Automated Water Quality Monitoring and Maintenance for Aquaculture Systems

Abstract

Maintaining suitable water quality is essential for small-scale aquaculture, but manual monitoring and maintenance can be labour-intensive and inconsistent. This study presents an Internet of Things (IoT)-based automated water monitoring and maintenance system designed for Rohu (Labeo rohita) cultivation. The system integrates pH, temperature, turbidity, and ultrasonic sensors with ESP32 microcontrollers and a Blynk-based mobile interface for real-time monitoring and remote control. The prototype also includes automated fish feeding, pH-balancing substance dispensing, water-level control through a pump, and a water-surface waste-cleaning robot. Sensor performance was evaluated by comparing pH readings with distilled-water measurements, temperature readings with room-temperature measurements, and ultrasonic readings with measured distances. The pH sensor showed a mean absolute error of 0.034 and a root mean square error of 0.044, while the temperature sensor showed a mean absolute error of 0.33 °C and a root mean square error of 0.45 °C. The water-surface waste-cleaning robot was tested in an artificial pond and was able to collect approximately 250 g of floating debris per cleaning cycle. The proposed system demonstrates the feasibility of combining low-cost sensing, wireless monitoring, and automated maintenance functions for small-scale aquaculture. Further field validation is required under operational pond conditions.