This book provides, in one place, basic information and considerations necessary to plan, build and operate seawater systems for culturing purposes. It provides design, construction and operations guidance for seawater (salinities from freshwater to brine) systems with flow rates of 10-1,000 gallons (40-4,000 liters) per minute. While the book concentrates on general circumstances, situations and concepts, comprehensive referencing of text and annotated bibliographies are provided in critical technical areas to allow readers to pursue specialized areas of interest. This upgraded and expanded Second Edition contains a considerably increased number of numerical examples relative to the first edition to demonstrate practical applications of the concepts and presented data.

The primary objective of this book is to provide basic information and considerations needed for the design, construction and operation of seawater systems for culturing purposes. The seawater flow rate range of 10-1000 gallons (approximately 40-4000 liters) per minute, has been chosen because it includes the vast majority of such systems currently in use. While the objectives of these systems vary widely, they all depend on a common technological and biological data base. Since the seawater system is usually only a means to an end, most potential users have little prior practical experience or technical knowledge in this area. Practical information on seawater systems for culturing purposes tends to be fragmented and not readily available in usable form. Most conventional engineering experience is with marine systems which are orders of magnitude larger. This technology is often not readily scaled down, or directly useable, and more than likely prohibitively expensive. The subject of this book crosses many different disciplines, interests, and backgrounds. This can cause considerable confusion with definitions and units of measure.