Study on the Seed Production of Olive Flounder Paralichthys olivaceus in a Pilot Scale Recirculating Aquaculture System

Seed production of olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus was performed in a pilot RAS. The growth of juvenile olive flounder and changes in water quality were monitored for the entire production period. The pilot RAS consisted of 8 circular culture tanks($4.0mD{\times}1.0mH$), 2 trickling biofilters($1.7mD{\times}2.0mH$), 2 protein skimmers ($0.8mD{\times}2.5mH$), and 4 sedimentation chambers($0.7mD{\times}1.5mH$). The culture surface area was about $100.5m^2$ and the actual working volume was about $106.9m^3$. As many as 300,000 fertilized olive flounder eggs were initially distributed into 2 culture tanks with the water temperature at $19.0^{\circ}C$. Live feeds such as rotifers and Artemia nauplii were fed until the 32nd day after hatching, and a commercial diet was fed from the 19th day to the end of the experiment. After 70 days, 150,256 juveniles with a body length of $65.8{\pm}3.9mm$ were produced in the RAS, with a daily growth rate for body length of 4.7%/day. At this time, the final culture density was 1,495 individuals $m^{-2}$, and 13.6 L of makeup water, 0.071 kW of electricity and 0.025 L of diesel fuel were used to produce a juvenile olive flounder. During metamorphosis of the larvae, the TAN concentration increased to 0.99 mg/L, which made the larvae sensitive to result in some mortality. However no more massive mortality occurred at the juvenile stage after metamorphosis even at a TAN concentration of 4.25 mg/L and a ${NO_2}^{-}-N$ concentration of 2.45 mg/L.