Cayuga Aqua Ventures LLC (Ithaca, NY) invented and tested a water conditioning device for intensive aquaculture systems known as the HTE-Biofilter™. This device offers considerable and demonstrable advantages over all other filtration systems currently available. The HTE-Biofilter™ combines processes for CO2 stripping, oxygen addition, nitrification, and fine solids capture into a single unit in a synergistic and unprecedented fashion. This combination of what was heretofore several individual processes into a single unit device results in significant economies of scale and system design simplicity.

The HTE-Biofilter™ is simple to operate since it is essentially a trickling filter using microbeads (1 to 4 mm diameter polystyrene balls with a bulk density of 1 lb/ft3) for media The HTE-Biofilter™ can be desgined to replace part or all of the barn's ventilation system and in doing so will greatly enhance the aerial environment within the building space for human comfort. The HTE-Biofilter™ operates on minimal hydraulic head pressure that allows the use of high volume low head pumps that are economical to operate, thus reducing production costs. The combining of virtually all the water treatment requirements into a single unit reduces floor space foot-print requirements for this equipment, resulting in either more space for production or a smaller overall facility, thereby making the overall initial costs of an indoor aquaculture system proportionately less expensive.