Livewell question

[Will]

I have got a question about hooking up an aerator to a live well, and fish survival. There is a little college tournament I will be fishing saturday/sunday. The only boat I have been able to get is my dad's old aluminum boat, which the livewell has basically died. The livewell can't pump in water and the aerator is broke. If I were to fill the livewell up when I caught the fish with a bucket, run an aerator I own, use Rejuvenade, and place some ice in the livewell would the fish be healthy? Also how in the world do I hook up an aerator to a battery, all I have is a 2 prong wall plug in?

[PARROTTHEAD_VOL]

I have heard that ice can be unhealthy for the fish, but I am not sure about this? You may want to get input from someone else.

[basser89]

Hey Will,

I fished a tournament two weekends ago and the livewell we used was a cooler that we filled up first thing in the morning. We caught our bass kinda early and weighed in our catch alive and healthy! We ran the aerator on and off throughout the day, used Rejunenade and added ice as well. You should be fine doing the same! Good luck!

What aerator are you using? If I can see which one you're using, I may be able to offer you some advise on how to hook it up! We'll see if I can put my tech school knowledge to use again! LOL!

[Will]

I have heard that ice can be unhealthy for the fish, but I am not sure about this? You may want to get input from someone else.

Ice will cool the temperature in the little box, especially helpful during the summer when the actual water temp where the fish was caught can be much cooler than the livewell water temperature.

[Will]

Hey Will,

I fished a tournament two weekends ago and the livewell we used was a cooler that we filled up first thing in the morning. We caught our bass kinda early and weighed in our catch alive and healthy! We ran the aerator on and off throughout the day, used Rejunenade and added ice as well. You should be fine doing the same! Good luck!

What aerator are you using? If I can see which one you're using, I may be able to offer you some advise on how to hook it up! We'll see if I can put my tech school knowledge to use again! LOL!

I guess I should of read the box a little better, it's an aquarium air pump that we used in an old aquarium but it's for the right size. my mistake I said aerator earlier, it's an air pump. :

[Way2slow]

If I'm reading this right, normally you go fishing on a lake, how long is your drop cord that's going to run that aquarium air pump. You're not going to be able to plug a 115 VAC pump into any DC battery and make it work. Well, I guess if you wanted a add an inverter also, you could make it work but they make a 12 VDC aerators you can use.

Adding ice can cause the fish to go into shock which can cause the fish to die after being released at the end of the tournament.. In the wild fish make gradual temperature changes or move into warmer water to feed for a short time and then back into their adjusted temperature. Adding ice is going to have them in all kinds of different temps for an extended period. A sudden five degree change has a huge impact on the health of a fish. At the same time, not doing water changes will probably have them boilded alive by the end of the day in a hot climate

Opps, I also just noticed I'm making too many post on here.  Looks like too many of the recent post have my name under them.   Sorry, didn't mean to make it look like I was trying to take over.

[basser89]

I have to agree with Way2slow on this one. The AC air pump won't work on a DC source. I believe, Wal Mart sells a battery operated aerator that realitively cheap (around $20, I think its called Mr Bubbles) from what I remember. That would probably be the easiest way to go!

[Will]

Thanks for the help, it's off to Wal-Mart.

[Muddpuppy]

I use a couple of the Mr. Bubbles pumps fairly often along with my boats areator or when trailering in the summer and it seems to help quite a bit. I have both the air and the water circulating types ( it is 12v.and hooks directly up to the boat battery) if you use one of the spay type I would consider putting on a pvc spraybar if it doesn't come with one so it would be less stressful on the fish. They do have a tendency to knock off a few scales sometimes if the fish get close to the stream. I also put a 12" bubble bar for aquariums on the air one it to spread the air flow. They make a smaller pump that costs less then $20.00 but it eats batteries and doesn't hold up well if they get damp, at least the ones I had didn't. You may be able to get an bilge pump at Wal Mart for around the same amount as the portable ones.   I often see the Wal Marts here have some lower volume bilge pumps on sale that might work on the boats present setup, if it just the pump.

As stated the AC pump will not work without an inverter.

[RobDar]

perhaps the biggest thing we are all over looking is that he said all he has is a two prong wall plug...which indicates an A/C voltage pump...which you cannot hook to a D/C electrical system...

at least not without a rectifier...

[prlim2000]

perhaps the biggest thing we are all over looking is that he said all he has is a two prong wall plug...which indicates an A/C voltage pump...which you cannot hook to a D/C electrical system...

at least not without a rectifier...

and a transformer...i see you have some engineering back ground.

[Way2slow]

I think there were a couple of post that had already addressed the fact he couldn't plug his AC pump into a DC battery, that's how it got to recommending a DC unit from Wal-Mart.

Also, just for gee-wiz info. A rectifier is used to block DC or convert AC to DC, not DC to AC so they would do nothing in his situation and a transformer will only isolate DC and change the amplitude of an AC source, again, doing nothing in his situation. An Inverter would be required, they use switching circuit to turn the DC on and off at the desired frequency, then feed it through a transformer or some other type of circuit to increase the voltage to the desired level. This is still not an AC signal but a Switched DC but appears as AC to most devices. That's why you have to be careful what with what type of device you plug into an inverter, they will burn up some electronic items.

[prlim2000]

waywslow...you are absolutely correct!

I usually design circuits using AC as primary and DC as secondary using rectifiers for trimming and transformers for stepping down the voltage. I should have read Mr. DeLee36's comments more carefully.

Well this goes to show me not to design a circuit at 3:30 am :-/

[Muddpuppy]

If you are useing just an air infuseing type pump it might not hurt to still try to change out some of the water periodicly.  As I understand it amonia can build up in the water that just adding air doesn't remove.  That is why I try to use both types of pumps when I can't use the boats areator.  Supposedly some of the amonia evaporates as it sprays thru the air.

[bassdocktor]

Can't really help too much with the hook up part but one of the biggest reasons they say not to add ice is actually because of the water that is used. Since most ice is made with some type of tap water there is alot of chlorine. That is what is really bad for the fish. The Rejuvenade as I'm sure you know helps to eliminate the chlorine. That's also why some people say to make your own ice from the lake water, eliminates the added chlorine. I could also understand the drop in temperature affecting the fish since you need to float aquarium fish when you bring them home.

Also what tournament is it? Is it a school one or one of the national one? Good luck.

bassdocktor

[Glenn]

Muddpuppy is right, and he mentions a very important fact.  You need to change that water out too.  An aerator is only half the equation.  The fish could still die in very well aerated water due to toxic build-up in the water.

[Will]

It is just a little school tournament. With 3 people and a 110 acre lake it shouldn't be a problem to have a fellow competitor verify the length so the fish don't ride the livewell all day. We are going to have a paper tournament and then convert the length to weight. Thanks for all the help, I will post how it turns out.