The effects of different seeding ratios on nitrification performance and biofilm formation in marine recirculating aquaculture system biofilter

Rapid start-up of biofilter is essential for intensive marine recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) production. This study evaluated the nitrifying biofilm formation using mature biofilm as an inoculum to accelerate the process in RAS practice. The effects of inoculation ratios (0–15 %) on the reactor performance and biofilm structure were investigated. Complete nitrification was achieved rapidly in reactors with inoculated mature biofilm (even in 32 days when 15 % seeding ratio was applied). However, the growth of target biofilm on blank carrier was affected by the mature biofilm inoculated through substrate competition. The analysis of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and nitrification rates confirmed the divergence of biofilm cultivation among reactors. Besides, three N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) were found in the process, which might regulate the activities of biofilm. Multivariate analysis based on non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) also indicated the great roles of AHLs and substrate supply which might fundamentally determine varied cultivation performance on target biofilm.