1. THE COMBINATION OF SEAWEED AND ACTIVE
SLUDGE BIOFILTER AS A WATER TREATMENT
SUPPLY FACILITIES ON THE FISH REARING TANK
RESEARCH PAPER
Presented at Indonesian Aquaculture 2010
BANDAR LAMPUNG, 4 – 6 OKTOBER 2010
By :
ROMI NOVRIADI
MUH KADARI
MINISTRY OF FISHERIES AND MARINE AFFAIRS
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF AQUACULTURE
BATAM MARICULTURE CENTRE DEVELOPMENT
2010

2. VALIDATION SHEET
THE COMBINATION OF SEAWEED AND ACTIVE
SLUDGE BIOFILTER AS A WATER TREATMENT
SUPPLY FACILITIES ON THE FISH REARING TANK
Prepared by :
The Engineering Leader
( Romi Novriadi )
Approved by :
Engineering Manager Head of Batam Mariculture
Centre Development
( Muh Kadari ) ( Dr. Djumbuh Rukmono, MP)

3. THE COMBINATION OF SEAWEED AND ACTIVE SLUDGE BIOFILTER AS
A WATER TREATMENT SUPPLY FACILITIES ON THE FISH REARING
TANK
By:
Romi Novriadi and Muh Kadari
Mariculture Centre Development of Batam
Jl. Raya Barelang, 3rd Bridges, Setokok-Batam Island
PO BOX 60 Sekupang, Batam - 29422
E-mail: Romi_bbl@yahoo.co.id
ABSTRACT
Biologically, the objectives of Water quality management are to reduce
the soluble components, particularly organic compounds until the safety limits
of the environment by utilizing microorganisms and / or plants. In order to set
aside the dissolved organic matter, the microorganisms will use the organic
materials as nutrients for growth into new cells and carbon dioxide.
Biotransformation process occurs in a variety of ways according to the
microorganisms involved in it, for example the autotrof or heterotrophic
microbes type.
One of the biofiltration techniques that can be done to produce the
optimal water quality for fish rearing media is by doing a combination of active
sludge and Seaweed as a biofilter. The usage of activated sludge because of
the ability of microbes that live on the sludge substrates can decomposed
organic elements, particularly the toxic as NH3 and NO2. while the usage of
seaweed because of its absorbent properties, and also can change the
carbon dioxide into dissolved oxygen in water, so it is expected other than to
produce clear water also has its own freshness for fish.
Results of the experiments conducted by the Year 2009 funds shows
that the Combination of this biofiltration system Seaweed and active sludge is
quite effective to produce the optimal water quality for fish rearing media. NH3
concentration can be reduced up to 80%, and NO2 can be reduced up to 20-
60%. For the parameters of turbidity and TDS, with this combination Biofilter
systems can reduce water turbidity levels up to 75-98% and reduce the
amount of total dissolved solids as much as 15-73%. While seaweed has a
role to be effective in increasing dissolved oxygen levels up to 24%.
Keywords: Biofilter Combination, Sludge, Sea Grass, Water Quality

4. CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
I.1 Background
The Increasing use of marine coastal areas as aquaculture land In
Indonesia allegedly to be the cause of decreased quality of the environment
for the provision of quality water for the aquaculture fish life habitat.
Deforestation of mangrove forests for fish culture in the floating net cages will
stimulate the occurrence of water pollution, because the buffer system in
coastal waters will be disturbed. This situation is also exacerbated by the fish
feed management and route of administration that is not appropriate.
In the provision of quality water, we need to analyse the layout of land
that we use for fish culture. According to Romi.N, (2008) this is related to
organic waste generated has a complementary relationship with the number
of general bacteria in the waters. If waste water is reused for the culture
media without going through the filtration system, there will be a separate
obstacle for the growth of fish. On the basis of observations made during the
year 2009, the presence of bacteria in the culture media are not much
different from the presence of bacteria in the waters surrounding the water
points. That is why the screening process for the improvement of water quality
to be more important.
According to Anonymous. 2002, the process of aquaculture wastewater
treatment can be done in biologically aerobics, in which the biological waste
water treatment is to utilize the aerobic activity of aerobic microbes, to
describe the organic substances contained in waste water of cultured fish, to
be the inorganic substance that is more stable and has little impact pollution
to the surrounding environment. Aerobic microbes actually already there in
the nature and can be obtained very easily. Fishery waste water treatment
can also be done using the natural materials, one of which is sea weed,
because according to Dedi Sofian, 2006, Seaweed able to neutralize the
fishery waste water. and naturally, seaweed have a function as a filter of
carbon dioxide, which is absorbed and transformed into the oxygen. So, with
more number of oxygen contained in the water, then it will provide freshness
for fish and other biota
Therefore, at this engineering, the writer trying to make a water
filtration system that is simple, economical, applicable but effective enough to
produce the optimal water quality for fish culture media, through a
combination of activated sludge filtration system and seaweed. This simple
system can be applied by fish farmers.

5. I.2 Problems
Based on the background that has been presented above, some problems
that will be taken at this engineering are:
1. What the percentage of the effectiveness of this Combination biofiltration
system between Seaweed and active sludge in reducing the toxic
elements such as NH3 and NO2?
2. What the percentage of the effectiveness of this Combination biofiltration
system between Seaweed and active sludge in reducing the turbidity and
total dissolved solids?
3. How the relevance between activated sludge as a filter of carbon dioxide,
which is absorbed and converted into oxygen concentration to the
dissolved oxygen in the water?
I.3 Hypotesis
Suspected that the accumulation of aquaculture activities have caused the
degradation of the water quality so it need a filtration system for improving
and maintaining the optimization of water quality.
I.4 Goal
This Engineering aims to:
1. Knowing the effect of this Combination biofiltration system between
Seaweed and active sludge as a supply of quality water for the fish culture
media.
2. Knowing the influence of this Combination biofiltration system between
Seaweed and active sludge in reducing the toxic elements such as
Ammonia and Nitrite and reduce the level of turbidity and total dissolved
solids in water.
3. To produce the Applied technology that is effective and economical for the
fish farmers.

6. CHAPTER II
EXPERIMENT METHODOLOGY
II.1 Time and Place
The Engineering with the title of Combination biofiltration system between
Seaweed and active sludge was held in Batam Mariculture Centre
Development, starting from November 1st, 2009 untul 29th December,
2009.
II.2 Tool and Material
II.2.1 Engineering tool
Two tank of fish culture Measurement glass
Actived sludge tank culture Statif and Klem
Sedimentation tank Beaker glass
DO meter Oxyguard model Petri disk
HACH DR/890 Colorimeter Incubator
HANNA C203 Ion Spectrometer Oven
Nephelometer Turbidity Unit Hot plate
HANNA TDS Meter Culture of bacterial tool set
UV light Sample bottle
COD meter Fish culture tool set
II.2.2 Material of engineering
Decomposition bacteria pH Buffer 7.00
Mix liquor Suspended Solid pH Buffer 4.00
Seaweed pH Buffer 10.00
Coral reef Posphat Low Range
Molase Free chlorine reagen for HANNA
Sea bass (Lates calcarifer) NaOH 0,1 N
Sponge HCl 0,1 N
Ammonia salycilate reagen KCl 0,2 N
Ammonia cyanurate reagen CH3COOH 0,5 N
NitraVer reagen Phenolphtalein indicator
NitriVer reagen Metil Orange indicator
Free chlorine reagen H2SO4 4 N
PCA (Plate Count Agar) HNO3 4 N

7. II. 3 Procedure
a. The Making Stages of Biofilter Tank
 Cutting of material used: at this stage the PVC pipes was cut
accordance to the requirements of biofilter system.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 1. Cutting the material. (a) the preparation of the oxygen tube
that is destined for the activated sludge basin, (b) the prepare of water
and aeration systems, and (c) deduction tank for the activated sludge.
 Setup: The bacterial culture tank with coral substrate and activated
sludge are mounted on the drum and positioned adjacent to the first
tank of biofilter system, the First is a sedimentary tank containing sea
weed, and the second and the third tank is a culture tank for the test
fish (Sea bass Lates calcarifer, Bloch)
Sedimentary tank
+seaweed
Activated sludge drum
+ Coral reef
Tank for test fish
Tank for test fish

8. The design of Combination biofiltration system between Seaweed and active
sludge was illustrated as below :
Sedimentary tank + Tank for test fish Tank for test fish
Seaweed
b. Bacterial inoculation
The Source of decomposition bacterial can be obtained from the
nature. The bacteria are available in the sufficient quantities in many places of
waste elements decomposition. Such as in the floating net cages area. the
remnants of feed is broken down by bacteria found in the base of floating net
cages. Bacteria taken by lifting 1 kg sludge from the bottom of cage and then
diluted with 1 liter of seawater. Then, This bacteria was added into each
compartment of biofilter drum. The addition of sludge was carried out while
water continues to flow, so the bacteria will naturally selected. This process is
allowed to continue running until the filters can be declared ready for use (Set
up). At every 3 days of inoculation were observed on the growth of the
number of bacteria produced
c. Preparation of activated sludge
Drums that cater to the activated sludge, then
loaded mud as a substrate and the Inoculate
bacteria which has been declared ready for use
into the derum. The growth of microorganisms
will work well enough if the nutrients available,
namely nitrogen and phosphorus that play a role
in the synthesis of the cell is proportional to the
biodegrable organic material contained in waste
water. As the food provided artificial substrate
composed of glucose (sugar), in this case is
done by giving molasses.
This work begins with providing waste water in small amounts, and if the
microorganism has been grown, gradually, the amount of wastewater
enlarged its comparison to an artificial substrate, until at last only a sheer
waste water. To determine whether there is growth of these microorganisms,
carried out with the observation of dissolved oxygen. At the time of waste
water given, the Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration will go down. After
some time aerated, DO will gradually rise, and someday she will return as the
original, and it will give the information to us that the assimilation process has
been completed and microorganisms have been grown.

9. d. Preparation of Seaweed Tank
The type of seaweed that we used in this engineering is E. Cottoni and
inserted into the first tank as well as a sedimentation tank.The Installation of
seaweed done in a long line around the tank with rope 150 cm long.
e. Installation of UV lights
Installation of UV lights aim to reduce the bacteria that entered to the
water medium after the activated sludge process which involves a lot of active
microorganisms as its main component. Installation of UV lights is right in line
where the water enters into the culture media.
f. Preparation of Sea bass as fish test
To see and evaluate the performance of the Biofilter system
combination between activated sludge and seaweed, The fish test was culture
in two way, first, in the tank with Biofilter combination and second, without the
biofilter as a control of the system. The Commercial feed for fish test given 3
times a day, at the morning, afternoon and evening by adlibithum. To remove
the excess dirt, feeding remain and other impurities was carried by cleaning
the bottom of tank every evening after completion of feeding. The culture of
test fih was conducted for 30 days.
g. Test of the filters effectiveness
To determine the ability and the effectiveness of this biofilter system
combination between activated sludge and seaweed is done by the laboratory
testing. The observation was performed by comparing the quality of water that
passes through this biofilter combination and to the control water (without
pass the biofilter system). The parameters observed include: NH3, NO2 NO3,
turbidity, BOD and COD. Observations made during one month from 25th
November 2009 to December 28th, 2009.

10. CHAPTER III
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
III.1 Result
1. Graphic of inoculation bacterial growth (with molase)
Grafik Pertumbuhan Bakteri Inokulasi
1200
1000
Jumlah Bakteri (TBU)
800
Grafik Pertumbuhan
600
Bakteri Inokulasi
400
200
0
1 2 3 4
Sampling Ke-
Note : The number of general bacterial multiple with102 CFU/ml
2. Result of Turbidity and TDS analysis
TEST RESULT
Date of After through the biofilter Without Biofilter (control)
Analysis Turbidity TDS Turbidity TDS
(NTU) (mg/l) (NTU) (mg/l)
08 November 0,49 31.2 0.49 31,5
15 November 0,15 27,9 0,42 32,3
22 November 0,02 8,4 0.38 31,4
29 November 0,01 8.4 0,51 30,2
05 December 0,02 9,1 0,56 30,3
11 December 0,02 8,7 0,59 30,6
16 December 0,01 8,3 0,54 32,8
22 December 0,02 8,4 0,43 32,1
Graphic of Turbidity Graphic of TDS
0.7 35
0.6 Turbidity after 30
Turbidity (NTU)
TDS (mg/l))
0.5 pass the 25 TDS after pass
0.4 biofilter 20 the biofilter"
0.3 control 15 control
0.2 10
0.1 5
0 0
8. nov
15.Nov
22.Nov
29.Nov
8. nov
15.Nov
22.Nov
29.Nov
5.des
11.des
16.des
22.des
5.des
11.des
16.des
22.des
Date of analysis Date of analysis

11. Hasil Analisa Kadar Ammonia dan Nitrit pada air input media pemeliharaan
HASIL UJI
Date of TEST RESULT
Analysis After through the biofilter Without Biofilter (control)
NH3 NO2 NH3 NO2
(mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l)
08 November 0.13 0,07 0,13 0,07
15 November 0.08 0,06 0,11 0,06
22 November 0,01 0,06 0,11 0,06
29 November -- 0,05 0,09 0,06
05 December 0,01 0,04 0,11 0,05
11 December -- 0,01 0,14 0,06
16 December -- 0,01 0,09 0,07
22 December -- 0,01 0,12 0,07
Graphic of NH3 (ammonia) Graphic of NO2 (Nitrit)
0.16 0.08
0.14 0.07
0.12 0.06
NH3 (mg/l))
NO2 (mg/l))
NH3 after pass the NO2 after pass the
0.1 biofilter""" 0.05 biofilter"""""""
0.08 0.04
0.06 control 0.03 control
0.04 0.02
0.02 0.01
0 0
1 v
1 s
2 v
2 v
5dv
1 v
1 s
2 s
s
1 s
2 v
2 v
5dv
o
1 s
2 s
s
.e
.o
.o
.o
o
.e
.e
.e
.e
.o
.o
.o
.n
.e
.e
.e
5N
2N
9N
.n
5N
2N
9N
1d
6d
2d
1d
6d
2d
8
8
Date of analysis Date of analysis
Dissolved oxygen at culture tank analysis
Hasil Analisa
Date of Oksigen Terlarut Graphic of Dissolved oxygen (DO)
Analysis (mg/l)
8
After Without 7
through the Biofilter 6 DO after pass the
DO(mg/l))
5 biofilter""""""""""""""
biofilter (control)
4 "
08 November 5,0 5,1 3 control
15 November 5,7 4,9 2
22 November 6,4 5,4 1
29 November 6,9 5,0 0
05 December 6,5 5,2
1 v
2 v
2 v
v
s
1 s
2 s
es
o
.e
o
o
o
e
e
.n
5.N
2.N
9.N
11 December
5d
6,7 5,3
1.d
6.d
2.d
8
1
16 December 6,9 4,7 Date of analysis
22 December 6,8 4,9

12. The comparation of Total Number of General bacterial (TBU) between after
and before through the UV light
Perbandingan TBU sebelum dan sesudah UV
300
Jumlah TBU (x100)
250
200
TBU Sebelum UV
150
TBU setelah UV
100
50
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Sampling Ke-
IV.2 Discussion
From the results of experiments it was found that the inoculated
bacteria in activated sludge substrates had been developed. On the fourth
day of sampling, the total number of bacteria produced was 9.7x106 CFU/ml.
This number may be used temporarily as an indicator that the filter is ready for
use.
This situation is also correlated with a reduction of NH3 and NO2
concentration. The concentration of NH3 in the water filtration system results
in the range: 0.01 to 0.13 mg / l, while the water control, the NH3 are between:
0.09 to 0.14 mg / l. This means this biofilter combination system can reduce
the NH3 concentration until 80%. The fall of this ammonia levels, probably
caused by the oxidation of ammonia to the nitrate elements which is done by
Nitrosomonas bacteria that grow on the sludge media in the filtration system.
Meanwhile for NO2, the concentration resulting in water with this
filtration system was also down, although only slightly, which is in range: 0.01
to 0.07 mg / l, compared with control water, which have concentrations of NO2
from 0.05 to 0, 07 mg / l. Nitrite in biological filtration system will be
transformed by Nitrobacter bacteria into nitrates element, and then in
inaerobic conditions it will converted into the nitrogen (Coklin and Chang,
1983).

13. For the turbidity and Total Dissolved Solid parameter in the water, they
have significant reduction. This is probably due to the function of material that
we used in this biofilter combination, they are activated sludge and seaweed.
This biofilter system result the Turbidity concentration between 0.01 to 0.15
mg/l, while the turbidity concentration of control water are : 0,38 to 0,59 mg / l.
This means there is 75 – 98% reduction of turbidity in the water with this
biofilter system. For the TDS (Total Dissolved Solid) concentration. The
number of TDS in water that pass this biofilter system combination are from
8.3 to 27.9 mg / l while on the control water control are 30.2 to 32.8 mg/l. It
means that the reduction of TDS concentration is as much as 15-73%.
Associated with the presence of seaweed as an natural filters in the
sedimentation tank, where the seaweed, naturally have a function as a filter of
carbon dioxide, which are absorbed and converted into the oxygen element.
So the measurement of dissolved oxygen concentrations was done at the fish
culture tank with the combination biofilter system and control. The result
showed that DO levels that exist in the fish culture tanks with filtration system
are 5.0 to 6.9 mg/l, while the DO concentration at control tank were 4.7 to 5.3
mg/l.
Filter with the combination of activated sludge and seaweed can be
operationalized for 6 (six) months. And after that the materials that we used at
this biofilters system should be cleaned. Some benefits of this combination
Biofilter systems include:
1. Guarantee obtaining a good water quality for fish culture tank
2. Economical, Efficient and Effective in producing high water quality
3. Easily applied by fish farmers

14. CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
V.1 Conclusions
1. This combination Biofilter system between activated sludge and seaweed
is quite effective in reducing of toxic elements such as NH3 and NO2, in
which the ammonia concentration was reduced until 80%, while for the
levels of NO2 was reduced up to 20-60%.
2. This combination Biofilter system between activated sludge and seaweed
is quite effective in improving the clarity of water, because it can reduce
the turbidity levels up to 75-98%., and reduce the amount of total dissolved
solids between 15 to 73%.
3. Seaweed as a filter which is placed in the sedimentation tank through its
function can play an active role in improving of dissolved oxygen
concentration up to 24%.
4. This combination Biofilter system between activated sludge and seaweed
is quite economical, efficient, effective and can be applied directly by the
fish farmers
V.2 Suggestion
1. Need to do further study on the effectiveness of seaweed in absorption of
heavy metals that dissolved in the water.
2. Observations on the effectiveness of combination Biofilter between
activated sludge and seaweed can also be undertaken in a long time
periode. In order to know the exact impact and benefits from this system.

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