Autonomous Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture System

AIMTAS

Runs Itself · Powered by AI · Fish & Plants Together

Stage 2 pilot · now open to partners & investors
2 cropsFish & Vegetables from One Water Loop
90%Water Reused
80%Less Labour: Our Goal with AI
View Pilot Proposal ↓ How It Works ↓
↓

The Roadmap: 3 Stages to Many Commercial Farms

AIMTAS is built in three stages, and each one lowers the risk of the next: first a farm that exists only in software, then one real pilot farm, then a commercial scale-up to many farms run by AI — and later by robots too — all managed from one place.

The video below shows the idea. It is not footage of a real farm.

🖥️
Stage 1 In progress

A Virtual Farm in Software

  • BusinessWe check the money side before spending on concrete and steel: stocking, feed, power and cash flow are worked out for every growing cycle.
  • TechnologyThe whole farm runs as software. Virtual tanks, sensors and pumps send their data to the same farm computer and the same Than Nong AI that will later run the real farm.
  • AI modelWe are training Than Nong AI's fast decision model, aimtas-laya-multilingual-GGUF, on data from these virtual farms, so it already understands a farm before the first real tank is filled.
🧪
Stage 2 Next

The First Real Pilot Farm

  • BusinessOne real farm turns estimates into hard numbers — output, cost per kg, labour hours. That is the proof needed to raise money and copy the farm elsewhere.
  • TechnologyReal sensors (oxygen, pH, dissolved salts, water level, pipe pressure) and real equipment (pumps, air blowers, feeders, the drum filter, valves) are connected. Real farm data fine-tunes the AI until it can run the farm by itself, while staff can take over at any time.
  • AI modelWe build our own AI models — thannong-agribiotech-edge for the farm and thannong-agribiotech-starnet for the cloud — starting from what aimtas-laya-multilingual-GGUF has learned, then improving them with real farm data.
🤖
Stage 3 After Stage 2

Many Commercial Farms, Run by AI & Robots

  • BusinessThis is the commercial scale-up. The proven farm design is copied to many commercial farms, site by site, and all of them are managed from one central office. Output and sales grow with every new farm while almost no staff are needed on site — this is where the profit comes from.
  • TechnologyAt first, Than Nong AI runs the day-to-day work on every farm, and people keep watch as remote technicians from one central office. Robots don’t take over straight away — they join in the later part of this stage, taking on the hands-on jobs: feeding, harvesting, checking and cleaning.
AIMTAS Ecosystem - Autonomous Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture System

What is AIMTAS?

How the AIMTAS platform is built

☁️
In the cloudStarnet Than Nong AI
online

Looks after every farm · uses bigger, smarter AI models

⚡ System Onequick decisions🧠 System Twocareful thinking
summaries upplans down
📍 On the farm
🏠
Farm computerEdge Than Nong AI
online

Looks after one farm · keeps working even without internet

⚡ System Onequick decisions🧠 System Twocareful thinking · can also run on the farm computer
readings upcommands down
🐟
The farmVirtual WoT Devices
live

Sensors, pumps, aerators, feeders — using the open W3C WoT standard

Today, while our models are still being trained: System One runs on Hugging Face and System Two on OpenRouter.

Three layers, one system. The farm's equipment connects using an open standard. On the farm, a small computer runs Edge Than Nong AI: System One makes quick decisions in about a second, and System Two thinks through harder cases — so the farm keeps running even if the internet goes down. In the cloud, Starnet Than Nong AI does the same for every farm with bigger models, learns from all of them, and sends better plans back.

Fish 3,500 kg Vegetables 220 kg Filters + biofilter

CLOSED LOOP · 90% of the water is reused

Pilot farm · output in 12 months

nutrient-rich waterclean water back

AIMTAS is a closed-loop farm: the same water is cleaned and used again and again. It brings together:

  • Fish farming in tanks that recycle their water (RAS)
  • Vegetables grown in water instead of soil (hydroponics)
  • AI that watches over the farm and runs it (Than Nong AI)
  • Support for the open W3C Web of Things (WoT) standard for equipment

About 90% of the water is reused. In the 12-month pilot, the farm grows about 3,500 kg of red tilapia and about 220 kg of vegetables, run by Than Nong AI with a small team.

🔌 Works with equipment from any maker (W3C WoT standard)

AIMTAS uses Web of Things (WoT), an open standard from W3C — the group that sets the rules for the web. In plain words: your equipment does not have to come from us to work with AIMTAS.

What this means for your business:

  • Keep the equipment you already have. Pumps, blowers, feeders and water sensors that support WoT can join AIMTAS directly — no need to replace what already works.
  • No lock-in. Choose equipment on price and quality, and mix brands on the same farm.
  • Cheaper and faster setup. Each device describes itself in a standard way, so we don't need to write new software for every model.
  • Built to last. No single company owns WoT, so your farm doesn't depend on one supplier's prices or plans.

We want to work with:

  • Equipment makers who want their products to work on a smart-farm platform without a custom setup for every customer.
  • Installers who need one platform that works with many brands of equipment.
  • Farms that already own equipment and want to add monitoring, automation and AI without throwing anything away.

How it works: each device publishes a short, standard "profile" that lists what it measures and what it can do. AIMTAS reads that profile and sets up the monitoring, controls and alarms automatically.

🧪 Every device is tested on a virtual farm first

AIMTAS is made of three apps that work together. One of them, the AIMTAS WoT Device Simulator, recreates a whole farm's equipment in software — each virtual device appears as a card on screen — and talks to the farm computer exactly the way real equipment does.

AppWhat it does
Cloud AIMTASCloud server: all farms, reports and Than Nong AI
AIMTAS Edge GatewayFarm computer: collects the data and runs the farm, even offline
AIMTAS WoT Device SimulatorVirtual equipment for one farm, used for testing and AI training

Why the simulator matters for the business:

  • Test without hardware. A partner's device can be tried on the live system before a single unit ships — no pond and no site visit needed.
  • Problems on demand. We can trigger 14 common equipment faults — a sensor with the wrong clock, a controller that restarts, a valve that won't respond, a lost wireless signal — and check that AIMTAS handles each one. Equipment that only works on a good day proves very little.
  • Training data for Than Nong AI. Virtual farms create months of farm history in days, including problems no one would risk with live fish.
  • No shortcuts. Virtual devices follow exactly the same rules as real ones, so when real equipment arrives in Stage 2, nothing else has to be rebuilt.

📘 Reference: W3C Web of Things (WoT) Thing Description 1.1 →

What AIMTAS Delivers

🔄

Uses Little Water, Handles Bad Weather

  • About 90% of the water is reused every day
  • Gravity first: the fish waste leaves by gravity, so one 3 kW pump moves all the water. The small pilot still uses a lot of power per kg, and measuring it is one of its jobs
  • No river or lake needed nearby — the farm runs on its own recycled water
🛡️

Safe, Clean Food

  • Oxygen, pH and dissolved salts are checked around the clock; ammonia and nitrite are kit-tested on the farm, every day in the start-up and the riskiest weeks
  • UV light kills 99.9% of germs
  • Indoor, controlled farming: new fish are quarantined, sick fish are treated apart with permitted products only, and the harvest is tested for drug residues
📦

Steady Harvests All Year

  • Fish and vegetables from one farm
  • We plan on 85% of the fish surviving: a cautious figure that the pilot will measure
  • Runs automatically, 24 hours a day
🤖

Smart Automation, Tested Before Building

  • The whole system is tested in software first — before buying a single tank, pump or sensor — so the automation is proven with no money at risk
  • Virtual and real equipment look the same to the system, so real hardware simply plugs in later
  • Virtual farms run faster than real time and can trigger 14 common equipment faults on demand, creating the data Than Nong AI learns from
  • Two levels of AI: Edge Than Nong AI acts on the farm straight away, even offline; Starnet Than Nong AI forecasts, warns of disease early and learns from every farm
🛒

Sell Direct to Customers

  • Direct sales on nongtrang.vn, with live stock levels and automatic ordering. In the pilot, about 1 kg of fish in 4 sells direct and the rest goes to traders
  • Buyers can see where their food comes from: live farm data and quality certificates
  • Prices adjust to supply and demand
👷

Far Fewer Workers Needed

  • Machines handle almost all repetitive daily work, day and night
  • AI and automatic controls greatly reduce manual work
  • Staff focus on checking, quality and handling the unusual

AI Capabilities

Than Nong AI works at two levels — one on the farm and one in the cloud. Same skills, different reach.

On the farm · one farm

Edge Than Nong AI

Runs on a small computer at the farm, right next to the equipment it looks after.

  • It looks after one farm only. It can see and control only its own farm's equipment, so a problem can never spread to other farms.
  • It keeps working when the internet doesn't. Readings, alarms, safety locks and the control screen keep working on the farm during an outage.
  • It reacts in seconds. If oxygen drops at 3 a.m., the aerators turn on right away — no waiting for the cloud.
  • It never loses data. Every reading is saved and securely signed on the farm, then sent when the connection comes back.
  • It gets better every day. Each night it reviews the day — the readings, what it did and how the fish and plants responded — and fine-tunes its feeding, dosing and alarm settings.
Cloud · every farm

Starnet Than Nong AI

Runs on the cloud server, in AIMTAS at iAttendance.co, with the full history of every farm.

  • It sees all farms at once. One screen shows every farm's oxygen, pH, temperature, power and connection, with all open alarms in one list.
  • It learns from every farm. A disease sign, a pump problem or a better feeding plan found on one farm helps all the others. This advantage grows with every farm we add.
  • It predicts problems before they happen. Early disease warnings, harvest forecasts, feed and energy savings, and repairs planned before parts fail.
  • It does the heavy work. Training AI models, comparing farms, the 3D farm model, the farm designer and the automation designer need big computers and data from all farms — so they run in the cloud.
  • One place to manage everything. Alarm rules, limits, roles and permissions are set in one place, and every action — by a person or by the AI — is recorded.
Live today · our fast decision model

Than Nong AI Decision models — Laya

Than Nong AI thinks in two ways: System One (Decision Model), a fast model for quick decisions, and System Two (LLM), a large AI model for careful thinking.

  • aimtas-laya-multilingual-GGUF — our System One (Decision Model) today, being trained on AIMTAS farm data; works with TypeSafe Jev.
  • System One (Decision Model) answers farm questions in about a second — how urgent it is, which equipment, what matters — in English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
  • System Two (LLM) steps in only when a case needs more thought; built-in safety rules always have the final say.
  • Try it free on Hugging Face — no sign-up needed.
Coming next · our own AI models

Than Nong AI Decision models — Thannong-Agribiotech

Our own System One (Decision Model), built from the start for farming and biotechnology, in two sizes.

  • thannong-agribiotech-edge — small; runs on the farm computer, even offline.
  • thannong-agribiotech-starnet — larger; runs in the cloud and powers Starnet Than Nong AI for every farm, learning from all of them.
  • The same teamwork: System One (Decision Model) decides fast, System Two (LLM) thinks it through — and neither acts alone.
  • Follow the open project — models coming to Hugging Face.

Why the AI works at two levels

  • SafetyA cut cable or a lost mobile signal must never stop aeration, feeding or alarms. The AI that keeps the fish alive stays on the farm; the AI that makes the farm more profitable lives in the cloud. Losing the internet costs some fine-tuning, never the fish.
  • Lower costsMost raw data stays on the farm, and only short summaries go online. Internet and cloud bills grow with useful insight, not with the number of sensors — which keeps even a 100-pond farm affordable.
  • Fast and smartQuick reactions need local data in a split second; forecasts need years of history from many farms. Each level does the job it is best at.
  • TrustPeople and the AI can do the same things, and every action is recorded. Staff can always see what the AI did and why, and undo it — the trust we need before handing over full control in Stage 3.
  • Cheaper at scaleFarm number fifty needs just one more farm computer, while the cloud AI gets smarter from its data. The cost per farm falls as the AI gets better.
📊
Edge

Live Monitoring & Alarms

Oxygen, pH, dissolved salts, temperature, water level, pipe pressure, power and connection are checked non-stop for every tank, and an alarm goes off the moment a value leaves its safe range. Ammonia and nitrite come from kit tests on the farm, daily in the riskiest weeks.

🔮
Cloud

Early Warnings

Spots disease early from water and fish-behaviour trends, forecasts harvest dates and fish weight, and plans repairs based on wear instead of the calendar.

🤖
Edge + Cloud

Automation with Safety Locks

Automations are designed in the cloud and run on the farm. Every command — from a person or the AI — passes safety checks first, so an unsafe action is blocked at the equipment itself.

🍽️
Edge + Cloud

Smart Feeding

Feed is measured for each tank based on fish size, water temperature, oxygen and appetite. Feed is the biggest cost in fish farming, so every bit saved goes straight to profit.

🧪
Cloud

Trained on Virtual Farms

Than Nong AI learns from farm data created by virtual farms running faster than real time — including 14 equipment faults no one would risk with live fish.

🧭
Cloud

3D Farm Model

Tanks, buildings, pump stations, control boxes, power rooms, pipes and cables are modelled in 3D, so the AI and remote staff work from the real layout — the basis for running farms from a central office.

Digital Ecosystem

AIMTAS is part of a family of connected online services

🛒

nongtrang.vn

Online market for farm products

  • Sells AIMTAS produce straight to customers
  • Growing to 1,000+ trusted farm suppliers across Vietnam by 2027
  • Buyers see live farm data and quality certificates for every product
nongtrang.vn →
📋

iAttendance.co

Farm management platform — and the home of Cloud AIMTAS

  • AIMTAS now runs inside iAttendance.co: farms, equipment, alarms, staff and payroll share one login and one record of every action
  • Daily farm work — feeding, maintenance, harvests — is tracked next to live equipment data and Than Nong AI, not in a separate tool
  • Mobile app, ready to grow to 10,000+ farms
iattendance.co →

Challenges We're Solving

🔧 Technical

  • A blower, pump, valve or the drum filter failing: standby machines start by themselves
  • Oxygen and CO₂ at 35 kg/m³: backup oxygen opens by itself on low oxygen or a power cut, and every valve is drilled monthly
  • A new biofilter at peak feeding: 4–6 weeks of start-up, daily kit tests and 1 m³ of spare K1

🦠 Disease

  • Streptococcus in warm water (30–33 °C)
  • Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) and parasites after transport
  • PCR-tested young fish, a salt bath on arrival, quarantine and a separate treatment tank

⚡ Electricity cost

  • About 23 kWh per kg of fish in the pilot, about 3 times a commercial farm
  • Billed at the production tariff, not the business one (which costs 54% more)
  • kWh measured machine by machine from day 1

💰 Operation cost

  • Staff, the biggest cost: about $39,300 in 12 months
  • Feed, oxygen refills, water, lime and KOH
  • Maintenance, with critical spares on the shelf

Market, sales and permits: about 3 kg of fish in 4 sell to traders at about 38,000 ₫/kg, buyers are booked before stocking, and the permits are paperwork priced in the budget.

Progress & Milestones

We are in Stage 1: the farm and its software are being proven on virtual farms, before any money goes into concrete and steel.

Now · Stage 1

All three AIMTAS apps work together from start to finish — the cloud server, the farm computer and the device simulator — running many virtual farms, devices and faults. The screens below come from the real working software, not mock-ups.

App 1 running
🎛️

Device Simulator

A whole farm's equipment — tanks, sensors, pumps, feeders — running as software.

⚙️ Equipment onlyNo AI here — it only copies how real machines behave, using farm profiles loaded from the cloud
  • Stands in for real equipment today
  • Can be made to break, on purpose
readings up commands down
App 2 online
🏠

Farm Computer (Edge Gateway)

The box at the farm that runs it, with or without internet.

🧠 Edge Than Nong AIActs on the spot in seconds, using our fast decision model aimtas-laya-multilingual-GGUF
  • Looks after one farm only
  • Keeps working during an outage
summaries up plans down
App 3 online
☁️

Cloud Server

Every farm on one screen, inside iAttendance.co.

🧠 Starnet Than Nong AILearns from every farm
  • Forecasts, warnings, reports
  • A 3D model of each farm

In Stage 2 the first box is simply swapped for real equipment on a real farm — everything else stays exactly the same.

Cloud AIMTAS — all farms at a glance

Cloud AIMTAS dashboard showing all farms with live water quality, power and connection status

Twenty virtual farms in twelve provinces on one screen: oxygen, pH, temperature, power and connection for each farm, device counts, and every open alarm in one list. The same cloud server also has the 3D farm model, farm designer, device list, automation and AI tools, reports and connection status.

AIMTAS Edge Gateway — the farm's control screen

AIMTAS Edge Gateway control screen showing the farm's cloud connection, message counts and the Edge Than Nong AI panel

The control screen of one farm, open only on the farm's own network: its link to the cloud, settings version, clock accuracy, hourly message counts (with failures), and a live activity log. Notice the warning banner and the AI panel saying it is switched off — the farm computer always reports the truth, even about itself.

WoT Device Simulator — one farm's equipment

AIMTAS WoT Device Simulator showing virtual devices with their readings, registration status and a test fault

Nine of a farm's devices running as software: pH and oxygen sensors, an aerator, temperature sensors, a valve, and water-level and salt sensors. Each card shows its readings, connection and the settings it received. Six are registered, one is running a test fault, and three are not registered yet, so they cannot send data — exactly the cases Than Nong AI learns from.

Cloud AIMTAS — 3D farm model

AIMTAS 3D model of a farm with ponds, houses, pump station, control boxes and pipes

A farm modelled in the web browser: a test pond, animal houses with rooftop solar, a pump station, a control box, a power room, a feed store and vegetable beds, linked by water, power and nutrient lines. Devices are attached to these objects, so an alarm points to a real place on the farm, not a device code.

✅

Physical Groundwork Done

  • Experimental farm built and running
  • Automatic feeding machine designed and made in Vietnam by Telua
  • Our own drum filter for cleaning water, built and being improved
✅

Online Platforms Live

  • nongtrang.vn — farm produce market, live
  • telua.co — smart-device platform with farm sensor control, active
  • iattendance.co — farm management, live and now home to AIMTAS
✅

Cloud AIMTAS Running

The all-farms dashboard, farm and device lists, 3D farm model and farm designer are live inside iAttendance.co, running on virtual farms — as shown above.

✅

Farm Gateway with Edge Than Nong AI Ready

The farm control screen, adding new devices, secure data sending and remote commands are all working, and Edge Than Nong AI runs on it, with safety checks before every action.

🔄

In Progress — Virtual Farms & AI Training

Than Nong AI is in its training phase, learning every day from simulated farm data to grow its knowledge of the AIMTAS farm.

Partners & Collaboration

The AIMTAS software is built and running. Now we need one real farm — a 12-month Stage 2 pilot in Vietnam, or in Japan, Korea, Singapore or another partner country — to turn our estimates into real results.

What we are looking for

💵Investors

Funding

To build the pilot and run it for 12 months. Contact us for details.

🛠️Pilot partners

Co-invest — we bring the technology

Tech, farming or similar companies that put in money to build the pilot farm with us. We provide the AIMTAS software, Than Nong AI and the sensor boards that run it.

🌾Farm owners

A pilot site

Fish, prawn, chicken, pig or beef cattle farms — AIMTAS can run on many kinds of farm. For the Stage 2 pilot we provide the AIMTAS software, Than Nong AI and the sensor boards free of charge; the farm owner covers the other equipment, such as tanks, the auto feeding machines, the farm computer and pumps.

🛒Buyers

Buy our produce

Restaurants, shops, traders and distributors who will buy the pilot's fish (about 3,500 kg in months 10–12) and vegetables.

✅ Already in place

  • Cloud server, farm computer (Edge Gateway), WoT device simulator and Than Nong AI — all working well together
  • Experimental farm, plus our own automatic feeder and drum filter
  • A ready sales channel: nongtrang.vn

🎁 What partners get

  • Real data: output, feed, power and labour per kg
  • Continue with the commercial farm in Stage 3 with the option of an equity share — contact us for details
Talk to us → See the pilot plan ↓ Book a live demo
Stage 2 pilot proposal

Pilot Production & Revenue

One complete farm unit — the model the commercial farm will be built from, run by Than Nong AI from day one.

🐟 2 fish tanks · 100 m³ 🥬 Vegetable trays · ≈ 40 m² 📅 12-month pilot
  1. Before month 1Simulate & order

    The whole pilot — all 42 sensor, level, light, pressure and control boxes — runs on virtual farms in the three AIMTAS apps, so Than Nong AI is trained before anything is built. The design is frozen, quotes are signed and the China equipment is ordered early enough to ship before Chinese New Year.

  2. Months 1–3Build

    The 510 m² building, the in-ground biofilter and pump tank, and the raised tank bases. The farm manager starts with the build and supervises it. If Tết falls in these months, crews and Chinese factories stop for 2–4 weeks.

  3. Months 4–6Install & start up

    Tanks, filters, pumps, blowers, UV, backup oxygen and the 42 boxes go in, with wet tests and a power-cut restart test. Then 4–6 weeks of biofilter start-up with no fish and daily ammonia and nitrite tests. Tank 1 is stocked on day 168 of the plan with young red tilapia of 100 g.

  4. Months 7–10Grow

    Tank 2 is stocked 6 weeks after tank 1, and the first vegetables are cut. The fish grow about 2.5 g a day; the AI handles routine jobs, the oxygen valves are drilled every month and buyers are booked.

  5. Months 10–12Harvest & prove

    Direct sales start on day 301; tank 1 is harvested on day 308 and tank 2 on day 350, at about 450 g. Then a report on output, feed, power, water and labour per kg — and a decision on Stage 3.

🐟

Red Tilapia

In 12 months≈ 3,500 kg
Sold direct · to traders910 kg · 2,590 kg
Average price/kg≈ 43,700 ₫
Sales≈ $5,900
97% of sales
🥬

Vegetables

In 12 months≈ 220 kg
CropsWater spinach, Thai basil, herbs
Price/kg (≈ 190 kg sold)≈ 25,000 ₫
Sales≈ $200
3% of sales
💰

Total Sales

Sales during the 12-month pilot≈ $6,100

About 910 kg of fish sell direct — through nongtrang.vn and 2–3 restaurants — at about 60,000 ₫/kg, and about 2,590 kg go to traders at about 38,000 ₫/kg (28,000 in a glut, 45,000 at best). In a disease year sales fall to about $3,600; in a good year they reach about $8,400. If the unit kept running after the pilot (each tank restocked 2 weeks after its harvest, about 2.4 crops a tank a year), it would grow about 8,300 kg of fish a year and sell about $16,900, against cash costs of about $102,300: a unit this small loses money every year. The pilot's goal is proof: how much we grow, and how much feed, power and labour each kg needs.

RAS Closed-Loop System Overview

How the pilot unit works: one water loop grows fish and vegetables together — and Than Nong AI watches every step.

💧 Water, air and oxygen: are they strong enough? We sized them by calculation

  • About 100 m³/h to the fishThe pump's speed drive is set once at commissioning (up to about 123 m³/h if the fish need it), so each 50 m³ tank gets its whole volume of clean water about every hour, plus about 10 m³/h for the vegetable trays. At peak feed, ammonia should stay near 1.3 mg/L, inside the safe range for tilapia at pH 7.0–7.4; the biofilter is the first limit at this density, so ammonia is kit-tested.
  • Gravity does the filteringThe tanks stand 30 cm higher, so their dirty water runs through the settler and the drum filter by itself: the drum inlet sits about 30 cm below the tank water, enough for the pipes (3–5 cm), the screen's wash trigger and a margin. No pump touches the waste.
  • One pump · 3 kWA low-head pump on a speed drive moves about 110 m³/h through the UV back to the tanks at about 4 m of head. Short 200 mm pipes, a low-loss UV and inlets under the water keep the head low.
  • Tank air · 3 ring blowers of 3 kWOne runs from the start and the second joins when tank 2 is stocked; from then on two run non-stop on one air header, about 200 m³/h each, for the fish tanks, the purge and treatment tanks, the tray air stones and the foam fractionator. The third starts by itself if the header pressure drops (P7). Two Roots blowers (1 + 1 standby) aerate the biofilter.
  • Backup oxygen · only when needed6 oxygen cylinders feed all 4 tanks through valves that open by themselves on low oxygen or a power cut (C19–C22), and every valve is drilled once a month. With no air at 35 kg/m³, oxygen falls from 6 to 2 mg/L in about 20–45 minutes; the cylinders then last about 9–13.5 hours. They cover oxygen, not CO₂: with the blowers off, CO₂ reaches the tilapia limit of 40 mg/L in about 3–4 hours, so in a cut longer than about 3 hours CO₂ becomes the limit.
  • Foam fractionator · a small side unitA blower-fed column takes about 20–25 m³/h from the pump tank and sends its foam to the sludge tank, with no ozone. We switch it on and off to test whether it is worth keeping.
The brain at the edge

⚡ Laya Decision Model — our own System One brain, running on the farm

Laya reads every sensor in the loop and decides in about a second how to run it all — feeding, oxygen, filtering and water flow — and keeps optimising as conditions change. Standard hardware and basic IoT only follow fixed settings; Laya thinks about the whole closed loop at once.

See Laya on Hugging Face →

How Than Nong AI runs the loop

  1. 📡Measure

    Sensor boxes on the tanks, the biofilter and the vegetable trays, a level box on the pump tank, light boxes over the vegetables and the nursery, and pressure boxes on the water, air and oxygen lines report to the farm computer every few seconds: 6 sensor, 1 level, 2 light and 8 pressure boxes, which with the 25 control boxes in the Act step make 42 boxes in all. Each sensor box has 4 sensors — oxygen, pH, TDS and the air around it — and the 2 fish-tank boxes can add a radar water level. The level box carries only a radar: if the pump tank runs low, it stops the return pumps, and a float switch stops them too, even if the electronics fail.

  2. 🏠Decide — on the farm

    Edge Than Nong AI decides in about a second, thinks harder about difficult cases, and keeps working without internet.

  3. ⚙️Act — safely

    A control box on each machine and valve switches it on or off — blowers, feeders, pumps, the UV, fans and the backup-oxygen valves, which open by themselves if the power or their box fails. Each box has a hand switch, built-in safety rules always have the final say, and urgent alarms always reach a person.

  4. ☁️Learn — from every farm

    Starnet Than Nong AI in the cloud learns from all farms, forecasts growth and disease, and sends better plans back.

Investment Breakdown

What it takes to build the pilot and run it for 12 months in Vietnam, from the first day of building to the last sale.

Total pilot budget$295,10012 months · Vietnam · range $174,900–387,100 View detailed breakdownHide detailed breakdown
NoItemWhat it coversEstimate (USD)BufferBudget (USD)
1Building & siteOne L-shaped steel building of about 510 m²: the fish hall and its rooms under an insulated roof, a vegetable house with a clear roof, and a clean zone for purging, packing and the cold store. Site works, a floor laid to drains, the in-ground biofilter and pump tank, raised tank bases, the power board, lighting and cables, plumbing labour, a fence with cameras, the builder's site costs and 10% VAT — itemised below$94,400$14,200$108,600
2Engineering, permits & designDrawings for the building, wiring, plumbing and fire safety; a soil test; permits; part-time site supervision; an independent check of the gravity water levels; electrical and oxygen-line safety inspections; food-safety paperwork; commissioning by the suppliers; the fire file; a legal check of the contracts — itemised below$8,400$1,300$9,700
3Fish tanks2 Aquamina round tanks (7 m across, 50 m³ of water each), a 10 m³ purge tank where fish spend 1–4 days in clean water before sale, a 7 m³ treatment and quarantine tank, centre and side drains, and delivery with a crane — itemised below$3,900$700$4,600
4Water cleaningA settler, a commercial gravity drum filter (about 150 m³/h, 60–75 µm), a small foam fractionator, a stainless-steel UV unit, 10 m³ of K1 carriers in the 20 m³ biofilter, a lime and KOH doser, a 10 m³ sludge tank with its pump and a wet-season drying bag, a lined tank for treatment water, and a carbon filter and buffer tank for tap water — itemised below$18,700$4,500$23,200
5Pumps, air, pipes & ventilation2 low-head 3 kW return pumps (1 working + 1 standby) and 4 speed drives; 2 Roots blowers for the biofilter (1 + 1 standby); 3 ring blowers of 3 kW for the tanks (2 running + 1 spare); fine-bubble diffusers; all pipes, fittings and valves; fans for the blower room and the fish hall — itemised below$13,800$2,700$16,500
6Backup oxygen6 oxygen cylinders in two banks with automatic changeover, an industrial regulator, a shaded and chained cage, 4 valves that open by themselves on low oxygen or a power cut (C19–C22), flowmeters, oxygen discs, oxygen-safe tubing, the line-pressure box P8, and installation with a leak test. Used only when oxygen runs low — itemised below$4,400$1,100$5,500
7VegetablesDeep-flow trays in 3 rows of 12 m × 1.2 m (about 43 m²) for water spinach, Thai basil and herbs, a 4 m² LED nursery rack, a shade screen, 2 exhaust fans, a cooling pad and 4 air-circulation fans — itemised below$2,900$500$3,400
8SensorsOxygen, pH and TDS probes for the 6 sensor boxes, 8 BME688 air sensors, 2 light (PAR) sensors, 3 radar water-level sensors (on the 2 fish tanks and the pump tank), a float switch that stops the return pumps on a low pump-tank level, and 7 pressure sensors on the water and air pipes — itemised below$11,500$2,300$13,800
9Sensor & control boxes — hardwareThe boards, weatherproof boxes, power supplies and motor switchgear for 37 of the 42 boxes (6 sensor, 1 level, 2 light, 7 pressure and 21 control boxes; the 5 oxygen boxes are in the backup-oxygen row), with cables, mounts, installation and the radio paperwork — itemised below$4,900$1,000$5,900
10Boards — developmentDesign of both board types and their boxes, the software on them (sensing, machine control and the oxygen-valve safety rules), and testing$6,000$600$6,600
11Farm computer, network & UPSA Mac mini (32 GB RAM, 2 TB) running Edge Than Nong AI, Wi-Fi for the 42 boxes, a 4G backup router, and an online UPS with a battery pack that lasts an 8-hour power cut$4,000$400$4,400
12Cold chain, lab, tools & safetyA 5 m³ walk-in chiller, an ice maker, scales and harvest gear; a lab test meter with reagents and a microscope; fire-safety kit, footbaths and first aid; lab and office furniture, an air conditioner and a fridge; tools and safety gear, a pressure washer and a chemical cabinet with an eyewash — itemised below$8,300$1,800$10,100
13Spare partsA starting kit (pH electrodes, a drum screen panel, membranes, pump seals, fuses, UV lamps) and critical spares, so one failed part cannot stop the air, the water or the oxygen backup: a DO probe, an oxygen valve, a speed drive, a blower motor, a control-box kit, a pressure sensor and 1 m³ of K1 — itemised below$2,400$700$3,100
14Hiring & trainingRecruiting a farm manager with real recirculating-farm experience, recirculating-farm training before stocking, the legal safety training, staff health checks, boots and work clothes$1,600$200$1,800
15Staff · 12 monthsA farm manager for all 12 months; a technician, 2 operators and a night watch who join for installation, the biofilter start-up and stocking; a half-time sales helper for the harvest; a fish-health adviser; night on-call pay. With social insurance, the trade-union fee, holiday premiums and Tết pay — itemised below$39,300—$39,300
16Running costs · 12 monthsElectricity, water, 9,900 young fish, about 4.5 t of feed, lime and KOH, start-up chemicals, tests, fish health, spares, packaging and delivery, waste services, insurance, internet, bookkeeping and bank fees — itemised below$24,400$2,400$26,800
17AI model services · 12 monthsLarge AI model (LLM) fees for Edge and Starnet Than Nong AI: about $500 a month, plus 10% foreign-contractor tax$6,600$700$7,300
18Time reserve · 1 monthOne more month of staff, power and services if building or the biofilter start-up runs late. The plan has no slack: the last fish are sold on day 364 of 365. A reserve, not a planned cost—$4,500$4,500
TOTAL PILOT BUDGET · 12 months$255,500$39,600$295,100

Building and equipment — price check (USD, October 2026: landed in Ho Chi Minh City and installed, 10% VAT included)

NoItemPublic price found (source)EstimateBufferBudget
1Levelling, sand fill and compaction (about 620 m²)Site levelling 180,000–300,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất); sand fill 180,500 ₫/m³ (VMSTEEL)$4,800$700$5,500
2Concrete yard for trucks (100–150 m²)450,000–700,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất)$2,900$500$3,400
3Foundations: pad footings and tie beams (510 m²)366,000 ₫/m² (Thép Ống Đúc); 450,000–750,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất)$7,900$1,200$9,100
4Steel frame (8.2–12.2 t)Steel 25,000–35,000 ₫/kg (VMSTEEL); 27,000–38,000 ₫/kg (Rồng Đất)$14,200$2,100$16,300
5Insulated PU roof (about 420 m²)300,000–480,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất)$6,900$1,000$7,900
6Clear polycarbonate roof, vegetable house (about 100 m²)6 mm twin-wall sheet 810,000 ₫ for 12.2 m² (Vinaspc); installed 250,000–600,000 ₫/m² (our estimate)$1,800$300$2,100
7Fish-block walls: 1.2 m brick base + sheet wallsBrick or block wall 235,000 ₫/m², sheet wall 246,000 ₫/m² (Thép Ống Đúc); brick 1,250,000 ₫/m³ (VMSTEEL)$3,100$500$3,600
8Roll-up door with motor, steel doors, louvresRoll-up door 850,000 ₫/m², louvres 550,000 ₫/m² (Thép Ống Đúc)$2,000$300$2,300
9150 mm reinforced floor slab laid to falls (510 m²)100 mm slab 292,000 ₫/m² + floating 20,000 ₫/m² (Thép Ống Đúc); M250 concrete 1,250,000 ₫/m³, rebar 22,500 ₫/kg (VMSTEEL)$8,600$1,300$9,900
10Epoxy or sealer on the wet areas (about 320 m²)120,000–350,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất)$2,000$300$2,300
11In-ground concrete biofilter (20 m³) and pump tank (8 m³)M250 concrete 1,250,000 ₫/m³, rebar 22,500 ₫/kg, formwork 160,500 ₫/m², digging 20,000 ₫/m³ (VMSTEEL)$6,200$900$7,100
12Lighting, IP65 sockets, domestic water (510 m²)150,000–400,000 ₫/m² (VMSTEEL, Rồng Đất)$4,300$700$5,000
13Gutters and downpipes (about 66 m)85,000 ₫/m (Thép Ống Đúc)$300$0$300
14Clean-zone walls, walls between the zones, room walls (about 300 m²)Finished block wall 380,000–720,000 ₫/m² (VMSTEEL rates, Thép Ống Đúc)$6,300$1,000$7,300
15Trench drains with gratings; raised bases for the 7 m tanks and machine plinthsM250 concrete 1,250,000 ₫/m³, formwork 160,500 ₫/m², rebar 22,500 ₫/kg (VMSTEEL); gratings: our estimate$5,600$800$6,400
16Other building itemsNo public price (our estimates): outside drains, a septic tank for the WC and the water connection; the vegetable-house outside walls; the 3-phase supply, meter cabinet and incoming cable; the main board and sub-boards, surge and lightning protection and earthing; power and signal cables to about 16 motors, the UV, fans and the 42 boxes; plumbing labour; a fence, gate and cameras; the builder's site costs$17,500$2,600$20,100
Building & site — total$94,400$14,200$108,600
17Design: architecture, structure, wiring, plumbing, fire80,000–170,000 ₫/m² (Rồng Đất, ATV)$2,700$400$3,100
18Soil investigation15–25 million ₫ (Thép Ống Đúc)$900$200$1,100
19Other engineering itemsNo public price (our estimates): permits; part-time site supervision by a licensed engineer; an independent check of the gravity water levels by an experienced recirculating-farm engineer; electrical inspection and EVN acceptance; a safety inspection of the oxygen line; food-safety and business paperwork; commissioning by the suppliers; the fire file and fire-team training; a legal check of the contracts$4,800$700$5,500
Engineering, permits & design — total$8,400$1,300$9,700
20Aquamina D7 round fish tanks × 2 (7 m across, 50 m³ of water each)Aquamina D7: price on request. Same type, 7.3 m with a 1.2 m wall: frame 10.4 million ₫ + liner 5.3 million ₫ + drain kit 0.6 million ₫ (Thanh Dat Vina)$2,200$300$2,500
21Aquamina D4 purge tank (≈ 10 m³) and D3 treatment tank (7 m³)Price on request (Aquamina D4, D3). A 4.5 m round tank: frame 6.5 million ₫ + liner 2.6 million ₫ (Thanh Dat Vina)$800$100$900
22Other tank itemsNo public price (our estimates): 2 dual-drain kits, and delivery with a crane for the big items$900$300$1,200
Fish tanks — total$3,900$700$4,600
23Gravity drum filter ≈ 150 m³/h, 60–75 µm, 316L mesh, wash pump100 m³/h units: $3,480 (Raufilter, plastic body), $4,999–5,500 (Top Industry, steel body), $5,295 (Aqua Exclusive); eWater: quote needed$5,600$1,400$7,000
24Radial-flow settler ≈ 2 m across (fibreglass cone ≈ 5 m³)Fibreglass tanks 4–5 million ₫ per m³ (boncomposite)$1,100$300$1,400
25Foam fractionator 20–25 m³/h, blower-fed, no ozoneZKAQUA recirculating-farm skimmers $560–9,200; ZKAQUA 100 m³/h unit $4,250$1,800$400$2,200
26Stainless-steel 316L UV, ≈ 110 m³/h (2.56 kW class)ZKAQUA 200 t/h, 2,560 W: $3,846 a set (the dose at 65% UV transmittance still to confirm)$4,700$1,200$5,900
27K1 moving-bed media, 10 m³ (a 50% fill of the 20 m³ biofilter)4.29–4.59 million ₫/m³ (Thiet Bi Cong Nghiep Sai Gon); 6.0 million ₫ for 1 m³ (Nam Trung Viet)$1,900$300$2,200
28Other water-cleaning itemsNo public price (our estimates): the air grid, outlet sieve and fittings of the 20 m³ biofilter (the tank itself is built in concrete, in the building row); a 10 m³ sludge tank, a portable sludge pump and a wet-season drying bag; the lime + KOH dosing set; a 3 m³ lined holding tank for treatment water; a carbon filter, buffer tank and booster pump for tap water$3,600$900$4,500
Water cleaning — total$18,700$4,500$23,200
29Return pumps × 2: 3 kW low-head 4-pole, 110 m³/h at ≈ 4 mPrice guide: Ebara 3D 65-125/5.5 at 29.0–30.1 million ₫ (Quoc Dan, Anh Duong Vina); a 4-pole pump of the same class is needed$2,500$400$2,900
30Speed drives × 4, 4 kWElektrim EMD800-4R0-3B: 4.16 million ₫ before VAT$900$200$1,100
31Roots blowers × 2 for the biofilter (2.2 kW)Heywel RSS-50: 22.25 million ₫ before VAT$2,200$200$2,400
32Ring blowers × 3 for the tanks (3 kW, 2 run + 1 spare)Hong Helong HB-3000S: 10.97 million ₫$1,600$200$1,800
33Fine-bubble diffusers (≈ 110 discs) and tray air stonesDiscs 160,000–300,000 ₫ each$1,100$100$1,200
34uPVC pipe (200/250 mm gravity lines, smaller runs)Binh Minh list: Ø168 PN6 262,332 ₫/m, Ø114 PN6 126,360 ₫/m (incl. 8% VAT)$1,400$400$1,800
35Pipe fittings (elbows, tees, flanges, reducers)Binh Minh: 90° elbow Ø168 177,300 ₫; flange Ø168 434,800 ₫ (before VAT)$1,000$300$1,300
36Valves (200 mm knife-gates, 114/90 mm, checks, isolation)Aquamina PVC knife-gate valves: price on request$2,400$700$3,100
37Fish-hall exhaust fans × 2 (900 mm, 0.55 kW)3.30 million ₫ a fan before VAT$300$100$400
38Other itemsNo public price (our estimates): glue, supports and hangers; a blower-room fan with a filtered intake from outside$400$100$500
Pumps, air, pipes & ventilation — total$13,800$2,700$16,500
3940 L oxygen cylinders × 6, first fill2.8 million ₫ each (Phu Thinh Gas; others 2.1–2.9 million ₫)$700$200$900
40Normally-open oxygen-service valves × 4 (C19–C22)ASCO oxygen-service valves $493–799 (US reseller); no Vietnamese listing$700$200$900
41Other oxygen itemsNo public price (our estimates): a manifold in two banks of 3 cylinders with automatic changeover and an industrial regulator (≥ 5 m³/h); a shaded, chained, ventilated cylinder cage; 4 flowmeters; 16 ceramic oxygen discs; about 80 m of oxygen-safe tubing; the P8 pressure sensor and box; the 4 valve control boxes; installation and a leak test$3,000$700$3,700
Backup oxygen — total$4,400$1,100$5,500
42Deep-flow trays ≈ 43 m² (benches, liner, rafts, net cups)HDPE liner 0.75 mm 35,000–40,000 ₫/m²; net cups 1,200 ₫ (Hachi)$1,200$200$1,400
43Nursery rack 4 m² with ≈ 500 W of LED tubesHachi HC25W LED tube: 270,000 ₫$500$100$600
44Shade screen 30–40%, ≈ 110 m², with pull systemShade net 25,000–27,000 ₫/m²; motor 1.8–2.5 million ₫ (Hachi)$300$0$300
45Vegetable-house exhaust fans × 2 (900 mm, 0.55 kW)3.30 million ₫ a fan before VAT$300$0$300
46Cooling pad ≈ 8.6 m² with frame, gutter and pump1800 × 600 × 150 mm pad: 380,000 ₫ a sheet (others 420,000–580,000 ₫)$400$100$500
47Other itemsNo public price (our estimate): 4 air-circulation fans over the crops$200$100$300
Vegetables — total$2,900$500$3,400
48Optical DO probes × 6 with wiper (Yosemitech Y508-A)No public price; Yosemitech's Y521-A conductivity probe lists at $290–350 (our estimate: $750 each)$5,300$1,000$6,300
49pH probes × 6 (Yosemitech Y532-A)No public price (our estimate: $260 each)$1,800$400$2,200
50TDS probes × 6 (DFRobot SEN0707)$159.00 each$1,100$200$1,300
51BME688 air sensors × 8 and PAR light sensors × 2BME688 $19.95 (Adafruit); Renke PAR $50$300$100$400
5280 GHz radar level sensors × 3 (S1 and S2, optional; S7 on the pump tank) and the pump-tank float switchRadar: $1,429 (Baymeters, US retail); $1,555.86 (ATO); our estimate ≈ $700 each direct from the maker (quote needed). Float switch: MAC 3 with a 5 m cable, 820,000 ₫ before VAT (Máy Bơm Châu Á); the relay beside the pump drives: our estimate$2,500$500$3,000
53Pressure sensors × 7 on the water and air pipes (P1–P7)RS485 flush-diaphragm units $22–110 (no Star Meter listing)$500$100$600
Sensors — total$11,500$2,300$13,800
54ESP32-S3 relay boards × 37 (Waveshare)$17.99–19.99 each$800$200$1,000
55Other box itemsNo public price (our estimates): 37 IP65 enclosures with power supplies, glands, DIN rail and terminals; control parts for 21 machines (breaker, contactor, hand-off-auto switch, lamps); RS485 cable, sensor holders and pressure taps, and the radar bracket over the pump tank; installation and wiring, with the float switch wired into the return pumps' control circuit; the radio paperwork for the 42 Wi-Fi boards$4,100$800$4,900
Sensor & control boxes — total$4,900$1,000$5,900
56Mac mini farm computer (32 GB RAM, 2 TB), Wi-Fi and a 4G backup router, an online UPS (1–2 kVA) and a long-run battery packNo public price (our estimates)$4,000$400$4,400
Farm computer, network & UPS — total$4,000$400$4,400
57Walk-in chiller ≈ 5 m³ (fish and vegetables)8 m³ cold room 40–60 million ₫ (Thinh Vuong); fish cold room 8–10 m³ 65–95 million ₫ (Dien Lanh Mien Nam)$1,900$300$2,200
58Other itemsNo public price (our estimates): an ice maker (about 100 kg a day); scales; the lab kit (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and alkalinity tests, handheld DO and pH meters); nets, crates and tubs for a 3,500 kg harvest; fire-safety kit; footbaths, hand-wash and first aid; lab bench and sink, shelves and office furniture; an air conditioner, fridge and lockers; tools and safety gear; a microscope; a chemical cabinet with an eyewash; a pressure washer$6,400$1,500$7,900
Cold chain, lab, tools & safety — total$8,300$1,800$10,100
59Spare K1 media, 1 m³ kept ready4.29–4.59 million ₫/m³ (Thiet Bi Cong Nghiep Sai Gon); 6.0 million ₫ for 1 m³ (Nam Trung Viet)$200$0$200
60Other sparesNo public price (our estimates): the starting kit (2 pH electrodes, a drum screen panel, membranes, pump seals, fuses, 2 UV lamps) and critical spares (a DO probe, an oxygen valve, a speed drive, a ring-blower motor, a control-box kit, a pressure sensor)$2,200$700$2,900
Spare parts — total$2,400$700$3,100

Running costs — 12 months of the pilot (USD, October 2026 prices)

NoItemHow we worked it outEstimateBuffer 10%Budget
1Electricity≈ 79,600 kWh from the first wet test to month 12 (about 360 kWh a day once both tanks are stocked) × 2,321 ₫/kWh (EVN production tariff, 24-hour average, incl. 10% VAT)$7,100$700$7,800
2Water≈ 1,665 m³ (first fill, start-up, daily exchange, purge-tank fills, cooling pad, staff) × 16,625 ₫/m³ (production rate)$1,100$100$1,200
3Young fish9,900 red tilapia of 100 g, all male, PCR-tested, nursed to order (2 × 4,580 + 8% spare) × about 7,000 ₫ each, 2 live-fish trucks and 100 trial fish$3,100$300$3,400
4Feed≈ 4,545 kg of 30–32% protein floating feed (1.7 kg for each kg of growth, plus feed for the fish held for direct sale) × about 21,000 ₫/kg$3,700$400$4,100
5Backup oxygen refills8 refills of 40 L cylinders × 150,000 ₫ (the monthly valve drills, low-oxygen events and one power cut)$100$0$100
6Lime + KOH (never baking soda)≈ 558 kg of lime × 6,000 ₫ + 563 kg of KOH × 37,500 ₫, to hold alkalinity for the biofilter; no baking soda, because its sodium harms the plants$900$100$1,000
7Biofilter start-up≈ 50 kg of ammonium chloride × 12,000 ₫ + a starter culture (3,000,000 ₫), to grow the bacteria before the fish arrive$100$0$100
8Ammonia and nitrite kit tests≈ 829 tests beyond the reagents in the lab kit × 8,000 ₫: daily in the start-up, after each stocking and in the last 6 weeks; 3 a week otherwise$300$0$300
9Outside lab tests and sensor calibration35 water tests × 400,000 ₫ + 8 plant-nutrient tests × 800,000 ₫ + calibration liquids (4,000,000 ₫)$900$100$1,000
10PCR tests (TiLV, Streptococcus)16 pooled tests × 500,000 ₫, on the 2 juvenile batches and on sick fish$300$0$300
11Salt and calcium chloride300 kg of salt for arrival baths and treatments × 4,000 ₫ + 287 kg of calcium chloride (holds chloride at 150 mg/L against nitrite) × 9,000 ₫$100$0$100
12Fish healthDisinfectant for footbaths and nets (9 months × 600,000 ₫) + permitted treatments and vet visits (4,000,000 ₫)$400$0$400
13Seeds and vegetable inputsSeeds, net cups and insect traps (2,800,000 ₫) + 6 doses of Fe-EDDHA iron × 5 kg × 200,000 ₫, dosed into the whole ≈ 150 m³ loop$300$0$300
14Spares and maintenanceWear parts for 12 months: blower oil, diffuser membranes, pump seals, pH electrodes, DO caps, fuses, contactors$1,000$100$1,100
15Packaging and sales fees≈ 910 kg sold direct × (4,000 ₫ + 3% fees) + ≈ 2,590 kg to traders × 1,000 ₫ + ≈ 190 kg of vegetables × 3,000 ₫ (the ice itself is in the electricity)$300$0$300
16Waste service for the treatment tank4 truck trips × 2,500,000 ₫ by a licensed service to empty the lined holding tank (never to the ground)$400$100$500
17InsuranceProperty insurance on the building and equipment for a year (voluntary for a site under 1,000 m²): 0.25% of about $166,000 insured$400$100$500
18Internet, 4G backup, duty phone and alarm messages9 months × 1,000,000 ₫$300$0$300
19Local transport and supply runs9 months × 1,500,000 ₫$500$100$600
20Courier for home ordersHalf of the ≈ 910 kg of direct fish delivered by a courier app at 25,000 ₫/kg (nothing if customers pay for delivery)$400$100$500
21Bookkeeping, tax filing, e-invoices and a digital signatureA tax-reporting service (500,000–4,500,000 ₫ a month) + an e-invoice package and a signature token$900$100$1,000
22Pre-selling the direct fishSocial ads before and during the harvest, tasting samples for restaurants and canteens, leaflets and photos$500$100$600
23Office consumables and pest controlCleaning, drinking water, stationery, rodent control in the feed store$400$0$400
24Rubbish and hazardous wasteRubbish collection; a licensed collector for used UV lamps (mercury), batteries and chemical containers$300$0$300
25Bank and payment fees6–10 international transfers for the imports (about 0.2% + $15–30 each), and card or e-wallet fees on direct sales$300$0$300
26Residue tests on the harvest2–3 samples tested for banned drugs (chloramphenicol, malachite green, nitrofurans) for restaurants and shops$200$0$200
27Septic emptying and dead-fish disposalThe WC septic tank emptied once; dead fish limed and buried or collected$100$0$100
Running costs, 12 months — total$24,400$2,400$26,800

Staff — 12 months (USD; totals include employer insurance, the trade-union fee, holiday premiums and Tết pay; no buffer on salaries)

NoRoleMonthsGross pay a monthTotal with on-costs
1Farm manager: aquaculture engineer with real recirculating-farm (RAS) experience; supervises the build1–1230,000,000 ₫$18,900
2Electrical-mechanical technician: pumps, blowers, drives, UV and the 42 boxes; on the night rota4–1213,000,000 ₫$6,100
3Fish and plant operator 1: joins for the biofilter start-up and the daily kit tests5–1210,000,000 ₫$4,200
4Fish and plant operator 2: joins at stocking6–1210,000,000 ₫$3,700
5Worker and night watch, living on site: first response to alarms, feeding, cleaning, harvests4–128,500,000 ₫$4,000
6Sales and packing helper, half-time: pre-selling and the harvest months10–124,500,000 ₫$700
7Night on-call allowance for the rota (197 nights, from stocking)——$800
8Fish-health adviser on retainer6–12—$800
9Casual help on the two trader harvest days——$100
Staff — total · about $4,200 a month once the whole team is on board$39,300

📍 Estimated for a pilot site in southern Vietnam (warm all year, so no water heating) at 26,100 ₫ to the dollar, with October 2026 prices. Equipment is priced landed in Ho Chi Minh City and installed, and the building at contractor prices; both include 10% VAT, which the farm cannot reclaim, so it is counted as a cost. Running costs use EVN's production electricity tariff (2,321 ₫/kWh with VAT) and the production water rate. The buffers cover price changes until we have supplier quotes: 15% on the building and engineering, 10–30% on equipment by how firm its price is (25–30% on imports, pipes and allowances with no quote yet), 10% on running costs and AI services, and none on salaries. The time reserve pays for one more month if building or the biofilter start-up runs late. The range runs from every price at the cheap end ($174,900) to every price at the dear end with a late schedule ($387,100). The budget will be different in other countries — contact us for an estimate for yours.

💵 When the money is needed: about $193,600 by the end of month 3 (the building and the main equipment), $31,000 in month 4 (installation), then $6,300–11,300 a month. The biggest prices still to fix with quotes are the building (2–3 design-and-build quotes on one drawing), the oxygen and pH probes, and the China shipment (drum filter, UV and foam fractionator).

✅ Already paid for by us, not in this budget: the complete AIMTAS software — cloud server, farm computer software, device simulator and Than Nong AI — already built and running in Stage 1.

⚠️ Not in this budget, and could add to it: a new transformer, only if the local grid cannot supply about 30–40 kVA (likely $0, up to about $17,000); piles, if the soil is soft ($2,000–22,000); restocking after a disease loss (about $4,000–5,000 of young fish and feed, plus $4,500–6,800 for each extra month); loan interest, if the pilot borrows (about $10,700 at 9–10% on about $150,000 for 9 months); air freight, if the China order misses the pre-Tết window (up to about $3,000); a weaker dong before the imports are paid (up to about $900); and a water-main extension to the site (not known yet). The land and the two feeders are the farm owner's. The budget prices everything else, including the tanks, pumps and farm computer that a host farm owner would supply (see Farm owners above).

Key Financial Metrics

Stage 2 — the pilotOur focus now

$295,100Total pilot budget for 12 months, with buffers and a 1-month time reserve (range $174,900–387,100)
12 monthsFrom the first day of building to the last sale: first fish in month 6, harvests in months 11–12
≈ 3,500 kg + 220 kgRed tilapia (fish of about 450 g) and vegetables in the 12 months
≈ $6,100Sales during the pilot (if the unit kept running: ≈ $16,900 a year against ≈ $102,300 of cash costs)
≈ 23 kWh/kgElectricity per kg of fish in the pilot (commercial freshwater farms: ≈ 7.5)
85% · 1.7 · 35 kg/m³Planning targets: fish survival · feed per kg of growth · density at harvest

The pilot is a research spend, not a profit: after its sales it costs about $289,000 net (between $166,500 and $383,500). Every kilogram of pilot fish costs far more than it sells for — the power alone costs more than a pond farmer's whole cost per kg. What the money buys is proof: real numbers for output, feed, power and labour per kg.

Stage 3 — the commercial farm, planned after the pilot

We will size the commercial farm and work out its payback from the pilot's real results, not from estimates. The pilot measures the three numbers that decide it: the price we can sell at, how much fish each m³ of tank grows in a year and what each m³ costs to build.

How we calculated Stage 3: contact us for details.

These are our best estimates today, checked line by line against public prices and against a second, top-down estimate of $298,500 (about 1.2% higher). The pilot turns them into real results from a real farm — exactly the proof investors want to see before backing a bigger one.

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AIMTAS Farm - AI-Integrated Smart Aquaculture

AIMTAS Vision — The Smart Farm of Tomorrow