Iv been running oxygen for several years now. Il never fish again in the summer without it again.

I just fished a tournament Saturday and water temps were in the upper 80s. I have V2 and use please release me, we had fish in the livewell all day. Lots of teams had dead fish, ours were just fine. I circulate fresh water in throughout the day plus the vents and PRM. Our fish were pretty feisty. I don't think it was any one thing, Im sure a combination of all 3 helped. For what its worth, Ive never once had a fish die in my live well. Now, I don't fish tournaments as often as some so thats a factor as well.

Adding fresh "hot" water to your livewell all day, can do more harm than good.

If you don't cool your livewell water, the only way you will increase oxygen content is with bubbling pure oxygen through the water.

Aerators can get your livewell to saturation levels, but will never result in supersaturated levels of oxygen. Vents are not going to result in supersaturated levels of oxygen.

The only way to get supersaturated oxygen levels is bubbling oxygen.

Without bubbling oxygen you can only cool off the water to increase solubility and maintain oxygen levels at the saturation limits.

Please know when I say this, I am not doubting you and I believe anything that helps with fish care is good. But the reason I am so adamant about the vents is that it is the only thing I have done different - pump fresh water in and added the vents and the fish are insanely feisty at the end of the day. IMHO it is all anyone needs, but that is MY opinion. To each their own and anything that helps fish care, I am for.

Jarrett, what system are you running; is it something you bought as a kit, or you did yourself? I'm curious. Thanks!

As I said, it hasn't been an issue for me yet. All three of my fish were caught in 2 foot or less, where the water was 88 degrees. So pumping in 88 degree water is going to kill them even though they were living in 88 degree water?

Nope, because of your vents.

Pretty sure he is using a version of this system. It is what I had in my old boat for a few years and it was fantastic. I have everything to install on my current boat sitting in a box, but tbh I haven't fished a tourney in a couple years.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/images/livewell_oxygen_system.pptx

You can't compare fish in 88F water on a lake to fish in a smaller volume of water, such as a livewell, that is 88F.

What is the bioload in that 88 degree water in the lake per gallon compared to 5 fish in a livewell? The fish aren't going to reduce the oxygen content any lower on a big body of water because there is so much water.

5 fish will consume that oxygen in the livewell.


If you fill your livewell in the morning with 80F water and aerate throughout the day, you are doing more harm than good by putting in "fresh" 88F water later in the day.

If your aerators are functioning properly, that fresh 88F water is going to have lower oxygen content than the cooler water already in your livewell.

If you are using a livewell additive, ammonia buildup shouldn't be a concern.

Thanks!

It’s official. This subject is as over thought as fishing line.

What boat do you run?

How much does one of these oxygen systems cost, how long will a bottle of oxygen run and how much does it cost to be refilled ?

You guys love to argue.
I use the kit from Rambo Outdoors and refill the bottle every third tournament I use it in. It's important to set the dial on the absolute lowest setting possible in order to conserve the oxygen. A pure oxygen system is great for many reasons.
1. It conserves your battery (no need to run the pumps)
2. injured fish recover much better in pure oxygen
3. you can fill your weigh in bag with the released water from your live wells and the fish remain comfy all the weigh to the scale
4. you will never get trapped not being able to cull a dead fish again.

The only negative to using a pure oxygen system is the fish are MUCH more likely to jump out of your live well and back into the lake at weigh in. I'm sure the vents and other products improve the oxygen levels but there is no comparison to actual oxygen being injected into the fishes atmosphere. It's the same reason they inject pure O2 into casinos.