AquaFarm is a stand-alone desktop application built on the knowledge base and quantitative methods of aquatic and aquaculture sciences and engineering.
AquaFarm uses computer modeling and simulation to test and analyze user-specified aquaculture systems and facilities. It provides structured aquaculture expertise and intensive calculation processing — replacing the expensive custom engineering teams that every serious operator currently must assemble from scratch.
Simulation-generated data are reviewed in data tables and graphs, management logs, facility resource budgets, and complete economic enterprise budgets. Every output is traceable to peer-reviewed quantitative methods — not proprietary black-box estimates.
AquaFarm is designed for professionals with a working background in aquaculture science and engineering. It is not intended for daily operations record-keeping; it is a design and analysis platform.
Calibrate and test models for aquatic animal metabolism, feeding, and growth. Simulate biomass support for single culture units using metabolic respirometry methods.
Model physical, chemical, and biological unit-processes across any system configuration. Test water quality dynamics, oxygen consumption, and waste production simultaneously.
Evaluate facility location, design specifications, and management strategies. Model production objectives, resource consumption, waste reuse, environmental impact, and permitting variables.
Generate complete enterprise budgets integrating resource costs, capital expenditure, operating expenses, and revenue projections — directly from the facility design.
Use simulation as a virtual lab for aquaculture education. Students and teams perform experiments and observe performance of aquatic animals and systems without a physical facility.
Share and collaborate on project models with other AquaFarm users. Use working facility models to communicate specifications and performance to investors, regulators, and project teams.
Land-based closed-loop systems. The fastest-growing segment in global aquaculture — and the primary target for major capital investment.
Open or semi-open water flow systems for salmonids and other cold-water species with access to natural water sources.
Pond and tank-based systems, including solar-algae aquaculture integration.
Multi-species systems where byproducts of one species become inputs for another — reducing waste and improving system economics.
Microbial-based water quality management for shrimp and tilapia — high-density production with minimal water exchange.
Combined fish and plant production, modeling both aquatic and horticultural components within a single integrated system.
Sea-cage modeling for operators evaluating or transitioning from open-water production.
The largest and most diverse category in commercial aquaculture. Includes salmon, trout, tilapia, catfish, bass, cobia, yellowtail, sturgeon, and many others. Most finfish production targets human food markets, with some species raised for sport fishery stocking programs.
Shrimp, prawns, crayfish, crabs, and lobster. Among the highest-value segments of global aquaculture by market price. Shrimp production in particular represents a massive and rapidly growing sector, with land-based biofloc and RAS systems increasingly replacing coastal pond operations.
Oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, and abalone. Primarily food products, though some species are also cultured for the pearl and shell trades. Mollusk aquaculture is among the most environmentally efficient protein production methods available — no feed inputs required for filter feeders.
Sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and other marine invertebrates with significant food and nutraceutical markets, particularly in Asia. Sea cucumbers in particular command high market values and are increasingly produced in controlled land-based systems.
AquaFarm's species models are parameterized for each group and can be calibrated to local conditions, water source characteristics, and specific production targets.
The quantitative models used in AquaFarm for simulation of aquatic processes and animal performance are based on methods reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature — aquatic and aquaculture sciences and engineering. In addition, original algorithms and quantitative models have been newly developed specifically for AquaFarm and are documented in the AquaFarm User Manual.
A technical article describing AquaFarm's methodology has been published in the Aquacultural Engineering Journal and is available through ResearchGate.
Screenshots below represent real simulation outputs from actual project work.
Doug — place your most complex real project map here. All facility units connected and color-coded by function: intake, biofilter, RAS tanks, degasser, UV, growout, harvest, waste. Recommended: 1400 × 780px minimum, PNG.
Full recirculating aquaculture system facility map — all units connected, color-coded by function. One of Doug Ernst's real commercial project designs, built entirely within AquaFarm before construction began.
Water quality parameters or animal growth curves over a full production cycle — multiple lines, labeled axes, real data values.
Simulation output — water quality and growth curves across a complete production cycle.
Full resource and cost breakdown — feed, oxygen, labor, waste, capital costs, and enterprise-level financials.
Complete enterprise budget output — resource consumption, operating costs, and financial projections.
Two alternative design configurations evaluated — showing the "test before you build" value proposition directly.
Two RAS configurations compared — design decisions evaluated before any capital is committed.
The Software Overview is a detailed PDF introduction to AquaFarm's architecture, facility types, species coverage, and user interface — a good starting point before the full User Manual.
Download Software Overview (PDF)Also available: the peer-reviewed technical article published in the Aquacultural Engineering Journal. Find it on ResearchGate →
AquaFarm is installed together with its User Manual, and the Manual is not a help file that grew too long. It is a reference on the science and engineering of aquaculture systems, written to the standard of an upper-level text, that happens also to document a piece of software.
It sets out the quantitative basis of every module: species-specific bioenergetic and growth models, water quality algorithms, system-type configurations for each facility class, and the economic modeling framework. The parameters and assumptions behind each model are stated plainly and traced to the peer-reviewed literature they derive from, so a result can be interpreted and defended rather than taken on trust.
That makes it useful two ways. Read straight through, it is an account of how aquaculture systems behave. Opened at the module in front of you, it tells you exactly what the software is calculating, and why.
The User Manual is installed with AquaFarm, on the 30-day trial as well as on every paid license. It is not distributed separately.
The full platform — every system type, every simulation capability — available for 30 days at no charge. The User Manual is installed with it.