Better fish health
and FCRs in RAS

The CarbonClear process improves your fish health and FCRs in RAS by binding and disabling the dissolved organic carbon by-products of digestion.

Struggling with any
of the following?

These are the symptoms that RAS farmers see every day. Most don’t know the underlying cause.

  • Dirty water
  • Poor fish growth & FCR
  • Excessive slime & mucus on gills
  • Off-flavour (muddy/earthy taste)
  • Fin erosion
  • Loss of appetite
  • Deformities
  • High mortality rates

Density effect: under the same conditions, these symptoms worsen at higher stocking densities.

Our on-farm trials have shown that these symptoms are a result of dissolved organic carbons (DOCs) accumulating in the system water. As they accumulate, they quietly degrade water quality, fish health and ultimately fish growth performance.

In a RAS, dissolved organic carbons (DOCs) is a mixture of thousands of different dissolved organic molecules of under 0.45 µm that accumulate because the system is deliberately reusing water rather than flushing it away. It originates from uneaten feed, fish metabolic waste, biofilm and bacterial byproducts and whatever arrives from the source water.

It is a food source for heterotrophic bacteria which compete with nitrifying bacteria in the biofilter, reducing ammonia-removal capacity by 30–50% under elevated loading. It also fouls the water with the organic molecules proven to be taken up into the fish themselves. These compounds include Phenol, MIB and Geosmin.

The impact of DOC’s on fish health and growth performance is not yet fully understood, but maintaining levels as low as possible (< 5mg/l) is recommended.

Read the research behind this

Remove dissolved organic
carbons at the source.

The CarbonClear process uses powderized activated carbon to bind and remove dissolved organic carbons in a fundamentally more effective way.

1
Activated carbon binds dissolved organic carbons
Activated carbon is a proven toxin binder widely used to capture and disable dissolved organic compounds.
2
We put it in the feed
The CarbonClear process involves infusing powdered activated carbon directly into the feed pellet. This means binding and disabling acts at the source, inside the fish’s gut, before any of the dissolved organic carbons have the chance to diffuse into the environment.
3
The activated carbon is milled to a fine powder
To work inside a feed pellet, the carbon is ground to a fine powder (PAC - Powdered Activated Carbon). Finer particles adsorb far faster, which matters because the carbon has only a short window inside the fish’s gut. It also disperses evenly through the pellet and stays suspended in the water once excreted.
4
It keeps working after excretion
Once excreted, the activated carbon continues adsorbing dissolved organic carbons and phenols from the surrounding water, right up until it’s captured by standard mechanical filtration (typically a drum filter).
5
Everything gets removed together
The activated carbon and the organic compounds bound to it are the same physical particles. Mechanical filtration removes both in one step, no separate treatment stage required.

See our detailed trial data

Think this could be
affecting your system?

Here’s how to find out and what to do about it.

1

Test for dissolved organic carbon in your system.Test for DOC in your system.

Send a water sample to your closest laboratory and ask them to test for dissolved organic carbon.

How to test your water

2

How can I access CarbonClear?

You have two options.

Ask your feed supplier

If you use an established international feed supplier, it is likely they already know about CarbonClear. Reach out to them to find out more. Introduce us if not and we’ll guide them through the process.

The CarbonClear process is protected by international intellectual property rights agreements.

Speak to us directly

If you want advice or further information, please reach out either over WhatsApp or by filling out the email form below.

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Enquiry submitted. You’ll hear from us shortly.

Our team

Teagan Bok
Managing Director
Teagan Bok

Teagan leads AMT’s day-to-day operations, working directly with RAS farmers to bring CarbonClear to you.

Lawrence Grant
Co-Founder & Lead Scientist
Lawrence Grant

Lawrence leads the scientific development behind CarbonClear, drawing on 15+ years of experience and research into phenols, dissolved organic carbons and their impact on recirculating aquaculture systems.

Andre Bok
Co-Founder
Andre Bok

Andre co-founded AMT, using his 30+ years of RAS operational experience to shape the CarbonClear process.