Effectiveness of bacterial attachment media to reduce organic matter from wastewater of catfish aquaculture

Sangkuriang catfish aquaculture produces waste in the form of organic matter from the remaining feed and metabolic waste. Previous study revealed that the organic matter found in the outlet part of the fishpond was three times higher than the inlet. The attempt to decrease organic matter in that study was performed using freshwater clam and Bacillus subtilis bacteria; however, the decrease was less than 80% within 5 days. This study aims to obtain a maximum decrease level of organic matter with the fastest time of degradation. The experimental method with a Completely Randomized Plot Design (Split Plot Design) was employed in this study. The primary treatments ( main plot) were time while the sub-plot was the surface area of bacterial attachment media. The time was set within 72 hours with an observation interval of 12 hours. The areas of the attachment media were 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% of the surface diameter of the experimental pail. The attachment media used in this study was synthetic coir. The control treatment was done without the attachment media (0%). The experiment was conducted in a laboratory under a facultative anaerobic condition. The level of organic matter and the total of bacterial suspension (TPC) in the water were observed every 12 hours. Organic matter was measured using a KMnO4 oxidizer. The results study indicated that adhering 100% of the surface of the attachment media decreased organic matter by 93.7% within 72 hours (three days). The total bacteria in water media within 12 hours was 0.5x10(2) CFU/ml, while the total bacteria within 72 hours was 26x10(2) CFU/ml. It can be concluded that the utilization of the bacterial attachment media has accelerated the decrease of organic matter in the wastewater of Catfish aquaculture with a stable amount of bacterial suspension.