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Trying to understand my 02 P3 livewell system completely and read the FAQ on this, which helped a bunch but Im still not 100% clear. I have the separate controls for recir, aeration, and fresh in and out. I can surmise that the recirc will not bring in fresh water, but does the aereator bring fresh in at a 60/40 ratio or is 100% fresh? Wondering mostly because we often add ice to the livewell and do not want too much of the 90 deg surface water coming in and melting the ice too quickly.
recir recirculates water in livewell – aerator brings (pumps) fresh water in…it is all fresh when aerator is running. There is a drain so when the water level gets to it and fresh is coming in, there is an exchange.
You have it figured out on the recirculator being the only pump you need to preserve your ice. Though unless it is as warm as it has been here in AR lately, you should not need ice if you run both the recirc, and aerator. Pending that they are good strong pumps, and there are no restrictions in the 1/8″ holes to inject the upper level of the livewell. The aerator does pump a 60/40 mix when sitting. Be cautious using ice as you only require a 7 to 8 degree cooling base for good care of your catch. Most of the damage is from ammonia, which increases with heat. So run your recirculator constantly in hot water, and on a setting of 3 on and 7 minutes off in 90 to lower 90s degree water. Unless you are in 100 degree temps with water temps above those lower 90s levels you will not need the ice. Ice does keep the fish alive while you ahve them in your care. Though it also puts them in shock with a high temperature differential.If you place a fish in cooler water than suggested, you will shock the fish you have just caught.Upon releasing the fish after weigh in, they have to slowly adjust, which probably wont happen. Thus you may have kept them alive while in your livewell. Though you may have also killed them with delayed mortality after the release. Just some more to think about! BCB
Thanks and good point about the ice. I usually only add enough cubes to fill a 1-lb coffee can about once an hour. Definitely dont want to over-chill. The large size of the wells in BCBs definitely reduces potential problems with fish mortality. Was fishing a T recently with a partner in a BCB when we discovered he had a marginal battery and we could not afford to run any of the pumps constantly, which made me wonder just a bit more about this. Of course the problem with warm water is that it holds less oxygen.
Fish will survive solidly down to about 3.2 ppm oxygen. Above 4 ppm is better. You usually have plenty of oxygen, if you recirculate. The ammonia from their ingestion in the water is what removes that oxygen. The recirculator and the injection of the spray bars with those little bubbles forming at the top when the water sprays into that surface layer is the action that dissipates the ammonia. BCB
Any warm day (we have a lot of them here in Arizona) I just put the livewell on Aerate (3) and toss in a film canister full of Rejuvenade. I dont put huge amounts of ice in the livewell. Maybe a handful at a time. Lots of guys I know use small plastic water bottles 1/2 full and frozen solid at home, and just put in a fresh one every hour or so. –Bob La Londe Forums, Free Lures, Product Reviewswww.YumaBassMan.com CNC Molds N Stuffwww.CNCMOLDS.com
I add a 1/2 gal frozen water jug about every 2 hours plus about 4 hours into the day, I empty my livewell about half way and refill with fresh water plus run the pump on a 1 on 3 off ratio.This seems to work great.RWP
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