Acronym EC-REEF
Category
Marine Biotechnology
Title Electrochemical devices for the control and monitoring of seawater and coral farming Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator NA Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
UA - University of Alicante (Spain)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2021 End year 2023 Funding (€) € NA Website NA Summary The production of corals in suitable environments and the creation of artificial reefs are key tools for the recovery of these ecological systems. Coral aquaculture in aquariums and fenced marine areas promotes the rearing of young corals which, after a controlled growth stage, can be used appropriately or transferred to the area of interest.
In coral farming facilities it is convenient to maintain a close control of the skeleton-forming chemical species, as well as the biological quality of its waters, so we propose the design of an integral prototype of electrochemical control of marine aquarium that includes:
1. Electrochemical biosensor of biochemical quality.
When new species or organisms are introduced from wild environments, there is always a risk since it is common contaminating species and pathogens can be introduced in the aquarium.
It is therefore advisable to introduce these new species in dedicated quarantine tanks. In these tanks, the water is also systematically medicated to eliminate possible pathogenic organisms using aggressive treatments. Although the higher marine organisms can withstand this type of treatment, they often suffer and die as a result. The biosensor, based on phosphatase inhibition processes, is proposed as a device that allows a quick method to control the quality of water in terms of biological habitability, which would result in a reduction of treatment times, reduction of its cost and improvement of animal welfare. This type of inhibition sensor responds to a wide variety of toxins and endocrine disruptors from marine animals so it can be used as a global indicator of the biohabitability of the environment.
One of the advantages of this broad-spectrum sensor device is its electronic control, which allows its incorporation into remote detection systems. Therefore, it is considered that this prototype would have applications to this type of control of aquariums in large installations and in the open sea.
2. Automated maintenance of water quality for reefs (electrochemical reactor).
It is proposed to develop a prototype of an electrochemical reactor for dosing coral skeleton-forming species for marine aquariums in which the control and dosing would performed by electrochemical methods. It would allow the introduction in the market of a new technology for these reactors in which CO2 would not be used and in which the supply of ions would be unlinked to that of dissolved CO2 species. The technology presented (already tested at laboratory level) would allow the introduction in the market of a reactor model with a series of advantages in relation to the current commercial reactors: it does not require the use of gases, simple regulation, easy regulation of alkalinity, unlinked alkalinity, and calcium supply. This prototype would have applications in aquariums of large installations and in domestic aquariums.
After the development of the research, a three-phase transfer plan is proposed: 1. Transfer and validation of results 2. Exploitation model.
Keywords
Monitoring;
Land-based aquaculture;
Technology;
Biosensors;
Corals;
Prototype;
Water quality;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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