achieve all of these goals plus are self cleaning and require very little labor input per ton of fish produced.
Automation and control systems, alarms, and backup power
Fish farming is a 24/7 business. You can't have a successful intensive operation with high densities of fish without a well designed and robust automated system with backups and alarms. There will always be mechanical failures and human errors that can lead to fish kills. Our systems rely on programmable logic controllers (PLC) with sensors for dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and power to monitor and control the fish tank environment continuously. In addition, each fish tank is supplied with an independent emergency oxygen system that automatically engages during pump or power failures. The PLC data is linked to computer displays and alarm systems that can be monitored by staff remotely.