Livewell questions - Ideas?

[montrose]

I consider myself a crafty person. So I am going to attempt to make a livewell for my boat. I have a very large cooler and two bilge pumps.

  This is what I know:

1.) I need to be able to fill the tank.

2.) I need to be able to drain the tank.

3.) I need to keep the tank aerated.

  My plan is this:

1.) Install pump #1 at the bottom of the tank, thru the side, positioned so the water is pumped out. The drain hose will go thru the starboard hull, high near the gunwales. This will allow my tank to drain.

2.) Install pump #2 thru the transom, down low on either side, positiond so the water is pumped in. The hose will go thru the tank's side, up high, near the lid. This will allow me to fill my tank.

  This leads me to a question. Aerating? What if I turned on both pumps, allowing water to pump in, and drain out at the same speed? Would that be sufficient aeration for livewell standards? I could even install a timer so it automatically kicks both pumps on periodically.

  Is this a good plan? I build everything solid. There will be no leaks or stability issues. I need YOUR input and/or ideas to decide whether this plan will work or not. Plus, I think it makes for good talking. I feel I have definately come to the right place to get answers. 

[Carrington]

that may work but my question to you is why not just buy a cheap aeration unit for say an aquarium and use it for the live well and only have one pump pump in and out which will probably save you money also.

[montrose]

I already have both bilge pumps. I believe they only pump in one direction. I like the aquarium aeration idea. I think I'll go with that.

[b.Lee]

You rbest option for saving money also would be to just some one make a drain hole and just plug it. And use one bilge pump to pump in water and the smaller aeration unit to aerate.  Save the second bilge pump cause you may need it one day as a spare just in case it goes out.  I feel like this is better because you have less part that are running and less things to break.

[fmoore]

Bilge pumps aren't a good idea for a livewell. They are not designed to run for long periods of time as real livewell pumps are. Not a big deal - it will just wear the pump out a little faster. If I were you I'd be leaning towards using the bilge pumps to fill the cooler, then using an aeration system to get the fish oxygen. Every so often you can replace the water in the cooler with the bilge pumps.