Question about live well usage

[The Rooster]

I just redone my boat and finally I'm gonna have a working livewell.  When I got it, it's drain hose was leaking so I just plugged it and never used it except for storage.  

What I want to know is HOW to use it??  My plan was to first put the plug in the bottom drain hole, then turn it on and fill it up to the point of overflowing out the sides through the overflow tubes that go through the hull out into the lake.  That way when I felt fresh water was needed I'd just sort of pump in new and let it push out the old.  The fill tube allows incoming water to pump to the bottom of the livewell so my thinking is it would oxygenate the water from the bottom up.  As the new water comes in the old water would overflow out into the lake.  Is this the way most people use it or is there something else I should be doing??  Never used one before so I don't have a clue.  I had an idea about using an oxygen tab of some kind like the blue ones used in aquariums also.  

[Jeff_NHBA]

It really depends on the set-up ofyour sstem.  It sounds like you have a fll pump, drain hole with a plug, and an overboard discharge to prevent overflow.  If that is the case, you will constantly recirculate water in your live well with the lake/river water source.  You aren't getting a lot of an aeration effect, but you could if you relocated the fill nozzle towards the top of the livewell (similar to some aquariums).

A donside to the open-loop sytem is that ay chemicalsthat you put in here to settle down the fish will eventually get pumped over the side.

ou could delay that a bitit your pump also has a timer so it isn' on all the time.  

[The Rooster]

Thanks for the reply. The fill tube actually comes in at the top, but the tube then turns and goes nearly to the bottom of the livewell so the water comes in at the bottom similar to the fill tank in a toilet filling from bottom up. Is this wrong?? That's the way it was when I got it. Should it be horizontal instead of vertical??

I was also thinking of some sort of oxygenating stone that maybe I could put on the end of the fill tube so that when water comes in it actually pumps oxygen into the water with it. Do they make anything that would attach to this??

I might have to post a pic of how the fill tube is inside of the livewell. As it is, the pump is on a switch and that's the only way to turn it on or off. I don't have a timer but now I might be looking into one.

Let me just be very specific in how my livewell is designed for those who read this after this and need more info...

It's a large aluminum box, probably 20 gallons or more, very large. Has one drain hole in the bottom that I keep a plug in. Has two overflow tubes located near the top of it, one on each end, 1 1/2" tubing, that go through the hull into the lake just at water level. Water line on the boat is actually about 1/2 or less way over the holes in the hull. Might not be so far down if I didn't weigh so much. ;D Then the fill tube comes up and in near the top also, but the tube inside the well is turning down towards the bottom vertically like this ----> l , instead of horizontally like this ----> ___

[Bob Kavanaugh]

I don't think putting a stone (designed for air) on the end of your fill tube (water) will work at all.

Having your fill tube dump from the top like a waterfall will introduce some oxygen to your tank. 'Tis how mine works...

[The Rooster]

So you're saying my fill tube should be turned horizontally to fill from the top instead of vertically to fill from the bottom??  I noticed when I got this boat that it was loose and free to move so it stayed vertical because of gravity mostly.  Now that I've redone it and tightened everything up, it no longer is free to move and I'm not sure how it's supposed to go.

[Bob Kavanaugh]

Well, I'm saying mine fills from the top. Yours will work fine wherever it fills from, but since you're concerned about oxygen levels, I'd opt to have it fill from the top.