First Bass Boat....Livewell question for Tracker 175

[mjbfsh07]

I just purchased my first bass boat and I have a question on the livewell system in my Tracker 175. I have two switches for my livewell one is aerator and the other is recirculate. They both have a auto and manual setting. The aerator fills the livewell and the recirculate...recirculates the water. How do I use this system when I have fish in the livewell? If I keep the aerator on AUto the livewell fills to the top and almost overflows.....causing the divider to come out......and there to be too much water to manage/cull fish. Should I fill it a small amount and then tun the aeraor switch off and turn the recirc on timed or auto setting? DOes this bring any fresh water to the fish? If I want to get fresh water in there do I have to pump out some of the old water before I pump in fresh water or is the automatically done when the aerator is in the auto position? I hope this makes some sort of sense.

My livewell does have a pump out feature that allows the livewell to be pumped out.........Help......Its ameatur hour over here :-?

[Glenn]

Here ya go!

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/fish-care-in-the-livewell.html

[done]

When I bought mine, the dude walked me through it. He said to use the pump to fill it, once filled use the aerator to recirc the water.

He told me, if it get scummy or too hot (in the summer), you can run drain it down some and push more water into it.

[George Welcome]

More than likely the tank has overflow - feel at the top of the livewell: (rear center for each side) for the possibility of plugs.

[TommyBass]

I would second the chance that there is an overflow in your tank, hardly any come without them. Its probably just a valve or plug that you need to open up. This way the aerator or "fill" can run non-stop when needed.

Usually, most people fill their livewells almost full. Recirculation is used when you don't want to bring any of the outside water in for some reason (i.e. too hot). Recirculation can also be used to aerate the livewell while your boat is out of the water, at a weigh-in for instance.

In either case, only recirculating your water is not enough. While it may oxygenate your water just fine, over time, ammonia and other fish wastes will build up in the water and it needs to be refreshed periodically. I don't like to push this boundary so generally I run alot of fresh water. I put timers on both my aerator and recirc lines, so I can set the recirc to come on more often and the aerator to add fresh water occaisionally (excess goes out overflows). If you don't have an overflow you'll need to pump out once in awhile and refresh that old water. Its kind of a judgement call on how often.

[done]

It does have an overflow. The dude I bought mine from suggested I not trust it too much. Said the pump can outpace it if run for a long time.

[Fishbone]

My boat has an over flow tube coming up out of the bottom. It unscrews for draining. To control the level, to tube is cut down. A one minute on, two minutes off timer controls the flow. Works very nice.

[Brute]

It does have an overflow at the top.

Just run the aerator on auto mode ( 1 min. on and 3 mins. off ).

I have the same boat and it has never overflowed on me.

I only use the recirc. if at a boat ramp, going through some very muddy water or draining the livewell.

Brute

[mjbfsh07]

Thanks for the responses guys.  I appreciate it.

Brute....it is not an issue with overflowing, it's that that water gets so high before the drain is reached that you have put your arm up to your bicep in the water to get a fish that is resting on the bottom.....becomes a comfort issue in April when the water up here in NH is 45 degrees.  Thanks again for the help.....

[shortbasser]

Easy solution for that.  Get a set of culling clips.  They float on top and easy to grab. 

Shortbasser

[Wayne P.]

I keep a livewell net in my boat/s. I have a Tracker also and want the high water level for the fish's sake. My livewell has the screw-in overflow tube. I also use the float type fishmarkers, but only for marking my fish so the co-angler's fish have to be captured with the net. I don't use the divider. Once the livewell is full, the timed aerator will keep the proper water level.

[Eric carter]

I get a bass tracker boat and it has a live well and my question is it has two plugs one is the bottom boat plug and the other one goes to the live well do I put both other in before I put the boat in the water or what.  And how does the live well get the water in it to us the aerator