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The Sock‐Saver: A Small Trailer for Providing Liquid Oxygen to Remote Sites on Commercial Channel Catfish Farms
Author(s) -
Torrans Eugene L.,
Hogue Charles D.,
Pilkinton Sam
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
north american journal of aquaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1548-8454
pISSN - 1522-2055
DOI - 10.1577/c02-049
Subject(s) - trailer , catfish , ictalurus , gallon (us) , channel (broadcasting) , fishery , environmental science , axle , fish <actinopterygii> , automotive engineering , electrical engineering , engineering , waste management , biology , mechanical engineering
A small, single‐axle trailer was designed and built to hold three 50‐gal liquid oxygen Dewar flask tanks. The unit is small enough to be moved around a commercial channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus farm with a pickup truck or small tractor. It is being used successfully to provide supplemental oxygen at remote on‐farm locations to channel catfish that are being held in a sock (net cage or live car) at high density before sale. The total materials cost of the complete sock‐saver with trailer, Dewar tanks, pressure/flow regulators, and diffusers was $8,333.16. It is simple to operate, durable, and virtually maintenance free. Because no electrical or mechanical power source is required, it can be set up anywhere. The small “footprint” of the trailer does not interfere with the other equipment normally used when loading fish from a sock. Individual flow regulators allow use of one, several, or all eight diffusers as needed. The diffusers and hoses are self‐weighted and tangle‐free and do not interfere with the normal process of crowding the fish in the sock and dipping them up in the loading basket. The unit can increase dissolved oxygen in a sock by as much as 0.9 mg/L.