50 MARCH 2016 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Aquatic holding systems, commonly known as rack or zebrafish systems, are used to hold a variety of aquatic species for any number of uses. Situations where a rack system may be preferred over another system configuration may include research (aquatic and environmental science, aquaculture, biology and/or neuroscience), larval rearing, or holding ornamental fish. Fundamentally a rack system is a small recirculating aquaculture system. It shares many similar components with larger recirculating systems, including culture/ holding tanks, mechanical and biological filtration, pump, heater, ultraviolet sterilizer for water purification, and various other components. Commercially-available rack systems can be expensive and therefore cost-prohibitive for academic institutions, small businesses and/or secondary schools with limited budgets. We needed the capability that a rack system afforded but without the cost of a commercial unit. To address this, we designed and built a rack system as an alternative to purchasing a commercially-available system. This article addresses the design, materials needed, and methods to construct a low-cost, functional rack system. This article should be viewed as a guide to help choose materials, design a layout and construct a rack system suitable to meet requirements. Design Before designing a rack system, first clearly identify and determine research/culture requirements and objectives. Factors such as animal size, duration of holding/growth period, desired water temperature and salinity directly affect the final system design. Time spent thinking through this stage will make subsequent steps much easier to accomplish. We established several design criteria (Table 1) that are critical to the intended functioning of the proposed system. Of particular importance were Constructing an Aquatic Rack System on a Budget Grant Blank and Dennis McIntosh TABLE 1. Critical design criteria for the proposed DSU rack system. Criteria Considerations/Needs Tanks Individual for replication 2 sets of 12 or 1 set of 24 Target Animals Small finfish (10.2 cm max.) Water flow 3 - 4 tank exchanges per hour Water quality Uniform in all tanks regardless of location TABLE 2. Example parts list to construct an aquatic rack system. The number and quantity of each component was determined from the refined sketch of proposed rack system. Part Quantity Supplier Supplier Type MetroMax Q Shelving 1 Material Flow Food Service Equipment Donald Oregon Cambro Camwear Containers 24 Chessie Sales Food Service Equipment Easton, MD Structural Fiberglass Struts 18 m Ryan Herco Fluid Flow Burbank, CA Nylon Hex Nuts 70 Ryan Herco Fluid Flow Burbank, CA PVC Pipe, Valve and Fittings N/A Local home box store Plumbing Dover, DE Sump Tank 4 Pentair Aquaculture Equipment Apopka, FL UV Sterilizer 2 Aquarius Irrigation New Castle, DE Fundamentally a rack system is a small recirculating aquaculture system. It shares many similar components with larger recirculating systems, including culture/holding tanks, mechanical and biological filtration, pump, heater, ultraviolet sterilizer for water purification, and various other components.
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