Enhancing Water Quality on the Farm
Fish farming has recently become a popular method to increase the fish population for the food supply chain and the aquarium trade. The most common types of fish species that are cultivated in this controlled environment are carp, catfish, salmon and tilapia among other aquatic animals such as crustaceans and mollusks.
HELUKABEL was contacted by a cable supply chain partner about an opportunity to supply cable for a fish farm, specifically to provide power to aerators being used in the farm’s ponds. These devices are critical to the farm’s infrastructure because they aerate the water that the fish inhabit.
Aeration is the process of increasing or maintaining the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. It does this by pumping air down to the bottom of the pond which creates bubbles. These bubbles naturally rise to the surface, and as they rise, oxygen is transferred across the bubble’s surface into the water. Aeration also is used to fend off harmful algae blooms, improve poor water quality caused by tarps/lice skirts and help regulate fluctuating water temperatures. It also decreases mosquito activity by creating ripples and preventing the water from being stagnant.
By creating an oxygen-rich environment in the pond, farmers are providing a healthy habitat for the fish and other aquatic life. This increases fish growth because more oxygen in the water allows them to be more active, which encourages their need to feed. The more they can feed, the larger and faster they grow. Subsequently, the more fish a farm has in the pond or habitat, the more oxygen demands there will be. So, aeration is critical in determining the fish farm’s success.
This particular fish farm in the southeastern US used two horsepower floating surface aerators and needed to replace the power cables because the pumps were experiencing uncontrolled power fluctuations. While cable selection for this application sounds easy for continued farm sustainability, it was much more of a challenge than one might think.
The cables that power the aerators run partially outside, at times under the ground, and when transitioning from land to the water to connect to the aerator they are submerged in the pond. This meant any proposed cable solution not only had to withstand the various elements that Mississippi weather can expose on an outdoor cable, but it also had to have approvals for sunlight resistance, direct burial, and submersible pump. The fish farmers also were wanting a cable that was more flexible than what they had been previously using.
After reviewing all their cable options, the HELUKABEL team chose to offer the customer the TRAYCONTROL® 600 with a three-conductor AWG14 construction. The highly versatile control power cable would be the perfect match for this application due to its PVC jacket that is both sunlight resistant and direct burial rated. The TRAYCONTROL® 600 recently added a submersible pump rating for sizes from AWG16 to 2, in three to six conductor constructions to its long list of approvals. To meet the increased flexibility requirement from the farmers, the 600/1000V TRAYCONTROL® comes standard with Class K, fine stranding allowing it to have tight bending radius when installed in areas with limited space.
After receiving a sample of the product, the fish farm quickly placed an order since the product was on the shelf. The HELUKABEL warehouse and logistics team was able to ship the exact quantity they needed, and the farm’s proximity to HELUKABEL USA allowed the control power cable to arrive quickly. The farmers appreciated the HELUKABEL team for providing a solution that exceeded their expectations and would be an excellent option for similar upgrades on the farm in the future.
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