Intensive, recirculating aquaculture systems create concentrated wastes high in solid content. Geo-
textile has successfully dewatered aquaculture effluent; however, burlap, made from natural plant
fiber, may provide similar filtering capabilities at a lower cost. The trial was designed as a 2 × 2 fac-
torial to evaluate burlap bags and geotextile bags with or without polymer addition for dewatering
Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, effluent from an intensive biofloc production system. There were
no significant interactions (P > 0.05) between the main effects on the removal efficiency of total sus-
pended solids (TSS) concentration. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the main effect
of textile; however, there were significant differences (P ≤ 0.001) in the main effect of polymer on the
removal efficiency of TSS concentration from effluent. Overall, TSS removal efficiency in textile-only
treatments was 81%, whereas textile treatments in combination with polymer removed 98%. Partial
budget analysis indicated that the cost per kilogram of solids (dry weight) removed from untreated
effluent was US$1.52, 1.51, 0.16, and 0.14 for the geotextile with polymer (GP), geotextile without poly-
mer (GNP), burlap with polymer (BP), and burlap without polymer (BNP) treatments, respectively.
The BP could provide an effective treatment process for removing TSS in discharged effluent.