Innovasea Helps Open Blue Protect Larval Fish from Nitrogen Supersaturation

Open Blue is a pioneer in open ocean aquaculture, raising Cobia in Innovasea’s fully submerged SeaStation pens in the best natural environment possible. When the company’s hatchery team was having problems with super saturated, dissolved gasses in its larval tanks, Innovasea designed and built essential filtration technology to solve the issue.

Challenge

While cultivating fish to stock its ocean pens, Open Blue encountered nitrogen above saturation levels in its larval tanks. Larval fish are extremely sensitive to supersaturation conditions, which can result in gas formation inside the gill and other critical tissues. This condition can affect normal development and in extreme cases poses a deadly threat.

Solution

Innovasea designed, built and tested two vacuum degassers in early 2020 to significantly reduce the dissolved gasses in the larval tanks. The two degassers were then installed in line after the primary solids filtration system, with each filtering 500 gallons of water per minute.

Water coming from this system was directed into the respective larval rooms, preventing the risk of super saturation.

In addition, Innovasea implemented an automated total gas pressure monitoring and oxygen control system to track gas saturation levels and instantly add oxygen as needed.

Result

• The vacuum degassers prevented supersaturation of nitrogen in the water, ensuring a healthy environment for the young fish to grow.
• The automated monitoring system now tracks nitrogen and oxygen saturation levels in the water on a continuous flow basis and makes adjustments to oxygen levels as needed, keeping fish stocks safe without the need for constant staff monitoring.