Efficiency of Fermented Organic Matter and Effective Microorganism (EM) Ball for Treating Effluent from Freshwater Aquaculture

Abstract

To treat effluent from freshwater aquaculture for meeting the effluent standard of the Pollution Control Department, experiments were conducted using artificial wastewater prepared by adding shrimp pelleted feed 0.7 g/l in freshwater making the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) value equaled 26.31 mg/l, which was close to the real effluent from an aquaculture farm, exceeding the effluent standard. Each experiment was carried out using a completely randomized design comprising 7 treatments with five replicates as follows: a control set, four treatments using fermented organic matter (FOM); FOM with a stimulating agent LD6, Khun Charoon Krainate’s FOM, Khun Anusorn Whannarong’s FOM and FOM for fish culture, and two treatments using effective microorganism (EM) balls; DASTA ball and Khun Saman Yatart’s EM ball. Preparation and procedures used were based on the description of inventors. The four FOM and the EM ball originally created by Khun Saman Yatart were prepared on site. Afterwards, the experiments were carried out by adding a total of 100 liters artificial effluent in each glass aquarium and aeration was given at 2.5 l/min throughout the trial period of 30 days. It was found that FOM with the stimulating agent LD6 was the most effective set for treating the effluent as its fastest treatment to reduce suspended solids, BOD and total phosphorus in the effluent. However, all sets met the effluent standards of the Pollution Control Department at the end of the experiments.