Premier Control Technologies Fluid Solutions
Fish farming in the UK and Ireland spans exposed sea cage sites, flow through raceways, and increasingly sophisticated recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). Each environment demands reliable oxygen delivery, carefully controlled dosing, hygienic instrumentation, and verifiable water flow compliance. On this page you’ll find application focused guidance and fisheries ready technologies that withstand saline conditions, integrate with plant controls, and support regulatory reporting.
The products below are drawn from PCT’s portfolio across flow, pressure, dosing and measurement—selected to reduce energy and chemical usage, improve stock health, and simplify site maintenance.
Open water cages and tank farms require steady oxygen supplementation that copes with tidal changes, biomass density and varying water temperatures. Operators often combine central oxygen headers with multiple branch take offs to each pen or tank. Manual trimming at each branch helps balance distribution while keeping maintenance practical in harsh marine environments. Clear local indication at the branch makes walk by checks fast and prevents over oxygenation waste. Solutions must be robust against salt spray and simple to isolate if a line needs service. Where sites run liquid oxygen or PSA oxygen, equipment that tolerates oxygen service and offers easy scaling is preferred.
RAS and raceway systems aim to keep DO within narrow bands despite changing biomass and feeding events. As water recirculates through aeration, biofilters and degassing stages, back pressure steadiness and flow balance across tanks are essential to achieve consistent DO transfer. The control strategy often blends small oxygen trims with air to minimize cost while maintaining fish welfare. Instrumentation must be corrosion resistant, allow clean in place, and integrate with PLCs overseeing pumps and blowers. Because RAS piping uses a mix of plastics and stainless, components with wide material compatibility simplify specification. Clear visual indication at individual tanks complements central DO sensors by showing actual gas delivery.
Stable diffuser performance depends on a constant supply pressure at the manifold even as demand fluctuates between tanks. Back pressure regulators that react quickly and without hysteresis protect diffuser back pressure, improve mass transfer efficiency and prevent surging. In marine or hatchery settings, materials selection must consider oxygen service and occasional saline exposure. Where manifolds are large, a high flow design is preferable to keep velocities low and noise down. The regulator should be simple to pilot and integrate into control loops if required. Easy maintenance and predictable performance under varying flows make operations smoother.
Ozone is widely used for pathogen reduction, colour/odour control and to enhance biosecurity in hatcheries and RAS. Its strong oxidising nature demands carefully selected materials throughout contact skids and off gas systems. Precise dosing with short response time helps operators meet CT values without overdosing, while pressure control across contactors supports consistent mass transfer. As processes ramp during peak load, dosing systems should maintain linearity from low to high flows. For hygiene and maintenance, pump heads and tubing should enable quick changeovers with minimal spares. Where possible, equipment should provide digital integration for recipe control and batch records.
Maintaining pH within the optimal band safeguards fish welfare and keeps biofilters efficient. RAS often require continuous micro dosing of alkali solutions (e.g., sodium bicarbonate) or acids for correction, while flow through sites may dose seasonally. Dosing skids must offer repeatable small volumes, easy calibration, and simple changeover to avoid downtime. Integration to plant PLCs for interlocks—such as low tank level or high conductivity alarms—improves safety. Using dosing technology that tolerates abrasive suspensions (where slurries are used) extends service life. Operators also value compact footprints and straightforward spares.
For intake pre treatment, tank sanitation and pipeline disinfection, oxidants such as sodium hypochlorite must be dosed accurately to hit setpoints without overdosing. Fisheries often run variable rate programs tied to flow or residual analyzers. Dosing equipment needs to deliver higher volumes during CIP or shock dosing while maintaining repeatability at lower maintenance rates. Because hypochlorite is aggressive, wetted materials and tubing selection are critical. Operationally, recipe based batching and data logging help document compliance and hygiene routines.
Micro bubbles and surfactants can lead to excessive foaming in protein skimmers and bio filters. Controlled anti foam addition prevents carry over and sensor fouling. Likewise, coagulation aids can be dosed upstream of microscreens to improve fines capture. Many sites prefer multi point, low flow dosing to spread effect uniformly and reduce chemical use. A compact, multi channel solution that is simple to configure and maintain reduces skid complexity. Precise, repeatable dosing helps avoid over addition that could impact water quality or fish health.
When high accuracy is required across a wide range of viscosities and temperatures—e.g., buffering agents, trace nutrient concentrates, or additives for water polishing—a Coriolis solution gives direct mass measurement independent of process conditions. For batching, the transmitter’s totalisers and fast response help hit tight setpoints, reduce over fill and simplify QA records. Skid builders benefit from compact sensors that fit into tight cabinets while complying with hygienic requirements where needed. Digital comms streamline recipe control and data capture. Rugged construction ensures long term stability with aggressive media.
Abstraction mains, seawater intakes and RAS distribution loops need reliable flow verification without cutting pipe or interrupting production. Clamp on ultrasonic meters make permanent installs fast and non invasive, while portable meters support surveys, troubleshooting and pump efficiency checks. Because fisheries pipework mixes plastics and metals across a wide diameter range, flexible transducer options are key. Where energy costs are high, continuous flow/energy trending identifies optimisation opportunities. Non contact measurement avoids pressure loss and reduces contamination risks in hygienic lines.
Consent compliance on discharge requires reliable and auditable flow measurement. Plants may need portable surveys to validate existing meters, support investigations, or provide interim evidence before CapEx projects. Clamp on portability allows fast install with no breach of pipe, useful on outfalls and awkward runs. Logged datasets support reporting to local authorities.
Some hatcheries and broodstock facilities optimise DO and CO₂ by blending O₂/air/N₂ in specific ratios—for example to limit supersaturation or for experimental regimes. Industrial gas mixers allow 24/7 operation with ruggedised housings and fast response to setpoint changes. Touchscreen HMIs and external comms simplify recipe control and data logging.
Stable head pressure helps maintain consistent flows through degassing columns, drum filters and distribution mains. Flush diaphragm transmitters resist fouling and are easy to clean, while hygienic connections suit sensitive hatchery areas. Local display aids quick checks; analog/digital comms support trends, alarms and auto shutdown interlocks. With appropriate ranges, the same family covers low head tanks and higher pressure mains.
| Application | Recommended technologies and products | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Oxygen aeration of cages/tanks | Dome loaded back pressure + visual indication (Equilibar BD Series + King 7910) | Stabilises O₂ header, reduces waste; quick visual confirmation at take offs. |
| DO control in RAS loops | High accuracy gas blending (Fusion Flow MXM) | Tight DO with O₂/air optimisation; fast response; PLC/logging friendly. |
| Back pressure control of manifolds | Precision multi orifice BPR (Equilibar General/Research Series) | Frictionless, instant control, mixed phase tolerant. |
| Ozone dosing & biosecurity | Chem resistant rotameter + compact BPR (King 7720 + Drastar 077) | Visual flow plus stable injector back pressure in oxidative service |
| pH/alkalinity dosing | Multi point peristaltic (Longer BT100 1L) | Many low flow points from one drive; easy automation |
| Disinfection dosing (NaOCl) | High flow dispensing peristaltic (Longer WT600 1F) | Programmable volume/copies; industrial I/O; back suction |
| Anti foam/coagulant | Valveless ceramic piston dosing (FMI FENYX®) | Pulseless micro dosing; long life; PLC ready |
| Coriolis batching/dosing | Mass based metering (Rheonik RHM + RHE) | Direct mass flow, wide range of sizes & outputs |
| Intake/distribution flow verification | Permanent clamp on ultrasonic (Dynasonics TFX 5000) | Retrofit without shutdown; no head loss; industrial comms |
| Effluent discharge monitoring | Water focused clamp on ultrasonic (Dynasonics TFX 500w) | Non intrusive consent metering; simple integration |
| Gas blending for aeration (specialty) | Industrial gas mixer (Fusion Flow IMX) | Rugged 24/7 blending with fast control |
| Head/degassing pressure & level | Flush diaphragm transmitter (PCT Z1) | Accurate, cleanable, loop test friendly |
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