ABSTRACT
The internal environment in fish tanks may restrict the production potential in landbased salmon farming. The environmental conditions are determined by the quality and amounts of incoming water and feed, and are largely biologically mediated by the fish metabolite production. The causal relationships between these input factors and the biological responses need to be expressed quantitatively in a system model in order to predict effects of operational and technical manipulations.
The model proposed in our paper combines metabolic processes such as oxygen demand and production of carbon dioxide, suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus with input variables related to the incoming water and feeding. It predicts water quality effects that are of importance for the performance of the fish (concentrations of oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide, ammonia and suspended solids).
