Multi-function device for intensive shrimp farming, intensive shrimp farming pond using this device and method for operating this pond

1 . An intensive shrimp pond ( 100 ) cylindrical in shape with an inverted conical bottom, with a lowest position of the bottom having a slope of 5% to 12% along the radius of a bottom surface of the pond, comprising:

a siphon system ( 120 ), including a central hole at the lowest position of the pond and a system of pipes connected to the central hole to drain organic matter out of the shrimp pond;

at least one multi-function device ( 200 );

a floating roof system ( 500 ) on a surface of water in the pond; and

a light system ( 600 ) providing artificial light,

wherein the multi-functional device ( 200 ) comprises:

a water flow generator ( 220 );

a body ( 222 ) having a screw-shaped tubular structure;

an impeller ( 224 ) placed inside the body ( 222 )

a motor ( 221 ) driving the impeller ( 224 ) through a drive shaft ( 223 ) to generate a water flow;

a feeder unit ( 240 ) for providing food for shrimp including a container ( 242 ), a lid ( 241 ) located above the container ( 242 ), a sensor located inside the container ( 242 ) which can sense an amount of food remaining in the container ( 242 ), a feed output ( 243 ) located below the container ( 242 ), a feed dosing motor configured to measure and deliver precise amounts of feed into the shrimp pond ( 100 );

gas dissolving unit ( 230 ) for dissolving oxygen molecules into the water of the shrimp pond including a porous ceramic tube ( 232 ) with hollow interior, an upper stopper ( 234 ) and a lower stopper ( 235 ) placed at opposite ends of the porous ceramic tube ( 232 ), a plurality of bolts ( 236 ) and a matching plurality of nuts ( 237 ) to tighten the upper and lower stoppers and fix the porous ceramic tube ( 232 ) therebetween, an inlet ( 233 ) configured in the upper stopper ( 234 ) connecting to the hollow interior of the porous ceramic tube ( 232 ), wherein the gas dissolving unit ( 230 ) is located inside the body ( 222 ) and adjacent to the impeller ( 224 ) of the water flow generator ( 220 ) and is connected to a pure oxygen supply device; and

a support frame ( 210 ) configured with a plurality of support levels with the motor ( 221 ) of the water flow generator ( 220 ) arranged at the highest support level and the body ( 222 ) of the water flow generator ( 220 ) arranged at the lowest support level so that when placed in the shrimp pond, the device creates one-way laminar flow with a gradually decreasing flow rate from the bottom to the water surface of the shrimp pond; and

wherein the floating roof system ( 500 ) comprising:

a floating roof ( 510 ) comprising a rectangular frame of buoy pipes made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and a waterproof cover within the rectangular frame and made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with a thickness of at least 0.5 mm and a light transmittance over 40%, and

a submerged pump ( 520 ) placed in a middle area of the cover.

2 . The intensive shrimp pond according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a sensor assembly ( 250 ) that, when placed under water, allows measurement of water quality indicators selected from the group consisting of dissolved oxygen concentration, pH, salinity, water temperature and turbidity, combined with a sunlight sensor on the water.

3 . The intensive shrimp pond according to claim 2 , further comprising:

a controller ( 260 ) for operating the multi-function device ( 200 ), the controller connecting and communicating with the water flow generator and the feeder unit via wiring and/or wireless communication, wherein said controller ( 260 ) being configured to receive, from the sensor assembly ( 250 ), system data information, then to determine and adjust parameters, and to transmit one or more of the parameters to at least one of the water flow generator and the feeder unit to enable operation according to the transmitted parameters.

4 . The intensive shrimp pond according to claim 1 , further comprising a seaweed-culturing system ( 700 ) having a seaweed-culturing cage ( 710 ) with a rectangular-prism frame ( 711 ) made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes, a bottom surface thereof being covered by plastic net ( 712 ).

5 . The intensive shrimp pond according to claim 1 , wherein the light system includes light emitting diode (LED) lights, each LED light includes a plurality of LED bulbs, among which approximately ⅓ are capable of transmitting blue light and ⅔ are capable of transmitting green light and

wherein a combination of the LED lights and sunlight provide light for at least 14 hours per day.

6 . A method for operating the shrimp pond according to claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:

setting modes and operating the multi-function device;

setting modes and operating the light system;

operating the siphon system; and

operating floating roof system;

wherein the steps of setting modes and operating the multi-function device include:

setting and operating the feeder unit according to manual or automatic mode, wherein in manual mode, the setting of next feeding is based on previous feeding results and in the automatic mode, the setting is predetermined scheduled feeding;

setting pure oxygen supply flow rate from 0 to 180 g/min so that dissolved oxygen in the shrimp pond is higher than saturated dissolved oxygen concentration of about 7.6 mg/L at a geographic location of the shrimp pond; and

setting mode and operating the water flow generator so that the output water flow is between 0 and 20 m 3 /min.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein a ratio of flow rate of water flow (L/min) and oxygen flow rate (L/min) is greater than 5,000.

8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the light system includes light emitting diode (LED) lights, each LED light includes a plurality of LED bulbs, among which are blue LED bulbs and green LED bulbs, wherein the steps of setting modes and operating the light system comprise the steps of:

turning on the blue LED bulbs at 00:00 a.m., local time, gradually brightening from 0% to 100% in the first 30 minutes,

turning off the blue LED bulbs at 01:00 a.m., local time,

turning on green LED bulbs at 00:00 a.m., local time, gradually brightening from 0% to 100% in the first 60 minutes, and

turning off the green LED bulbs at 07:00 a.m., local time.

9 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of operating the siphon system ( 120 ) includes:

discharging water through the siphon system regularly at a time interval of about one to about three hours, to discharge a volume out of the pond of about 2% to about 10% of a total volume of the pond per day, and

pumping clean water into the shrimp pond to substantially replenish the amount of discharged volume.

10 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of operating floating roof system includes:

collecting rainwater on the cover of the floating roof and pumping the collected rainwater off of the floating roof during or after rain.

11 . The method according to claim 6 , the method further comprising at least one of the steps of:

adding algae and/or alkaline agents to raise the pH of the pond; and

adding microorganisms to reduce the pH of the pond.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein:

algae and/or alkaline agents are added at a time when the pH of the pond is lower than a predetermined value; and

microorganisms are added at a time when the pH of the pond is higher than the predetermined value.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the predetermined value is between 7.5 and 8.0.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the steps of:

obtaining a measurement of the pH of the pond, and

if the measurement indicates pH<7.5, adding alkaline agent and/or algae and reducing or preventing an addition amount of microorganism;

if the measurement indicates 8.0<pH<8.5, reducing an addition amount of algae; and

if the measurement indicates pH>8.5, stop adding algae to the pond until the pH returns to the predetermined value.

15 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the alkaline agent comprises a base or a basic oxide, selected from a group consisting of NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH) 2 , Na 2 O, K 2 O and CaO.

16 . The method according to claim 11 , in which algae are added during day-time and alkaline agents are added at night-time or when sunlight intensity is less than 15 Kilolux or greater than 30 Kilolux.