Just the Basics
tl;dr
- Water-quality (WQ) management is at the heart of all successful aquaculture.
- Controlling WQ involves a complicated set of chemical tasks that makes or breaks a project.
- This is a very common pain-point for aquaculturists, especially in sustainable recirc systems.
- The WQ ToolBox+ software saves aquaculturists time, money, & misery by making precision WQ control as simple as using Google MapsTM.
The WQ ToolBox+
Software tools to control water chemistry
in recirc systems
The WQ ToolBox+ package bundles three apps:
Designed from first-hand experience, the WQ ToolBox+ empowers aquaculturists to solve water-chemistry problems that naturally arise in the course of raising a crop, regardless of the target species.
To learn more about each app...
- click its icon in the list above or in the navigation bar
- or tap the Learn more... button in its section of the Home page
A Bit More
The Motivation
Water is the life-blood of all aquatic
systems
Water is the life-blood of all aquatic systems, whether natural (oceans, lakes, estuaries), recreational (home aquaria, pools & spas), or designed for seafood production (aquaculture, aquaponics, hydroponics).
In aquaculture, poor water quality leads to poor crops...and poor crops lead to poor profits.
That’s simple enough to understand, but what’s not so simple to understand is the chemistry and math needed to maintain healthy culture water over a crop cycle.
That’s especially true in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) which do not flush water-quality problems to the environment but must tackle them head-on within the culture unit.
Sustainability is even more challenging in true water-reuse systems: Water chemistry must be managed with precision to maintain a healthy culture environment over multiple consecutive crop cycles.
That's a tech barrier that must be lowered if local production of sustainable seafood is to be expanded.
The Mission
Develop tools that take the 'tech' out of
managing aquaculture water chemistry
The mission is to accelerate local production of sustainable seafood by equipping small-scale aquaculture entrepreneurs with the training & tools they need to manage water chemistry in multi-crop recirc systems.
The mission supports two UN SDGs: Sustainable Development of Marine Resources (SDG 14) & Sustainable Production (SDG 12).
The Vision
Enhance sustainable seafood production
with practical IMTA and ML
The vision is to modify the software to (1) simplify control of an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) system that lowers the CO2e footprint of current mono-species recirc systems; (2) incorporate Machine Learning (ML) for WQ anomaly detection & enhancing the Water Quality Map's stoichiometric algorithm.
The Origin
A stem-to-stern re-write inspired by the
old aquaCalc software
The WQ ToolBox+ project originally was intended to be a simple upgrade of the old aquaCalc software that no longer runs on modern operating systems. (The Windows version, however, still runs on Windows 7 for anyone who wants to go to the trouble of emulating that old OS on a modern Windows platform.)
Web technologies also have greatly advanced since that small desktop app was released, and some of these (React, D3, MongoDB) have been incorporated into the WQ ToolBox+ package to present a much richer user experience. (In comparison, the old aquaCalc UI looks like something from the original version of The Simpsons.)
The result is an entirely new set of software tools that broadens and deepens the user's ability to manage aquaculture water quality.
The Dev
A bit about the developer
The WQ ToolBox+ was developed by Nick Staresinic. Some of his academic and professional stops...
- Ph.D., Biological Oceanography, MIT & The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- NATO Post-doc, International Atomic Energy Agency's Marine Radioactivity Lab, Monaco
- Ingénieur physicien, CNRS/CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Visiting Investigator, Coastal Research Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Regional Coordinator in the W. Balkans, Releasing Development Potential at the Coast, a Research Council of Norway project with NTNU, SINTEF, & (pre-)NOFIMA
- A stint at the former National Research Center for Cephalopods (UTMB, Galveston) to learn Sepia culture methods
- A couple months learning salmon cage culture off Caherdaniel, County Kerry
- Taught Aquaculture Tech at Dubrovnik University, Croatia
- Aquaculture feasibility studies -- solo & in teams -- in Ecuador, Kenya, the US, & Croatia
- Demo project restocking native Gulf of Mexico penæid juveniles in Galveston, TX
- Contributor, Tzachi Samocha's Elsevier book Sustainable Biofloc Systems for Marine Shrimp.
- Developed the old aquaCalc software with support of TAMU Sea Grant