Abstract
Bioassays with oil hydrocarbons are often severely hampered by technical difficulties related to the physical and chemical properties of the oil. In this two-step flow-through system such difficulties are overcome by first producing a water-soluble fraction of the oil in a continuous extraction process. In the next step this stock solution is diluted with sea water in a set of proportional dilutors before it runs to the aquaria. During 10 weeks' continuous operation the total hydrocarbon concentration in the sea water extracted fraction was 1.9 ± 0.3 ppm ( n = 22). In the subsequent dilution step the fluctuations are still smaller, with coefficients of variation of typically 1–3%. Maintenance of the system is easy. There are fail-safe devices against pump break down, and overdosage is impossible since the toxicant addition is controlled by the diluent water flow.
Published Version
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