Recirculating Livewell Pump

[wessnapp]

I am totally perplexed (let me repeat)  TOTALLY PERPLEXED.

Just had a recirculating pump added to my livewell.  I just turned it on and found that it is just a pump.  It's not aerating.  

Would there ever be a reason to recirculate water in a livewell if it is not aerated?

[gran398]

"Recirculating" means, up here anyway, that it pulls in raw water from outside the boat, circulates it up through the livewell, then drains back to the outside water.

If the system is closed, that is, no water from the outside....then you would need an aerator pump.

Hope I've followed you correctly.

[wessnapp]

I believe you are correct.

A proper livewell should have:

1)  High speed intake with a strainer and intake pump.  The pump will keep fresh water coming into the system with the old water flowing out the "over flow" drain.

2)  A recirculating, aerator pump.  This pulls water from the livewell, adds oxygen to it and then back to livewell to maintain both a current and a fresh supply of oxygen so the fish do not die.

What I got (still perplexed as to what they were thinking - and curious why I didn't get what I ordered) was just another pump that moves the water around.  Dumb-founded.  

I just need to throw away this freaking livewell and start over.  This damn thing is cursed and brings out the stupid in every person who works on it.

[GoneFission]

I prefer option 1 with fresh water input and an overflow.  Just remember to have some sort of check valve so it does not drain/empty while you are underway or when the pump is off.  

[Capt. Bob]

A recirculating, aerator pump.  This pulls water from the livewell, adds oxygen to it and then back to livewell to maintain both a current and a fresh supply of oxygen so the fish do not die.

OK, going out on a limb here and may be showing my age/ignorance and there may be some sort of pump on the market that does this but oxygen is added to the water supply in the well by pumping the water through a "spray bar" above the well water. Does the pump you have, have an inlet and outlet? I would guess it does so....

You need to add a spare bar to the outlet above the water level to add said oxygen or...
an outside supply to the pump.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aerator-Keepali ... d=ViewItem

Spray bars
http://customlivewells.com/AreatorSprayBars.aspx

Am I way off on this???

[gran398]

No, you are right. You can add an aerator head at the bottom inlet. Downside is the bait bumps against it, damaging them.

Other side of the coin, the aerator head can be at the top, spraying into the water. But that is not in theory recirculating....the bottom half of the tank never gets changed...again, in theory.

I'd forgettaboutit. One thing, Fitz used to haul live bait in huge tanks...he mentioned to me about "air stones"....hopefully he'll join in here.

[Capt. Bob]

Diffusers are a more efficient aeration technique and do add to the entire column rather that the first few inches at the top. I use them in our large storm water ponds for aeration and minimal circulation.

Spray bars have been around for as long as I remember and are most often seen in commercial live wells in bait shops. I'm still fuzzy on just what Wessnap actually has.

If it is something along this type, then a spray bar is what it is designed for, if I'm not mistaken.

Again, what does he have.

[seabob4]

Recirculating and aerating are 2 different things.  A recirculating pump pulls water from the lower part of the tank and reintroduces same water to the upper part of the tank via an aerator head (which sounds like it should "aerate" the water!)  An aerator pump will also introduce oxygen .

I don't think simply recirculating the same water is going to do any good.  Here's the pump I'll be installing on the fwd livewell on the Action Craft...



It has an air inlet that attaches to the pump body, the suction of the pump draws in air (and, therefore, Oxygen) into the recirculated water...

[Capt Matt]

A recirculating pump is great if you tow your boat and want to keep bait alive while your driving from the bait store to the boat ramp or are fishing in red tide conditions or shallow hot water without any oxygen in it and don't want to pick up that water. It will keep shrimp, crabs or other crustations alive when temperatures are hot out its pretty useless you have a raw water thru hull livewell pump too.

A bubble box is also a great option along with a raw water set up.
Capt Matt

[gran398]

SB...exactly.

Matt...exactly.

CB...exactly. Wess, what do you have in place?

[icemanbryan]

Bob, I like this item.
Are there different sizes?
I want one for my Osprey

Thanks Bryan

Recirculating and aerating are 2 different things.  A recirculating pump pulls water from the lower part of the tank and reintroduces same water to the upper part of the tank via an aerator head (which sounds like it should "aerate" the water!)  An aerator pump will also introduce oxygen .

I don't think simply recirculating the same water is going to do any good.  Here's the pump I'll be installing on the fwd livewell on the Action Craft...



It has an air inlet that attaches to the pump body, the suction of the pump draws in air (and, therefore, Oxygen) into the recirculated water...

[seabob4]

Bryan,
The one shown is an 1100GPH unit, good (supposedly) for 50 gal livewells.  Rule makes a 700GPH for up to 25 gals...

The 1100 uses 1 1/8" hose, the 700 3/4" hose...

[gran398]

More GPH doesn't necessarily equate to better, particularly for fragile baits.

When all of this stuff was invented for live bait KM fishing back in the 70's (here in southeast NC) a customized Rule 400 bilge pump (there was no such thing as a Rule baitwell pump) supplied a 40 gallon oval baitwell nicely.

I'll delight in telling you guys how a genius drunkard engineer from Wilmington, NC turned a Rule bilge pump to a livewell pump for fifty-three cents...and was subsequently sued by Rule, circa 1977.

[icemanbryan]

Yes, plus the Osprey bait tank / live well is not too big anyway
Maybe 20 gallon or so?

More GPH doesn't necessarily equate to better, particularly for fragile baits.

[seabob4]

IMHO, if one leaves the livewell pump running continuously, allowing the overflow drain dump old water and the pump to bring in new water, one ought to be fine.  We ran with about 100 herring and 5 dozen shrimp and had no real issues.  Yeah, a few dead, but that can be expected.  Built in chum...