Patent ID: 7736509

Claim:
A method for depleting phosphate content in an aquatic environment comprising: a) culturing a group of aquatic microorganisms commonly referred to as biofloc, comprising an aquatic suspension containing various microflora including fungi, yeasts, bacteria and algae, for the feeding of a target species in an aquaculture system, wherein the biofloc is capable of producing a food source for the target species, further wherein the biofloc allows for the periodic addition of ammonia to the system to produce additional proteins, further wherein the biofloc becomes capable of reducing dissolved phosphate through specialized intensive aquaculture of selected organisms and/or the combination of the microflora and target species of an aquatic animal species creates the capability of reducing dissolved phosphate through specialized intensive aquaculture; b) removing water from the aquaculture system, including the biofloc, and optionally removing the target species; c) determining the phosphate and ammonia content of an aquatic environment; d) delivering the biofloc to an aquatic environment if the phosphate concentration is above a predetermined concentration and ammonia concentration is below a threshold level to partially deplete the phosphate content; e) retesting parameters to determine further remediation steps, including ammonia as an immediate rise in ammonia is expected; and optionally f) remediating excessive ammonia by adding carbohydrates while monitoring dissolved oxygen levels, wherein carbohydrates are added in a manner to prevent eutrophy unless an oxygen support system is available; and optionally, g) harvesting the resultant biofloc produced for use as lipid enriched product for food or fuel production.