100% Oxygen Livewell system

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 9, 2014

Let me start by saying we have all seen the problem with keeping fish alive in the summer months and I do not want this thread to have any negative content. Now my good friend Gene Brooks has spent the last two months researching this 100 % livewell system. He installed his on Friday and went to Guntersville on Saturday and loaded his livewells with 15-18 keeper bass. Now the amazing part. He kept them in there for the next 7 hours and never turned on the aerators! water temp reached 85 degrees! At the end of the day he released every fish and had to use two hand to hold them! Now here are the key notes:Unit: 20 cubic foot bottle O2 ( roughly 18” tall 5” diameter) Preset regulator ¼” reinforced hose and clamps and two high quality diffusers (not the ones for your fish tank)Cost: $375-$475Install time and difficulty: less than 4 hours and easy-moderateBottom line most of summertime fish mortality is due to lack of Oxygen. As the temp rises in the livewell the water doesn't absorb O2 as well as cooler water (hints one reason to use ice) I have heard people say (once myself included) "well I caught the fish in less than 2' of water and the Lake temp was 95 degrees why do i need to cool the water? There is a lot more water in the lake than in your livewell. Also the more and bigger fish you put in the Livewell the less water is in the livewell (as the fish itself takes up space) Atypical livewell holds 30 gallons of water Then you add fish and so you can see this reduces the amount of water we are dealing with. The Problem is that when the water temp reaches 80 degrees and up the metabolism of the fish increases (needs more oxygen) and the waters ability to absorb decreases. The biggest problem that people don't understand is the regardless of how many and how good your aeration system is, atmospheric air ( the air we all breath) is only 18-20% oxygen! So if you are trying to pump more and more water and run them on continuous there is still only a 20% rate of oxygen being pumped into your live well. And a 100% saturation level will never be reached. With the 100% oxygen system it pumps 100% O2 in the livewell at a predetermined rate based on a preset regulator to achieve 100% saturation. Therefore the fish get the O2 they need to survive! The Texas Wildlife people (Randy Myers) did extensive studies on this and have developed a regulator and the most efficient diffusers for the application. So it all boils down to the $400 to get this system installed in your boat. That is the equivalent to a rod and reel combo. So to me it was a no brainer and mine is on order. It is recommended that you still use ice to cool the water and run the aerators to distribute the water. But this I believe this system will help with summertime mortality rates tremendously! Another place I thought would be of great benefit is at the CBA events at the recovery tank. If they had a system setup in that tank it would allow the fish to absorb O2 from the treated tank and thus giving them a better chance of survival. Just a thought if the funds are available . The Tennessee Valley Bass club will have one setup with the next month for this very reason. Here are the websites if you want to do some research:http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/didyouknow/inland/livewells.phtmlhttp://www.slideshare.net/raminlandfish/livewell-oxygen-injection-8773301This is the best system I have seen or heard of for summertime bass. We have all spent more on worse. If interested in a unit Gene can get you a system for a little more than cost just because he has done the R&D and knows where to get all the components needed. It will just save you some time. Here is also the article biologist Randy Myers wrote. <h1 style="line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 10pt; margin-bottom: 6pt" dir="ltr">Oxygenation of Livewells to Improve Survival of Tournament-Caught Bass</h1><h3 style="line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 14pt; margin-bottom: 4pt" dir="ltr">By Randy Myers and Jason Driscoll</h3>Inland Fisheries DivisionTexas Parks and Wildlife Department<h4 style="line-height: 1.1076; margin-top: 12pt; margin-bottom: 2pt" dir="ltr">June 2011</h4>Bass fishing heats up in summer, but extra effort is required by tournament anglers to maintain the health of their catch this time of year. Dissolved oxygen is the single most important factor for keeping bass alive, and an understanding of factors that affect oxygen levels will better enable anglers to keep their fish alive.At a moderate water temperature of 70°F, 100 percent oxygen saturation is 8.8 mg/l of oxygen, whereas at the higher temperature of 80°F, 100 percent saturation is 7.9 mg/l. Both of these 100 percent saturation oxygen levels are suitable for keeping bass alive. Concentrations of oxygen can and often do exceed 100 percent saturation, and when this happens, oxygen naturally escapes from water.Oxygen levels in Texas reservoirs are at their highest in summer months, sometimes reaching 13-14 mg/l, which is well above 100 percent saturation. Dense algae populations occurring this time of year produce oxygen through photosynthesis at a higher rate than excess oxygen can naturally escape through the water’s surface or be used by fish. Thus, Texas reservoirs are oxygen-rich environments for fish during summer. This changes rapidly when fish are caught and placed into a livewell.Water pumped into livewells becomes depleted of oxygen quickly. A bass's metabolism is in high gear in summer, resulting in rapid oxygen uptake. Photosynthesis ceases inside livewells because of the dark environment. Therefore, it is necessary to provide oxygen to keep fish alive.Most modern livewell systems have two options to maintain oxygen in livewells and these usually can operate in tandem or individually. Water can be continuously pumped in from the reservoir forcing out existing less-oxygenated water through livewell overflows, thereby keeping livewell oxygen close to the oxygen levels in the reservoir. Second, the level of oxygen in the water can be increased by mixing water with air via recirculation of existing livewell water so that oxygen contained in the air can be dissolved into livewell water. Both these means of supplying livewell oxygen have their limitationsBiologists have determined it is not advisable to continuously exchange water during summer months, because reservoir surface water temperatures often become excessive later in the day and can contribute to mortality. Alternatively, anglers are urged to maintain livewell water temperature five to eight degrees cooler than the reservoir temperature to slow fish metabolism, run livewell recirculation pumps continuously to provide oxygen by mixing and exchange water in livewells only two to three times a day.Livewell recirculation systems are incapable of maintaining oxygen concentrations higher than 100 percent saturation, even in the absence of fish. The water-air mixing which introduces oxygen into livewell water also serves to remove oxygen in excess of saturation level concentration. With small to moderate limits of fish, five fish weighing up to 15 pounds total, fully functioning recirculation systems can maintain oxygen between 5 and 7 mg/l. Although this concentration is substantially lower than normal reservoir oxygen levels, it is sufficient to keep fish healthy. Oxygen levels below 4 mg/l are harmful to bass, especially if allowed to remain this low. Note that there is little buffer between the oxygen level harmful to bass and the level maintained by livewell recirculation systems.Without injecting oxygen into the livewell, it is very difficult to supply enough oxygen to keep alive heavier tournament limits. These can exceed 30 pounds and are common at Falcon, Amistad and other Texas reservoirs. Numerous scientific studies have shown that larger bass are inherently more susceptible to tournament mortality, which further compounds the difficulty of maintaining the health of heavy limits. Modern bass boat livewells average about 30 gallons total capacity, and this capacity is effectively reduced when containing a heavy limit of fish, as the fish biomass displaces water out through the overflows unless they are plugged. In this example the load ratio is more than one pound of bass for every gallon of water. Think of two five-pound fish in a 10-gallon aquarium or one five-pound fish in a five-gallon bucket.When anglers are fortunate enough to have a heavy limit, they should be mindful that their fish are at severe risk of mortality because of insufficient oxygen. Remember there is only a small buffer between the oxygen level maintained by recirculation systems and the oxygen level detrimental to fish survival when a livewell contains a small to moderate limit. In the case of a heavy limit, there is even less water to hold oxygen relative to the biomass of fish, and the large fish have a higher oxygen demand. Fully functioning livewell systems and proper application of proven livewell management and fish care procedures are absolutely necessary and may keep a heavy fish limit healthy, but oxygen injection offers a surer alternative.Oxygen injection has long been used by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) hatcheries to maintain the health of fish being stocked into reservoirs. Fisheries staff regularly transport or hold fish in ratios equal to or greater than one pound of fish to a gallon of water. However, boat manufactures do not offer oxygen injection system options, and very few tournament anglers have installed oxygen equipment on their boats. Minimal information is available concerning effective and necessary equipment to do so.TPWD's Inland Fisheries team in San Antonio tested various oxygen cylinders, regulators, hoses, connectors and diffusers and determined a simple, effective and safe system that anglers can install in their bass boats. Equipment was evaluated on three different bass boat makes having slightly different recirculation systems. Testing revealed that livewell oxygen concentration after one hour was about twice as high for the oxygen injection system compared to standard recirculation when a small to moderate fish limit was present. When a 27.6 lb five-fish limit was added, oxygen fell below the critical 4 mg/l level with only the recirculation pumps running, whereas oxygen level rose to slightly above 100 percent saturation level to 10 mg/l when oxygen injection was turned on.Proper installation and operation of an oxygen injection system will ensure oxygen levels remain above the preferred level of 7 mg/l even when livewells contain heavy limits. Tournament anglers desiring specifics about system components, installation, safety, operation and cost can view an informational Power Point presentation.Also, demonstration oxygen injection units can be seen at Falcon Lake Tackle in Zapata and at Angler's Lodge in Del Rio.Anglers should be aware that during summer the vast majority of tournament fish mortality occurs one to three days after release back into the reservoir. Recent TPWD studies involving major tournaments at Amistad showed low initial mortality year-round, but high delayed mortality for summer-time events.Initial mortality represents the percentage of tournament fish weighed in dead and ranged from 1.7 to 8.7 percent among five tournaments held from January to September. For each of these same tournaments a large sample of tournament fish was placed into large holding pens to determine delayed mortality, which is the percentage of fish dying within three days after release.Delayed mortality was low (less than 5 percent) for tournament events held when the reservoir water temperature was less than 65 degrees. However, delayed mortality ranged from 18.2 to 43.1 percent for tournament events held when the water temperature exceeded 79 degrees. Totaling initial and delayed mortality for one of the studied tournaments revealed that 50.1 percent of all weighed-in fish died at that particular tournament. Anglers should be mindful that many of the fish released alive back into the reservoir during summer experience mortality a short time later. Although use of proper livewell management and fish-care procedures will somewhat increase the likelihood of long-term survival of tournament-caught and released fish, oxygen injection guarantees against low oxygen causing mortality.Anglers having questions or desiring more information about livewell management, oxygen injection or tournament mortality studies can contact TPWD Inland Fisheries staff at the San Antonio office, (210) 688-9460.<div>
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uncleghenry · Jun 10, 2014

What is the risk of oxygen inrichment that is where u fill the spaces with oxygen and create a very flammable situation

Tony M · Jun 11, 2014

uncleghenry,

Having enough of this colorless, odorless tasteless magic gas is what's most important in summer livewells, having enough oxygen gas is the key to summer livewell success, transporting live healthy bait and tournament fish all day in July and August. Ask any state fish hatchery biologist how and why they transport live fish with compressed welding oxygen exclusively - and why they never use mechanical aeration to oxygenate their live haul water. Ask a real expert fish hauler, not an outdoors' writer, a bait tank salesman, a fishing tournament director or rely on another fisherman's testimonial about what aerator provides plenty oxygen for all the catch in the livewell all day long.

You are right - There are real fire risks using pure oxygen because oxygen enriched gas spaces (24% oxygen or greater) does and will increase the rate and intensity of the burn although the gas does not explode like hydrogen. Little information is available about livewell oxygen gas and oxygen equipment fire safety, but here's the most comprehensive site info I have seen to date:

Oxygen Safety - http://oxyedge-chum.com/oxygen-safety/

Rules of the Oxygen Road - http://oxyedge-chum.com/oxygen-safety/rules-of-the-road/

Oxygen, bait pumps, electricity - http://oxyedge-chum.com/oxygen-electricity-bait-pumps/

Compare Livewell Oxygen Systems - http://oxyedge-chum.com/compare-oxygen-systems/

If you know of others, please share because oxygen and fire safety on boats is very important.

Fish hatcheries always transport live fish with oxygen injection systems (compressed oxygen), they know and practice pure 100% oxygen gas safety routinely. They never try to oxygenate haul water with mechanical aerators, water pumps or ice like fishermen use. Using pure 100% oxygen to keep bait and tournament fish alive and healthy with oxygen injection is the difference between success and failure in the summer. The TP&WD biologist hit the bulls-eye on oxygen injection for livewells. Air and aeration works fine in the cool months - Fall, Winter and Spring, but not in the summer or when the water temp reaches and exceeds 80 F. and oxygen levels fall to deadly levels in livewell water, fish suffocate slowly then as you know so well from years of first hand experience. But, that is fixable sat TP&WD biologist with oxygen injection. Now you can choose to fix this summer livewell problem or you can choose to continue to live with the death and dying as usual in your summer livewell. In America you have life and death choices to make and that's good.

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 11, 2014

Thanks for the info Tony. I have read serveral articales on the saftey issues of this system. The rewards far exceed the risks!

Carl · Jun 11, 2014

I have looked into this, but was concerned about safety. Other than the obvious no smoking on the boat. What other precautions should be taken? Lights in livewell okay? Can you still run your pumps? Would the livewell vents help mitigate the build up?

uncleghenry · Jun 11, 2014

All it would take is a spark if the hull fills with oxygen u could have a disaster

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 11, 2014

You could argue the same point with the 50 gallons of fuel on board. But O2 is an accelerant and need a burning flame to enhance, and if you have a burning flame on board the O2 Is the least of your worries! But the fuel is much more explosive than O2.

uncleghenry · Jun 11, 2014

Gas is in a solid tank and on the o2 u are pumping it in flw puts o2 on there fish but it's after the the boats are out of the water and every thing is off but the pumps in the live well

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 11, 2014

There is a risk just as there is with gasoline. But the rewards far out weigh the risks. imo. One senerio would be if you left the livewell lids closed for an extended period of time( which will happen) you would no want to hold a lighter at the lid while opening it. That may cause an issue. But it is a great system and would prevent countless numbers of summertime mortalities.

Carl · Jun 12, 2014

So do you think the livewell vent on the lid, would help with the buildup?

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 12, 2014

Funny u should ask that, Gene is in the process of installing vent in his lids today. With that I can not see a very high risk at all. Maybe wrong but I don't see it. Interesting articles above. I have not read them all but I think this is hands down the best way to keep fish alive in the summer.

Rivermont Jeff · Jun 17, 2014

There are several systems to choose from at different price levels. But do some research and see for yourself and make your own decision. This is a very simple solution to a very big problem on summertime fishing!

Carl Guffey · Jul 5, 2014

Jeff, this is a very good article to start a thinking process for taking care of the fish while they are in the live well.

There are some inherit dangers associated with oxygen systems in small boats. Oxygen will flash with a spark in levels over 24 percent so a person should not run any electrical device in direct contact with the live well, i.e. pumps or infusers. Also seal the live well tank where it meets the top cap of the boat and add air vents to the tank lids. Any excess oxygen, once it brakes free of the water and enters the atmosphere, will travel intoany availablevoids and create an oxygen rich environment through out the boat's hull. This will make any electrical device within the hull a potential trigger. Unlike gasoline which is in a controlled situation unless there is a leak.

Water holds the most oxygen at or below 75 degrees. Any temperature above that will only let more oxygen escape into the atmosphere. Turning up the oxygen won't do anything other then enrich the air within the live well. Users should understand this and act accordingly to provide good care and not waste oxygen. There is also a situation of over use called "Oxygen Toxicity" which may occur. Fish Physiology and Fish Pathology – another matter that is seldom mentioned is that micro-fine oxygen bubbles negatively affect fish health – oxygen poisoning caused by continuous exposure to micro fine oxygen bubbles that coalesce to fish gills, cornea’s, scales, skin and fins can cause serious chemical burns and tissue damage resulting in blindness, death or disabling scar tissue if the fish survives the initial insult. Oxygen toxicity is usually caused by the fisherman’s ignorance of the device that makes the oxygen bubbles in his live well water.Micro-pore oxygen diffusers and live well water pumps that entrain oxygen or air on the inlet side of a water pump’s impellers gas venturi device can produce thousands of suspended micro-fine gas bubbles in the livewell water column as the oxygen goes through the pump’s impellers. The size of an oxygen or air bubble can dramatically affect livewell water chemistry, gas transfer rates and dissolved gas concentrations.If used correctly a oxygen system can provide a stable enviroment for captured fish. Just remember the livewell of your boat is not a professional sealed transport truck tank. Take the neccessary measures to have a safe trip for all your boats occupants.

Carl · Aug 4, 2014

Installed both the oxygen system and a cool well system last week and ran both this weekend. Filled cooler up with ice on Fri and ran the system for 6 hours. Went fishing again sunday for 6 more hours and still had a full cooler of ice. Water temp was 85 degrees both days and the cool well kept it @ 76 the whole time. Ran the injection system Fri night during the dogfight. Only had 11 pounds in it and only ran the coolwell with aerator turned off. Fish stayed nose down the whole time, very calm though. Almost needed help getting them out of the livewell at weigh in. Need to get a measurement, but they seemed very healthy.

Rivermont Jeff · Aug 4, 2014

Great to hear! Thank you for putting forth the effort for the health of the fish!
Where did you get your system? Really the diffusers mainly? I just got mine in last week after 8 weeks waiting from Pentair ( aquatic eco systems)
I would love to test the DO2 level of your livewell one day when fish are in it. I cant this weekend ( unless your at Goosepond) but one day soon if you don't mind.
I will be at Goosepond (Guntersville) on Saturday helping with the Snagproof weigh in. I will also be testing O2 levels in livewells and weigh in bags as much as possible.

Carl · Aug 5, 2014

I got the the system from keep alive. Received it in 3 days. Catching me on the water will be easy. Having fish in my livewell, good luck.

Tony M · Aug 7, 2014

Jeff,

Snagproof has been making and selling bass fishing lures over ½ a century, obviously they make a great product.

The Snagproof Open bass tournaments has accrued an impressive “field staff” of serious bass fishermen from around the country. Has the “field staff” been receptive and responded positively to your DO test of their bass boat livewells, weigh-in bags, holding tanks and release boat haul tanks now that your have completed some initial testing.

The Snagproof “field staff” consist of a few outdoors’ writers and educators, has the field staff pros shown any interest or possibly writing about your DO testing research?

It’s very admirable that Snagprood has invited you to test DO’s in bass boat livewells, weigh-in holding tanks at their tournaments this time of the summer. Have any of the tournament officials shown any interest about publishing any of your field research on their website since your work is specifically all about providing and ensuring the best bass care possible on bass boats in summer tournaments?

A $10,000.00 first prize based on 150 boat entry certainly isn’t shabby for a 1 day fishing tournament in July/August.

100% Oxygen Livewell system

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