Originally posted by Bruce Condello:
How many gallons of water are we talkin', Cecil?
How did you calculate O2 needs for your regulator?
I fill my tank up to a preset mark of 27 inches which is the highest I can fill it and allow the fresh flow aerator to drawn up the water and splash it on the surface. That comes to 183.21 gallons. That's 1520.64 lbs. not counting the fish and the tank that weighs 400 lbs.!
I set the regulator at 50 psi and this allows the O2 to flow to three medical grade flowmeters (I think they are MFR615's that are pictured at this link:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/9819/cid/2337 they in turn run to three oxygen "four point" stones that are spaced equally apart in a triangle that are siliconed to the floor of the tank. I also silicone connections to the stones to remove any sharp edges that could damage fish.
If I do use the pure oxygen I turn the knobs on the flowmeters to just barely bring a fizz to the surface with the ball indicators just off the bottom of the flowmeters. Of course I do check with a D.O meter right after I load the fish, just before I take off, and than about 20 minutes later. I don't want D.O. levels to drop below 6 mg/l and prefer higher levels.
But believe it or not I usually use the freshflow aerator to oxygenate the water and the oxygen tank is a backup.
Even with 160 lbs of perch in that tank which comes out to .87 lbs. per gallon, my D.O. never went below 11 mg/l probably in part due to the 42 degree water! Never used the oxygen!
No floaters at the end of the trip and hopefully there will not be any delayed morts although it's always possible to have a few.
I use salt at the recommended rate added to the "Sure Haul" additive which came out to 7.25 cups of salt for this amount of water.
