What would you do?

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wasilvers

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
1,954
Reaction score
0
Location
Sussex, WI
Got a boat/work question for you guys -

A few weeks back, I cut a hole in my livewell to install a recirculation pump. Then I realized that for the pump to work with my setup, I'd have to tie the pump output into the livewell fill with a T and cutoff from the fill side. Feels like a lot of work while fishing to open the cutoff, fill the tank, close cutoff, turn on recirculation pump, - repeat as necessary to get new water.... I'm pretty sure I'll forget something - and takes time away from fishing. I do have all the parts already, including the timer for the pump.

Then I thought why not put an air bubbler in the tank like my minnow bucket has. The work in using it is just to turn it on as I fill the tank. The one I use in my minnow bucket can keep my minnows alive for days - it seems like it would work well for the livewell. All I want to do is keep my fish alive and healthy till I decide if I have enough to eat at the end of the day. Sometimes I catch one early and then no more - I'm not going to clean just one fish. I only have a hole in the livewell now.

Should I patch the hole and install a bubbler in the livewell, or would the work with a recirculating pump be 'better'.

If it helps, my livewell is about 12 x 22 inches.

Thanks!
Will
 
If I'm reading this right, the options are to recirculate water in the tank, or aerate the tank.

I'm not a big believer in either of these by themselves. IMO, you should be circulating fresh water in, not recirculating old water.

Bringing in fresh water will aerate the tank by itself, but if money allows I'd buy the aerator too.
 
dyeguy1212 said:
If I'm reading this right, the options are to recirculate water in the tank, or aerate the tank.

Yes that is correct. I do refresh the water throughout the day, just more of a manual process of allowing it to drain and then filling it up. Sometimes I fish slop and don't want to put that hot water in the tank. Hot water holds MUCH less oxygen than cool water.
 
wasilvers said:
dyeguy1212 said:
If I'm reading this right, the options are to recirculate water in the tank, or aerate the tank.

Yes that is correct. I do refresh the water throughout the day, just more of a manual process of allowing it to drain and then filling it up. Sometimes I fish slop and don't want to put that hot water in the tank. Hot water holds MUCH less oxygen than cool water.

I've heard that, but I still let my autotimer run assuming the water temps aren't drastically different from what's in the tank. The way the water comes into the livewell creates a lot of turbulence, so I depend on that to aerate the water. I'd really like to get a dedicated aerator tho.
 
Thanks for the help, the solution I chose was to patch the hole and wire in the livewell timer in place of the on/off switch for the livewell, then I can use it as it was before, or a timed fills to put new water in. Might get a bubbler too, but couldn't find a 12 volt one today.
 

Latest posts

Top