FAQ

At this point we ans­wer the most important ques­ti­ons. You will find infor­ma­ti­on about our com­pa­ny, the Cube and our tech­no­lo­gy. We are curr­ent­ly in the series deve­lo­p­ment of the Cube and ask for your under­stan­ding that the­re may be chan­ges to the tech­ni­cal details.

Cube

Engineering

What are the measurements of the system?

The Cube is com­po­sed of four 40 foot con­tai­ners. The exter­nal dimen­si­ons of the sys­tem are 12,20m x 9,70m. Addi­tio­nal­ly, you should cal­cu­la­te a mano­eu­vring space of mini­mum 1,00m for the instal­la­ti­on of the Cube.

Are the containers insulated?

Yes, we use ree­fer con­tai­ners as a case for our Cube. They are desi­gned to trans­port fro­zen goods and insu­la­ted  with 7–10cm PU foam.

 

How much power does one Cube need?

The sys­tem requi­res elec­tri­ci­ty around the clock. Around 85,000 kWh are gene­ra­ted per year (75,000 kWh for the mast, 10,000 kWh for pro­ces­sing). If solar panels are instal­led on the roof of the plant, this can cover around a third of the elec­tri­ci­ty requirement.

Is it possible to stack the Cubes?

Yes, theo­re­ti­cal­ly it is pos­si­ble to stack the cubes. The con­tai­ners are in trans­por­ta­ti­on ope­ra­ti­on full loa­ded stackable for ten times. Prac­ti­cal­ly we have not deve­lo­ped a con­cre­te con­cept with a struc­tu­ral engi­neer yet. So far it is not cer­tain if the stack­ing is very prac­ti­ca­ble in regar­ding with fishing, total weight/soil con­di­ti­on and sup­p­ly with feed and auxi­lia­ry materials.

What does ‚fully automated‘ mean?

Ful­ly auto­ma­ted means, that bes­i­des the con­trol of the aggre­ga­tes, pumps and fil­ters the moni­to­ring and con­trol­ling of all pro­cess para­me­ters (pH-value or salt con­cen­tra­ti­on) works ful­ly auto­ma­ted as well.

Where does the software come from?

We deve­lo­ped the con­trol­ling soft­ware ourselves.

Water

Which water do I need?

The Cube is fil­led with tap water which gains its sali­ni­ty by adding a spe­cial mix­tu­re of sea salt mine­rals. It may also be pos­si­ble to use well water, but that requi­res an ana­ly­sis of its com­po­si­ti­on befo­re.

How much water is needed?

One Cube con­ta­ins 70m³ of water. That equ­als 70.000 lit­res.

How much waste water accumulates?

In our sys­tem we recy­cle 99% of the water and pro­du­ce only 1% was­te water per day. That equ­als 500 lit­res. The loss of water is pri­ma­ry a result of eva­po­ra­ti­on and was­te­wa­ter due to rin­sing the mecha­ni­cal fil­ters.

What can be done with the waste water?

The­re are dif­fe­rent pos­si­bi­li­ties to use the sewa­ge water:

1. Becau­se of the small amount, it is pos­si­ble to infu­se it into the local disposal.
 
2. You can alt­hough use the water to com­bi­ne the fish far­ming with agricultural
    far­ming. The sewa­ge water of the fish con­ta­ins valuable mine­rals for the
    wate­ring oft plans. But it also con­ta­ins salt, so you need to choo­se salt
    tole­rant plants.
 
3. Fur­ther­mo­re, you can add the sewa­ge water to the manu­re on agricultural
     holdings.

 

Does the water have to be changed completely at some point? 

No, the basin is ful­ly fil­led with the com­mis­sio­ning of the Cube. After­wards you only replace the dai­ly loss of 500 litres.

What is the water temperature?

The water has an avera­ge tem­pe­ra­tu­re of 24 degrees Cel­si­us. In the win­ter time, the water is coo­ler and in the sum­mer it is war­mer. The fish can grow best at tem­pe­ra­tures bet­ween 18 and 28 degrees Celsius.


Does the water need to be heated or cooled?

Due to the usa­ge of insu­la­ted con­tai­ners and an air-to-air- heat exch­an­ger in the sys­tem, it is not neces­sa­ry to heat the tap water. It is rather neces­sa­ry to cool the water on a day to day basis in case of an extre­me heat waves in the sum­mer. Appro­pria­te coo­ling units can be ren­ted from us.


Costs, delivery & legal

Can you deliver the Cubes to other countries besides Germany?

We can ship the Cube to other count­ries in Euro­pe as well as over­se­as thanks to the ship­ping con­tai­ners which form the basic struc­tu­re of our pro­duct. We curr­ent­ly focu­se stron­gly on the Ger­man mar­ket and plan inter­na­tio­na­li­sa­ti­on in the medi­um term.

How long is the delivery time for one Cube?

Due to the lead time at our sup­pli­ers, we curr­ent­ly need six to eight to pre-assem­ble a sys­tem. We have the capa­ci­ty to pro­du­ce seve­ral sys­tems in parallel.

How long does it take till one cube is installed on-side?

The set-up of one Cube on-site only takes a few days.

What do I need to set up a Cube?

To set up a Cube you need a buil­ding per­mit and a strip foundation. 

Do I need a special training or education to operate a Cube? 

The requi­re­ments for the sys­tem ope­ra­ti­on are dif­fe­rent in every fede­ral sta­te (in Ger­ma­ny). In some sta­tes you only need a licen­se for fishery. In others you need a cer­tain trai­ning for fish far­ming. The poten­ti­al ope­ra­tor can get all infor­ma­ti­on about the legal situa­ti­on at the respon­si­ble minis­try for envi­ron­ment and con­su­mer protection.

In order to bring cla­ri­ty to the topic, we offer a spe­ci­al­ly deve­lo­ped expert trai­ning cour­se on the sub­ject of recir­cu­la­ti­on tech­no­lo­gy, curr­ent­ly only in Ger­man. More infor­ma­ti­on and regis­tra­ti­on here. More infor­ma­ti­on here.

Which permits do I need to process the fish?

At first, you need an appr­oval for the slaugh­ter and pro­ces­sing parts from the local sta­te office for con­su­mer pro­tec­tion. Bes­i­des that, all workers who are in cont­act with food need to show an ins­truc­tion in accordance with § 43 infec­tion pro­tec­tion law (Ger­ma­ny). This food hygie­ne ins­truc­tion can be absol­ved for the first time at the Minis­try for Health and then it can annu­al­ly refres­hed internal.

System operation

Operation

What are the typical tasks during the operation of the Cube?

The dai­ly tasks include in par­ti­cu­lar the con­trol­ling tasks. First of all it is important to do a visu­al con­trol of the fish in the basin. Than you have to check the data that is docu­men­ted in the soft­ware, clean the sen­sors and moni­tor the func­tion of the fil­ters. Fur­ther­mo­re you have fill the feed and salt auto­mats up to two times a week. Bes­i­des that it is real­ly important to keep the basin and the who­le cube clean at all times.

What is the weekly expenditure of time?

For the who­le manage­ment of one Cube from ope­ra­ti­on, pro­ces­sing, dis­tri­bu­ti­on to sales you need around 40 hours in total per week. The plain ope­ra­ti­on of the Cube only takes 8 hours (Ø 1 h per day) und the pro­ces­sing 20 hours. In a lar­ger ope­ra­ti­on with mul­ti­ple Cubes you can achie­ve gre­at syn­er­gy effects through more effi­ci­ent pro­ces­ses and redu­ced work time. In case of a four con­tai­ner modu­le you only need around 120 hours per week.

How many employees are necessary?

It makes sen­se to employ one part time worker and two tem­po­ra­ry workers for the ope­ra­ti­on of one Cube to have all shifts cover­ed even in case of ill­ness or vaca­ti­on. For the ope­ra­ti­on of four Cubes, we recom­mend three full time workers and one tem­po­ra­ry worker.

Are there certain sources of danger related to fire, people or water?

Fire: the­re are no par­ti­cu­lar sources that could cau­se a fire. The­re is only the gene­ral risk that comes with the usa­ge of elec­tri­cal aggre­ga­tes (pumps, compressor)

Peo­p­le: the gene­ral safe­ty regu­la­ti­ons of the employ­er’s lia­bi­li­ty insu­rance asso­cia­ti­on app­ly. Addi­tio­ana­ly the risk of drow­ning remains. For the buf­fe­ring of the pH-value and the ope­ra­ti­on of the deni­tri­fi­ca­ti­on we use ace­tic acid and cau­st­ic soda as a sub­stra­te in dif­fe­rent mixing rati­os. The typi­cal regu­la­ti­ons (per­so­nal pro­tec­tion equip­ment) apply.

Water pro­tec­tion: our Cube is a clo­sed sys­tem wit­hout a con­nec­tion to any body of water. The tap water comes from the pipe­line net­work. The was­te water is lead into the local was­te water sys­tem. Fur­ther­mo­re we use dis­in­fec­tant to clean the equip­ment which can have water con­ta­mi­na­ting effect in a high con­cen­tra­ti­on. The manu­fac­tu­red mixed con­cen­tra­ti­ons that we use are harmless.

Processing

How does the fishing work?

The fishing is done by hand. First the fishes get nar­ro­wed with a trawl to be caught in a landing net.

How does the fish get killed and processed?

After the fishing we put them in a with water fil­led con­tai­ner. After that elec­tri­ci­ty is con­duc­ted into the water so that the fishes get anes­the­ti­zed, so they do not feel any­thing. Then they are put into iced water whe­re the orga­nism shuts down. After a while, when the fishes are a dead, their sto­mach gets cut open and emp­tied. For the rem­oval of the intesti­nes we use a machi­ne that remi­nes of a vacu­um. Even­tual­ly the abdo­mi­nal area is clea­ned with brush.

Where do the fish get killed and processed? 

Next to the Cube we offer an addi­tio­nal con­tai­ner for the kil­ling and pro­ces­sing of the fish. One pro­ces­sing con­tai­ner is suf­fi­ci­ent for up to four Cubes. If you have an alre­a­dy exis­ting faci­li­ty that is tiled to the cei­ling you can use that as an alter­na­ti­ve.

What happens to the intestines? 

The intesti­nes are stored in a spe­ci­fi­cal­ly inten­ded bin. They get picked up every 1–2 weeks from a spe­cial com­pa­ny for dis­po­se, that is spe­cia­li­zed on food dis­po­sal.

How is the fish stored?

The fishes are stored in a cold sto­rage in spe­ci­al­ly inten­ded boxes for fish on ice at a tem­pe­ra­tu­re of 0° Cel­si­us. Due to that, the fishes are coo­led opti­mal and fresh for a long time wit­hout being com­ple­te­ly fro­zen.

How long is the fish durable?

Fresh­ly pro­ces­sed, cor­rect­ly stored and with a unin­ter­rupt­ed cold chain (0° Cel­si­us on ice)   the fishes fresh for at least ten days.  

Marketing & Sales

What is the market price per kilogram of fish ?

Mar­ket pri­ces vary for each fish spe­ci­es and depend on the ori­gin and qua­li­ty of the fish. In the fresh sec­tor, sea bass from con­ven­tio­nal aquacul­tu­re (Greece, Tur­key or Croa­tia) is around €30 per kg for the end con­su­mer. Orga­nic qua­li­ty from aquacul­tu­re is available for around €35 per kg. Wild-caught fish cos­ts up to €60 per kg.
Depen­ding on the regi­on (and the­r­e­fo­re pro­duc­tion cos­ts, e.g. due to hig­her rents), our cus­to­mers sell their fish for bet­ween €30 and €40 per kg.

Can I get support from SEAWATER for sales & marketing?

Yes, we offer you sup­port. Spe­ci­fi­cal­ly, we foun­ded a coope­ra­ti­ve in 2024 with one of our cus­to­mers and a fish dis­tri­bu­ti­on expert. It is cal­led ‘Die Geflos­sen­schaft e.G.’ and is open to you if you ope­ra­te a recir­cu­la­ti­on sys­tem and want more secu­ri­ty in mar­ke­ting. All pro­du­cing mem­bers recei­ve a cer­tain purcha­se gua­ran­tee as part of a sup­p­ly con­tract. As a Gefloss mem­ber, you can also use the brand, use the online shop as a plat­form and the­re are cen­tral­ly mana­ged mar­ke­ting and sales mea­su­res to pro­mo­te your loca­ti­on. If you are inte­res­ted, plea­se cont­act your col­le­agues in the Geflos­sen­schaft. More infor­ma­ti­on here.

Where can I buy your fish?

You can buy our fish in our online shop under www.seawaterfish.de. You can also find a varie­ty of pro­ducts that we pro­du­ce from our fish.

Fish

Fish species

For which fish species is the Cube suitable? 

The Cube is sui­ta­ble for all sea or salt­wa­ter fishes that live in warm water and do not grow too big. The­se include sea bass, gil­thead, yel­low­tail king­fi­sh, red snap­per, bar­ra­mun­di and other exo­tic spe­ci­es. Actual­ly, we can­not grow sal­mon and tuna fish becau­se they live in cold water (and coo­ling is very expen­si­ve in a clo­sed sys­tem) or rather grow too big for our basin.

Can I grow fresh water species in the Cube? 

Yes, we can adjust the sys­tem for freshwa­ter spe­ci­es. Plea­se send us an indi­vi­du­al request if you are inte­res­ted in this.

How much fish can I grow in one year? 

It depends on the type of fish. For sea bass and sea bream, 7.8 ton­nes of round fish can be bred per year.

Seedlings

Where can I get the seedlings?

Depen­ding on the spe­ci­es you can get the seed­lings from dif­fe­rent hat­che­ries all over the world. Usual­ly, the hat­che­ries only deli­ver lar­ger quan­ti­ties, you can order small amounts of seed­lings through us. We alt­hough take care of the trans­por­ta­ti­on of the seed­lings to your place.

How often do I need new seedlings?

News seed­lings are put in the Cube three times a year.

How many seedlings do I need?

That depends on the fish spe­ci­es. For sea bass or gil­thead seab­ream, you need appro­xi­m­ate­ly 7400 seed­lings each time they are put into the Cube.

How big are the seedlings?

The seed­lings whey appro­xi­m­ate­ly 3–5 gram when they are put into the Cube.

Fish feed

How much feed is needed?

If the Cube runs on full capa­ci­ty, you need 25kg food a day. The soft­ware mana­ges the amount of feed for each age group of fish in coor­di­na­ti­on with the avera­ge weights for the dif­fe­rent cohorts. The fee­ding coef­fi­ci­ent of the Cube is 1,1.

What are the main components of the feed?

The­re are dif­fe­rent types of feed for each age group in our basin. That is main­ly com­po­sed of:

  • corn, soy- and sun­flower protein
  • fish flour and fish oil (a side pro­duct from the pro­ces­si­on of fish for human nutrition)
  • krill flour (zoo­plank­ton)
  • wheat

Where is the feed from?

We buy the feed from the All­tech Cop­pens, a com­pa­ny in the Net­her­lands. You can get all infor­ma­ti­on regar­ding their sus­taina­bi­li­ty con­cept here. In the long term, we plan to pro­du­ce our own feed based on sea weed or algae. Actual­ly, we apo­lo­gi­ze for the incon­ve­ni­ence that we, as a small start-up, can’t con­trol the who­le value chain and rely on the infor­ma­ti­on that are pro­vi­ded by our suppliers. 

How does the feeding work?

The sys­tem feeds the fishes in each cohort auto­ma­ti­cal­ly depen­ding on the sto­cking den­si­ty. Mea­ning that the soft­ware knows every day the num­ber and the avera­ge weight of each cohort. Based on that the soft­ware cal­cu­la­tes the amount of feed that is neces­sa­ry auto­ma­ti­cal­ly to stay on the growth cur­ve.

Where is the feed stored?

In the Cube the­re are three auto­ma­tic fee­ders. Each con­ta­ins a fil­ling volu­me of 120 kilo­grams and can store the feed for a few days. Fur­ther­mo­re the feed can be stored out­side of the cube in a dry and cold place in sacks or big packs. 

Didn’t find the right answer?

Feel free to cont­act us using our cont­act form! We will then cont­act you and ans­wer your ques­ti­on as soon as possible.