The drop in shrimp production in Mexico has been associated mainly to diseases, outdated infrastructure and the use of obsolete technologies. To counter this, bio secure and economically efficient systems are needed. The photoheterotrophic culture is a hybrid system that mixes heterotrophic, chemotrophic and autotrophic microorganisms where a balance is struck in the ecosystem between nutrients, available dissolved oxygen and a capacity for particle transportation, through aeration. Aeration is fundamental to stabilize the system, minimize water exchange so that culture is optimized. However, the cost for its use can be significate. The object of the present research was to characterize the impact of different aeration equipment for the intensive photoheterotrophic production of shrimp, establish the effect of a reduction in aeration time and characterize the impact on the physiological response of the organism. A spring-summer culture cycle was conducted to generate information on the continuous use of different aeration equipment on water quality, survival, food conversion ratio and yield. A second production cycle tested the reduction of aeration from 24 to 12 hours per day. Average yields of 18.10 t/ha were obtained for 18.58 g shrimp. Survivals over 80% were not significantly different among treatments. Production costs , gross income and net income per kilo were US$3.90, US$7.36 and US$3.45, respectively, for optimum systems. A 45% reduction in final weight occurs when aeration is reduced from 24 to 12 hours per day , without statistical differences in survival (av. 81.3%). This is reflected at the physiological level in the organism where individual oxygen consumption tests showed that more energy expenditure for routine metabolism is needed. It is concluded that the intensive photoheterotrophic culture is a good alternative for the shrimp industry, as it allows for high yields to be obtained in limited space, reduce the costs for feeding an energy for water pumping, maintaining stable culture conditions and minimizing potential pathogen entries to the system.