Abstract

Adequacy of quality freshwater and wastewater management are the major challenges facing aquaculture industries globally. This study presents a preliminary work aimed at assessing the performance of laboratory-scaled heterogeneous constructed wetlands (HCWs) cells with stratified layers of different filling for treating aquaculture wastewater. The frustum shaped plastic HCWs were planted with Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea L.) and operated at the pre-setup stage for about three weeks. The effluents were recirculated twice at hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 24, 48 and 72 hrs and analyzed for turbidity, pH, total phosphorus (TP), TSS, COD, BOD5 and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN). Ranges of reduction efficiencies obtained were: Turbidity (44.4 to 80.3%), TSS (-12.8 to 36.6%), COD (8.7 to 31.2%), BOD5 (3.7 to 31.6%), TP (33.3 to 58.1%) and TAN (-3.7 to 92.6%). The pH was reduced from 7.9 to a slightly alkaline value of 7.2. There were strong correlations in the treatment pattern due to the cell configurations. A significant effect (p

Key words: Hydraulic retention times; Aquaculture; Constructed wetlands; Wastewater; Cinnamon fern