Lime application methods, water and bottom soil acidity in fresh water fish ponds

Abstract

Although some methods for determining lime requirement of pond soils are available and commonly used, there is still no consensus on whether it is more effective to apply liming materials to the bottoms of empty ponds or to wait and apply them over the water surface after ponds are filled. There is also little information on how deep lime reacts in pond sediment over time, and whether the depth of reaction is different when liming materials are applied to the water or to the soil. Therefore, three techniques for treating fish ponds with agricultural limestone were evaluated in ponds with clayey soils at a commercial fish farm. Amounts of agricultural limestone equal to the lime requirement of bottom soils were applied to each of three ponds by: direct application over the pond water surface; spread uniformly over the bottom of the empty pond; spread uniformly over the bottom of the empty pond followed by tilling of the bottom. Effectiveness of agricultural limestone applications did not differ among treatment methods. Agricultural limestone also reacted quickly to increase total alkalinity and total hardness of pond water to acceptable concentrations within 2 weeks after application. The reaction of lime to increase soil pH was essentially complete after one to two months, and lime had no effect below a soil depth of 8 cm. Tilling of pond bottoms to incorporate liming materials is unnecessary, and tilling consumes time and is an expensive practice; filled ponds can be limed effectively. Key words: liming, total alkalinity, total hardness, sediments MÉTODOS DE CALAGEM, ACIDEZ DA ÁGUA E DO SEDIMENTO DO FUNDO DE VIVEIROS DE PISCICULTURARESUMO: Alguns métodos para determinar a quantidade de calcário necessária para corrigir a acidez do fundo dos viveiros de piscicultura estão disponíveis e rotineiramente em uso, mas ainda não existe um consenso se é mais eficiente fazer a aplicação diretamente no fundo ou sobre a superfície da água após o abastecimento dos viveiros. Além disso, existem poucas informações disponíveis sobre até que profundidade o calcário reage com o sedimento do fundo ao longo do tempo, e se a profundidade na qual ocorrem as reações é diferente quando o calcário é aplicado sobre a superfície da água ou sobre o solo. Dessa forma, três técnicas para calagem foram avaliadas em viveiros com solo argiloso em uma piscicultura comercial de acordo com os seguintes métodos: aplicação direta sobre a superfície da água do viveiro, distribuição uniforme sobre o fundo do viveiro vazio, distribuição uniforme sobre o fundo do viveiro vazio seguida da aragem. A eficácia da aplicação do calcário agrícola não diferiu entre os métodos de tratamento. O calcário agrícola reagiu rapidamente para aumentar a alcalinidade e a dureza total da água dos viveiros para concentrações aceitáveis após duas semanas. O aumento do pH do sedimento se completou essencialmente após um a dois meses, e o calcário agrícola não teve efeito sobre as camadas de sedimento abaixo de 8 cm. A aração do fundo dos viveiros para incorporação...

Single or paired increase of total alkalinity and hardness of water for cultivation of Nile tilapia juveniles, Oreochromis niloticus

“…Calcium is an essential element for fish growth and health, and a minimum concentration in water is desirable to get good growth performance indices. In general, culture waters with pH below 7.0 and total alkalinity below 50 mg L -1 will get benefits by liming (QUEIROZ et al, 2004).…”

“…While Na 2 CO 3 is soluble in water, CaCO 3 has a poor solubility (TEIR et al, 2007). However, CaCO 3 as agricultural limestone is the product most frequently used both for agriculture (PEIXOTO et al, 1998) and aquaculture liming (QUEIROZ et al, 2004). In aquaculture, the reasons for the use of agricultural limestone (CaCO 3 ) instead of Na 2 CO 3 as the standard product for liming are (1) the increase of both water alkalinity and hardness carried out by CaCO 3 liming and not by Na 2 CO 3 and (2) the lower cost of CaCO 3 .…”

Spatial Distribution of Brackishwater Pond Soil Characteristics in Pekalongan City Central Java Province

“…In addition, land management practices such as the use of limestone by farmers cause high pH F on surface soil. It has been reported by de Queiroz et al (2004) that the application of lime in soil surface can significantly affect the soil to depth of 0.04 m. At 0 to 0.25 m soil depth, the spatial distribution of relative pH F was the same as shown in Figure 2 Indonesian Aquaculture Journal Vol.6 No.1, 2011 exceed the value 5 (Mustafa & Rachmansyah, 2008). Figure 2 shows detected the pH OX was low.…”

Study on Determination of Categories of Soil Quality Variable Concentrations in Brackish water Ponds of Java Island, Indonesia

“…Liming to increase soils pH during pond preparation and shrimp farming is another cause of higher pond soil pH. However, the lime does not penetrate soil depth until 0.2-0.5; therefore the liming does not elevate soils pH at the depth greater than 0.2 m. in fact, lime particles only penetrate until the depth of 0.04 m (Queiroz et al, 2004) and 0.05 m (Conyers et al, 2003).…”