Software Development for Predicting Fish Growth in Trout Raceways by YinHan Wang, Richard Turton Dep

1
Software Development for Predicting Fish Growth
in Trout Raceways by Yin-Han Wang, Richard Turton
(Department of Chemical Engineering) and Ken
Semmens (Center for Agriculture, Natural
Resources, and Community Development)
Background
Procedure of Simulations
RDSS Raceway Design and Simulation System
Input Enter background data The backgroun
d information required to input is classified to
five sections which are water data, raceway data,
food data and fish-stocking plan.
Motivation The motivation of this project is to d
evelop software to improve the management of
existing raceways and to help investors estimate
the productivity and economic potential of future
raceways. For example, it would be very helpful
to growers if they could predict when oxygen
concentration in a tank reaches a critical level
for healthy fish production and subsequently take
action to prevent this undesirable condition
occurring. Various programs have been developed t
o help calculate the conditions in a raceway.
However, they only provide part of the
information about the growing conditions in
hatcheries. The current software tool integrates
all of the major factors about a raceway and
provides a complete picture of the raceway at any
given time. Objective The basic purpose of this
project is to build a software program to help
fish growers design and manage their own
raceways. This software helps keep track of
daily conditions in the tanks, and forecasts the
growth rates, oxygen demand, ammonia production,
food requirements for optimal growth, and a
variety of economic parameters.
The required input from a user/grower includes
the starting date, initial fish length or weight,
predicted water temperatures, etc. Once this
information has been entered, the simulation is
run, and the state of the fish and raceways
during the following two years is predicted and
displayed. It is the intent of this work that
fish growers will be able to manage their
raceways more efficiently using this program. In
addition, extension agents can help growers
improve their operation for their raceways
according to the information provided by the
program.
ENTER
Water data
Raceway data When the Apply button is pres
sed, these data will be applied to raceways 1_1
and 2_1.
Food data Rest the mouse on a food bu
tton, the detailed information about this option
will be displayed
Fish-stocking plan
Read data input and options
TODAY TODAY 1
TODAY1/1/06
Simulate conditions of fish ( weight, length ,nu
mber, total weight )
Output Results of simulation
When the Save/ Simulate button is
pressed, the program will perform the simulations
and save all the data input and results obtained
from this form. The outputs from RDSS include
numerical values of monthly fish conditions such
as fish growth and cash flow, charts of various
parameters, calendar of fish-stocking schedule,
and daily feeding summary for a specific
customized week.
Calculate parameters associated with food
Charts of Various Parameters The charts gi
ve users a quick idea of how a raceway
behaves/will behave and when a risky situation
occurs.
Numerical values of monthly fish conditions

Software and Models Used
Calculate oxygen and ammonia concentration
Calculations performed by this program are based
mainly on information provided in the book
Flowing Water Fish Culture by Soderburg (1994).
The software used to create this program is
Visual Basic Application in Microsoft ExcelTM.
Assumptions in Simulations Daily growth rate of f
ish is influenced by three factors
Feed quantity amount of food fed
Feed quality nutritional content of food
Water temperature Food is supplied to fish everyd
ay and instantaneous growth rates are
calculated. Simulation is carried out on a daily
basis.
Do the conditions on this day reach the critical
values?
Record the simulated results of TODAY
Fish-stocking schedule This worksheet rem
inds growers when they need to move (or have
moved) fish.
Daily feeding summary for a specific customized
week The daily feeding summary helps u
sers obtain detailed information about what and
how much food they need to supply and purchase
during a specific week.
YES
Is TODAY 12/31/07?
Features of the Program
NO
Forecasting conditions of fish and economic
parameters Daily growth rates of fish and oxygen
and nitrogen levels in the water are predicted on
a daily basis. Provide a fish-stocking schedule
Provide a user-customized weekly feeding summary
Users can review detailed daily feeding
information for any week so that they can plan
their feed purchases. Provide charts of parameter
s versus time After the simulations have been com
pleted, the program provides charts of various
parameters such as fish length, food amount
required, and percentage of effluent oxygen
concentration to saturated oxygen concentration
versus time. These charts give the grower a quick
overview of how a raceway is/will behave and if
any risky situations are likely to occur.
Provide print-outs of simulation results
All the forms that appeared in the program may be
printed out as hard copies.
YES
Save all input data, options, and recorded res
ults
EXIT