Design criteria of a fluidized bed oyster nursery

Abstract

A fluidized bed oyster nursery is an innovative application of fluidization to the high-density culture of cultchless oysters, from 2–3 to 20–25 mm in size. Oysters are suspended in an upward flowing fluid. Feed water flow is uniformly distributed and feces are transported out of the system by the feed water. A critical design parameter for a fluidized bed oyster nursery is the fluid velocity at which minimum fluidization occurs, v mf. This velocity was found to be a function of the average height of the largest-sized 90% of the oysters in the bed. v mf = −4.0+1· H ave ,90 − 0·15 ( H ave ,90) 2, r 2=0·96 where v mf = velocity at minimum fluidization (cm/s), H ave, 90 = average height of the largest-sized 90% of oysters (mm). Juvenile oysters, cultured in an experimental fluidized bed nursery and fed shrimp pond effluent, exhibited exponential growth. Growth rates compared well with those achieved for post-nursery oysters grown on strips and in trays at the same site.