This study was aimed to determine the effects of grow media on the mineral contents of the leaves and growth characteristics of strawberry grown under aquaponics system in a plant factory. For aquaculture, 12 fish (Cyprinus carpio) (total weight, 2.0 kg) were raised in an aquaponics tank (W 0.7 m × L 1.5 m × H 0.45 m, 472.5 L) filled with 367.5 L of water at a density of 5.44 kg·m-3 and total 34 of strawberry seedlings were transplanted in the pots filed with 200 g of orchid stone, hydroball or polyurethane sponge in the growing bed (W 0.7 m × L 1.5 m × H 0.22 m) laid out with holly acrylic sheet (140×60 mm, Ø80) on the top of the system. The pH and EC of the aquaponic solution was ranged from 7.6 to 4.9 and 0.24－0.91 dS·m-1, respectively. The concentration of NO3-N was about 28% lower than that of the hydroponic standard solution, and K, Fe and B were 10, 27 and 3.8 times lower, respectively; however, the mineral contents of strawberry leaves were in the appropriate ranges with lower contents in the leaves grown with sponge media. The organic content (OM), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) of the sludge were 61.5, 5.72, 8.92, and 0.24%, respectively. The leaf area, leaf number, and dry and fresh weights of shoot at 81 DAT were significantly higher in the hydroball, and the average number of fruits per plant was significantly higher in both the orchid stone and hydroball. There was no significant difference in the fresh and dry weights of fruits. Integrated all the results suggest that the orchid stone and hydroball media are more effective to utilize nutrients in solid particles of aquaponic solution, compared to the polyurethane sponge.

The emergence of micropollutants in natural water sources due to the overuse of anthropogenic chemicals in industry and households has threatened the production of clean and safe tap water in drinking water treatment plants. Conventional physicochemical processes such as coagulation/flocculation followed by sand filtration are not effective for the control of micropollutants, whereas chemical oxidation processes (applying chlorine, permanganate, ozone, etc.) are known to be promising alternatives. Determining the optimum oxidant dose is important issue related to the production of disinfection by-products as well as unnecessary operating cost, and is made possible by simulations of target-micropollutant abatement based on kinetic model equation consisting of second-order rate constant (between the oxidant and the target) and oxidant exposure. However, the difficulty in determining oxidant exposure as a function of complex water quality parameters limits the field application of kinetic model equation. With respect to representative oxidants used in drinking water treatment plants, this article reviews two main approaches for determining oxidant exposure: i) direct measurement in situ and ii) prediction by empirical models based on key water quality parameters. In addition, we discussed research requirements to improve the predictive accuracy of the empirical models for oxidant exposure and to develop a rational algorithm to determine optimal oxidant dose by considering the priority of the target pollutants to be treated.