RAS System Buyer's Guide & Tender Preparation
A Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) is not a piece of equipment — it is a tightly-coupled process plant. Buying one on price alone is the fastest way to destroy value. This guide walks investors, operators and EPCs through a bankable RAS procurement process.
1. Frame the project before you talk to suppliers
Ninety percent of RAS failures start in the first month of the project — the moment a sponsor picks up the phone and asks a vendor 'how much for 500 tonnes?'. Vendors will happily quote, but the numbers are meaningless until you fix the biology, the species life-stage, the site water and the energy envelope. Document these before any RFI.
- Species, life-stage, target size at harvest
- Annual production (t/year) and ramp-up curve
- Source water analysis (all major ions, temperature)
- Grid capacity (MW), tariff and reliability
- Discharge permit envelope
- Target unit economics ($/kg)
2. Design the process, not the equipment
A RAS is a mass-balance problem. Feed in → oxygen consumed, CO₂ produced, TAN produced, sludge produced. The equipment list is the consequence of that balance. Ask suppliers for their mass-balance calculation, not just a P&ID. Any vendor that won't share the calculation is not the right partner for a bankable project.
- Design feeding rate (kg feed / day at peak biomass)
- O₂ demand (typically 350–450 g O₂ / kg feed)
- TAN production (typically 25–35 g TAN / kg feed)
- CO₂ production (typically 1.375 × O₂ consumed)
- Sludge production (~30% of feed dry matter)
- Make-up water (typically 300–1,500 L/kg produced)
3. Specify performance, not brands
Employer's Requirements should describe outcomes: dissolved oxygen ≥ 6 mg/L, TAN ≤ 1 mg/L, CO₂ ≤ 15 mg/L, availability ≥ 98.5%, specific energy ≤ agreed kWh/kg. Do not name pumps, drum filter models or biofilter media. Naming brands hands negotiating leverage to the vendor and locks you out of a competitive tender.
4. Understand the CAPEX bands
Turnkey RAS CAPEX for salmon-class projects sits in a $12,000–$25,000 per annual tonne band once civil, MEP and biology working capital are included. Warm-water species (tilapia, barramundi, shrimp) sit lower ($6,000–$14,000/t). Anyone quoting materially outside these bands owes you a mass-balance and a schedule — probe hard.
5. OPEX is where projects live or die
Energy and feed together are 55–75% of OPEX for a RAS grow-out. Insist on 10-year OPEX modeling with an energy escalation scenario. eFCR of 1.1–1.3 is typical for salmon; 1.4–1.8 for warm-water species. Any guarantee outside that range should be interrogated.
6. Run a two-envelope tender
Technical envelope opens first. Only bidders that pass technical compliance move to commercial. This is standard for banks and DFIs and protects the project from a race-to-the-bottom on price.
7. Structure warranty and LDs correctly
24-month mechanical warranty from Commercial Operation Date. Performance liquidated damages tied to guaranteed capacity, eFCR and energy. LD cap of 10–15% of contract value. Total liability cap at 100%. Insist on parent-company guarantee where the local entity is thin.
Red flags to stop a tender
- Vendor won't share mass-balance calculation
- Warranty starts at delivery, not at COD
- No performance LDs offered
- Payment terms > 30% before FAT
- Silence on training hours and O&M manuals
- Sub-contracts biofilter media, oxygen and controls to unnamed third parties
- No reference plant of similar species + capacity in the last 5 years
Size it before you tender
FAQ
Supplier-neutral by design
FishMatch Group is not a reseller. We do not represent any single supplier. Every tender we support runs on a no-names basis until the Owner selects a shortlist.
Short answer
What do buyers need to know about RAS System Buyer Guide?
RAS System Buyer Guide affects both project cost and project risk, so it belongs in the specification stage rather than the purchasing stage. This page sets out what commercial buyers assess, what typically drives cost and lead time, and which questions to put to suppliers before signing. You can turn any of it into a confidential RFQ in a few minutes.
- Who it is for:
- Investors, operators and project developers specifying commercial systems
- Cost drivers:
- Capacity, water source, energy price, permitting and logistics
- Next step:
- Turn the requirement into a confidential RFQ
- Cost to buyers:
- No fee charged to the buyer
Before you request quotes
Equipment scope
What equipment does a commercial aquaculture project actually need?
A grow-out project typically needs holding infrastructure (tanks, ponds or cages), water movement (pumps, piping, valves), aeration or oxygenation, water treatment appropriate to the system, feeding equipment, grading and handling gear, monitoring and alarms, and backup power. RAS adds mechanical filtration, biofiltration, degassing, disinfection and tighter process control. Hatchery and processing scopes are specified separately.
Which equipment should be specified before requesting quotes?
Specify the items whose sizing changes everything downstream: design biomass and stocking density, water exchange or recirculation rate, oxygen demand at peak temperature, and installed pumping head. With those four fixed, suppliers can quote aeration, filtration, pumps and power on the same basis. FishMatch calculators produce these figures and attach them to the RFQ.
Can equipment be sourced in stages?
Yes, and phased procurement is common. The usual sequence is water supply and holding infrastructure, then aeration and treatment, then automation and monitoring, then processing and cold chain. Staging works when interfaces and capacity headroom are defined at the start; otherwise later phases force replacement rather than addition.