Progress report for FNC24-1405
Project Information
Ashtyn, CEO of OceanArc, has been raising saltwater shrimp in central Ohio (based out of Pataskala) since graduating college in 2015 from USC. His facilities currently produce roughly 28,000 lbs of shrimp a year in Ohio alone along with other species of fish and crawfish. He’s also involved in seafood distribution nationwide along with being part of a restaurant group with over 80 restaurants (of which 2 are in Columbus, Ohio alone).
He will build out the raceway system for growing shrimp for market size at one of his farm locations in Ohio. This includes purchasing supplies (major ones being the metal frame from, the HDPE pond liner to fit on top of the frame, and plumbing supplies). The raceway will measure 10FT W x 40FT L x 3FT H, divided into moveable panels that are 3FT W x 10FT L. 10 of these panels bolt together to build the tank frame. This raceway will hold 9,000 gallons of water, effectively replacing the footprint of (3) 14FT DIA swimming pools currently used. This system will be more robust and agile (just disconnect the panels to shorten the raceway, add more panels to lengthen the raceway, or move entirely).
In addition, the heating and plumbing system will be upgraded. Instead of using hydronic heating system or heating through the air, neither as efficient as heating the water directly, Ashtyn will plumb in a Hayward 50K BTU heat pump meant to heat or chill the water. The water will be pumped from the pond on one end with a 1HP Hayward pump into the heat pump and then sent back into the pond through the other end, effectively creating a continuous raceway to prevent dead zones.
In summary, Ashtyn will be responsible for providing the necessary area for the raceway, building out the raceway, running the raceway experiment over multiple grow cycles, and evaluating the effectiveness of the raceway design.
Dan Wehner is owner of Green Valley Shrimp Farm based in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He will assist Ashtyn in evaluating this new raceway design and possibly replicating the design if it looks promising in the beginning. Replicating the design so we have two running models (or more) would allow the team to have more data to support the effectiveness of this new design and possibly take the experiment even further as far as experimenting with other species of crustaceans and fish.
The two main questions we are trying to solve:
1. Is there a better large indoor tank structure that is more
durable and professional than a swimming pool, less expensive and
easily moveable than fiberglass tanks, less labor intensive and
easily movable than a wood frame raceway? These 3 typical options
all have issues that are heavy burdens individually, especially
for the beginning farmers.
2. Is there a more efficient way to heat large bodies of water in
the grow out tanks than through the air or through hydronic
systems, two methods commonly used?
These two questions weigh heavy on every farmer in the Midwest
region, not specific to Ohio, where there are typically smaller
farmers spread out, newer farmers starting out on budgets, and
dealing with the seasonality in the region.
Metal Frame Raceway Design Drawing
The raceway system will be built out at one of the OceanArc
locations in central Ohio and also at the Green Valley Shrimp
Farm facility to produce saltwater shrimp indoors. The raceway
will measure 10FT W x 40FT L x 3FT H, divided into moveable
powder-coated metal panels that are 3FT W x 10FT L each. 10 of
these panels bolt together using bolts and screws to build the
tank frame which will sit on the concrete floor. This raceway
will hold 9,000 gallons of water, effectively replacing the
footprint of (3) 14FT DIA swimming pools currently used in most
OceanArc facilities.
This system will be more robust and agile than any other build
(swimming pools, fiberglass tanks, wood frame tanks,etc). If we
want to make smaller raceways with smaller bodies of water, we
can just disconnect two sets of panels opposite each other in the
raceway and reconnect the others. If we want to make larger
raceways with larger bodies of water, we can just connect
additional two sets of panels opposite each other in the raceway
and bolt everything together. If we want to move the raceway
altogether to a different location for any reason (rented
facility no longer accessible, moving the farm, etc), just
disconnect everything and move it easily in those straight
panels, one by one! Note that the HDPE liner we use is tough
enough for us to adjust but easily and cheaply replaceable many
years down the road.
In addition, the heating and plumbing system will be upgraded.
Instead of using hydronic heating system or heating through the
air, neither as efficient as heating the water directly, a
Hayward 50K BTU heat pump will be used to heat (and chill, which
is an added option in the summer months!) the water directly. The
water will be pumped from the pond on one end with a 1HP Hayward
pump into the heat pump and then sent back into the pond through
the other end through a number of nozzles, effectively creating a
continuous raceway in one direction to prevent dead zones.
The above raceway design will function as our “treatment” to see
if we can answer the two questions we are trying to solve: if
there is a more efficient, durable, and cost-effective
fish/shrimp production design for indoor aquaculture and if there
is a more efficient and simple way to heat the water specifically
in the Midwest, where there are winter seasons to deal with.
For the “control” group, we will use (3) 14’ FT circular swimming
pools normally used at OceanArc facilities to compare the
performance of how the saltwater shrimp grow compared to how they
grow in the “treatment” design.
1. Evaluate how well the metal frame raceway design with HDPE
liner hold up through several grow out cycles of saltwater shrimp
compared to the typical swimming pools used.
2. Compare harvest weight, survival rate, and food-conversion
ratio between shrimp raised in the raceway design and shrimp
raised in the swimming pool design.
3. Measure temperature daily (preferably continuously if
possible) for both raceway and swimming pool designs to test
temperature uniformity through the grow cycle.
4. Compare energy usage between the raceway design that heats
water directly and the swimming pool that heats water through
hydronic heat.
5. Share findings to fellow farmers and potential farmers through
presentation at the Ohio Aquaculture Association Annual
Conference.
Cooperators
- - Producer
Research
Unfortunately, we are delayed in doing the experiment for three reasons. We just got the black metal ponds last month because the costs came out way higher than expected for metal. It dipped during the winter and was finally able to get them for $12700 per tank (including the metal frame, 40 MIL HDPE pond liner, 1HP Hayward water pump, plumbing supplies, and Eductor jet fittings). The second is the liner material for the metal ponds have not been delivered yet. And third, not sure if you keep up with the shrimp hatchery issues going on the last few months but the supply of baby shrimp from Florida has been hard to get from both of our suppliers due to the Hurricanes. We only have 150K PLs to run the general operation, and cannot designate another 30K babies to this experiment. Though worthwhile for sure, some hesitance but we look to move forward in March 2025 and still finish the project on time.
No results just yet.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
None yet.