TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Symposium 1 - the National Sea ...

greater than the desired temperature during the day, and slightly cooler than the desired
temperature at night. Because the 300-watt aquarium heaters could not obtain 32 °C, the
maximum experimental temperature, a 500-watt aquarium heater having a separate
temperature control and heating element was used for the warmest temperature treatment.
To help maintain the water temperatures, the room temperature was held between 27 and
29 °C depending upon the outside temperature. The high ceilings in the laboratory created
thermal stratification, thus, to maintain the desired temperatures, tanks receiving the
highest temperature treatments were assigned to the upper shelf and the lowest
temperature-treatment tanks were on the lower shelf.
Water quality was maintained by a daily water exchange. Initially the test protocol called
for a daily exchange of approximately 1/3 of the volume, but it became apparent that
water quality was poor due to the buildup of organics. In general, the more feed and the
lower the water temperature, the poorer the water quality. Thus some tanks had water
exchanges of up to 80 % daily, while other tanks only required a 25 % replacement.
Two Aqua Star 135,000-BTU liquid propane gas heaters were used to provide warm
water. Soft water was always used to prevent chemical deposits from building up in the
heaters. A Kohler constant temperature valve was used to provide water at the proper
temperature for each temperature treatment. Usually all the water exchanges were
completed during the morning, between the 8 AM and noon feedings.
C. Instrumentation and Data Collected
Temperatures were measured every minute using copper-constantan thermocouples in
each tank. To prevent induced voltages from the aquarium heaters into the
thermocouples, it was necessary to put a ground wire into each tank. The temperatures
were recorded using a Campbell CR10 datalogger, in conjunction with a Campbell
AM416 multiplexer. Average daily temperatures and the standard deviation of the
temperature were recorded daily. A 486 IBM-compatible computer was used to
constantly monitor the water temperatures as well as some of the operating parameters of
the data logger. Every morning prior to feeding, temperatures and DO levels were
measured using a YSI Model 58 oxygen meter to ensure that the temperature and oxygen
were within acceptable levels.
At 5-week intervals, the fish were weighed and the formulas for calculating feeding rates
were readjusted to adjust for the relative weight of fish in each tank. This compensated for
any differences in the number of fish in each tank as well as the difference in the average
weight in each tank. The fish were weighed and measured at the beginning, middle and
end of the 20-week experiment. In order to weigh the individual fish, the tanks were
completely drained, the fish were removed and placed in a tank contain MS 222, before
being weighed and measured to the nearest gram and millimeter respectively. This process
was hard on the fish, and fish would not eat well for several days following the
measurement procedures. At the interim 5 and 15-week points, all the fish were removed
and placed in one or two water-filled buckets and were weighed to the nearest 5-g
7