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Raceway Fish Culture: Plastic Liners

A raceway is an artificial channel used in aquaculture to culture aquatic organisms. It consists of rectangular basins or canals constructed of materials like concrete, with an inlet and outlet to maintain continuous water flow. This allows freshwater species like trout, catfish, and tilapia to be cultured at higher densities by providing adequate water quality. Raceways are among the earliest methods of inland aquaculture and water sources are typically streams, springs, or wells.

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259 views2 pages

Raceway Fish Culture: Plastic Liners

A raceway is an artificial channel used in aquaculture to culture aquatic organisms. It consists of rectangular basins or canals constructed of materials like concrete, with an inlet and outlet to maintain continuous water flow. This allows freshwater species like trout, catfish, and tilapia to be cultured at higher densities by providing adequate water quality. Raceways are among the earliest methods of inland aquaculture and water sources are typically streams, springs, or wells.

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Raceway fish culture

 A raceway, also known as a flow-through system, is an


artificial channel used in aquaculture to culture aquatic organisms.
 Raceway systems are among the earliest methods used for
inland aquaculture.
 A raceway usually consists of rectangular basins or canals
constructed of concrete and equipped with an inlet and outlet.
 A continuous water flow-through is maintained to provide the
required level of water quality, which allows animals to be cultured at
higher densities
 Freshwater species such as trout, catfish and tilapia are
commonly cultured in raceways
 Water sources for raceway aquaculture operations are
usually streams, springs, reservoirs or deep wells.
 Most raceways are made of reinforced concrete, earthen
raceways are also built.

 Earthen raceways with plastic liners cost little and are easy to


build, but cleaning and disinfecting them is difficult and plastic linings
are fragile.
 Reinforced concrete is more expensive, but is durable and
can be shaped in complex ways.
 Raceway tanks can also be built from polyester resin.
 These tanks have smooth walls, and are mobile and easy to
service.
 A raceway is most often a rectangular canal with a water
current flowing from a supply end to an exit end.
 The length to width ratio is important in raceways.
 To prevent the fish stock from swimming in circular
movements, which would cause debris to build up in the center, a
length to width ratio of at least six to one is recommended.
 If the width is too large this could result in a feeble current
speed which is not desirable
 The length of a raceway unit is usually constrained by the
water quality or by how much stock a unit can hold for ease of
management.
 The average depth of a raceway for fin fish, such as rainbow
trout, is about one meter.
 This means each section in a raceway should be about 30 m
long and 2.5–3 m wide.
 The landscape should be sloped to one or two percent, so the
flow through the system can be maintained by gravity.
 The raceway should not be curved, so the flow will be
uniform.[16]
 The water flow rate in a raceway system needs to be
sufficiently high to meet the respiratory (dissolved oxygen)
requirements for the species concerned and to flush out metabolic
wastes, especially ammonia.
 In a well designed system, the existing water in the raceway
is largely replaced by new water when the same volume of new
water enters the raceway.
 Solid wastes which accumulate at the raceway bottom can be
removed by pumps.
 Oxygen levels in the water can be kept high if the raceway
units are placed one after the other with intermediate drops over
weirs, or by the use of aeration systems such as pumps, blowers
and agitators.
 The maximum load of organisms that can be cultured in a
raceway system depends on the species, and particularly on the
size of the species.
 For trout, stocking rates of 30 to 50 kg/m3 are normal at the
end of a rearing cycle
 The total volume required for a raceway is calculated by
dividing the total amount of fish in kg by the desired stocking rate in
kg per m
 In most raceway aquaculture food needs to be supplied.
 The composition of the food, and the amount and time of
feeding needs to be adjusted to the specific species
 This can be optimised to reduce costs and minimize the
amount of waste

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