Livewell Overnight Operation

[Shakespeare]

So.... what do you guys do if you want to keep some live bait in the livewell overnight? I'm assuming that keeping the pump driven aerator on overnight would tax the battery. I've thought about throwing in a bubble aerator driven by another power source. It would be kinda cool to have something similar to the timed bilge pump introduce some fresh water every several minutes. Your ideas and suggestions would be appreciated.

Mike C.

[Harry]

I would build one's of these........ ;D ;D

http://carolinaskiffowner.com/index.php?topic=366.0

[Shakespeare]

Harry, that's a nice idea but I was looking to just keep what's in the livewell alive overnight without running down the battery and/or transferring the bait to another container. I'll stew on it for a while and/or maybe someone will have an idea.

Thanks!


009 10/25/07 2:50PM - Ok, I've stewed on it. I think my first step is to measure how much current the existing aerator consumes. I have a deep cycle battery that I use for flounder gigging lights and if the current draw won't impose too much burden on the deep cycle bat, then I'll switch the wiring to that for overnight aeration. If it turns out to be too much load then I'll look at getting some little auxillary aerator that doesn't consume so much current. I'd really like to displace the water vs just pumping air into the tank as this option will prevent ammonia and other undesirable elements from building up and also keep the temperature stable. Wahlah... I've solved my own problem (I think) :-\

Another option would be to put a timer on the pump to exchange water every so often and also have a low wattage bubble aerator run all the time. This may be the most energy efficient method.

[emsiegel]

i would just add a timed baitwell pump
I am thinking about adding one to our new skiff

[Shakespeare]

This looks interesting, a timer for the existing pump;

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21306&id=0001523011158a&navCount=2&podId=0001523&parentId=cat21306&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21306&hasJS=true

[Loki]

I'm not sure you really need to do anything but let the pump run. I've kept mine running overnight more than once and didn't have any problems starting and running the boat. This also includes running the electronics and the anchor light.

Then again I have dual batteries just in case I run one down, I can flip the switch and start the motor off the second one.

[Shakespeare]

I'm erring on the side of caution as I only have one main bat but I do have the deep cycle if I need an emergency jump. I performed a little experiment last weekend... I put a couple of small croakers and about 2 dozen finger mullet into the well. I kept the water fresh until right after dark, then cut the aerator pump off completely until 7:00AM the next morning. The croakers croaked but 90% of the minnows were still in good shape. The ambient temperature was in the 60's and the water temp was around 71, so that may have improved the survival rate. I'm thinking that intermittant water changes will keep the bait alive and I'll keep my sanity getting a good night's rest and not worrying about it (the battery or the bait). I've checked around and there's a couple of versions of this timer/switch offered by Bass Pro, Boater's World, Cabellas, etc. Instead of me wizzing out some backup electrical scheme as indicated in one of my initial posts, I'll try the simple thing first and then go from there. Thanks Loki for telling me about the successful overnight operation of your aerator... that at least gives me some background to go on and some peace of mind.

Mike C.

10:02AM Edited for spelling & content

[Fayetteguy]

its all about the O. the dissolved oxygen is what supports life (mainly) for the short period of time in a livewell or bait tank. Thus changing the water for new oxygen rich water or a constant aeration source, like a battery operated pump and some airstones. Here at school we have large tanks somewhere around 150 gallons to keep stuff alive in. I use it as a bait tank to keep shrimp and mullet alive. Put shrimp in a tank with no aerator and it wont be long before they are laying down, however i have had stagnant water with only an aerator and have kept them alive for the 3 days i needed. of course the water needs to stay cool so the oxygen can stay in solution. i used to keep large minnows alive in a foam minnow bucket with ice and a battery operated aerator. What im getting at is you could also get a battery operated pump and leave it on over night to keep some Ox in the water. i dunno just rambling

-matt

[sportskiff]

Matt,
Sounds like the way to go. Lets see... 12 volt air pump.... anybody tore apart one of them there tire pump/light/self contained gizmos yet? going to google this in a bit.......
Reggie

[bobreeves]

This looks interesting, a timer for the existing pump

Shake - I like that. As I'm getting into white bass fishing and just bought an aerator for my cooler, I want to add a switch when I wire into my trolling motor battery and might as well have a timer switch. Neat idea. Most of the bass boats have timers on the aerators / livewell pumps.

[Big Will]

I like to use a fish trap. Let Mother Nature do the work. If your not near the water it won't help and if its shrimp your trying to keep good luck...

[Shakespeare]

Bob, here's an update on the timer I installed. See this thread;

http://www.carolinaskiffowner.com/showthread.php?t=3153

Mike