Oxygen Level

[crappiefarmer]

Could someone please tell me what level of oxygen crappie prefer in parts per million? Water gets pretty low in oxygen in the summer in my neck of the woods. I could use this knowledge to eliminate some water once it gets hot. Thanks. CF

[Billbob]

a men

[CrappiePappy]

Could someone please tell me what level of oxygen crappie prefer in parts per million? Water gets pretty low in oxygen in the summer in my neck of the woods. I could use this knowledge to eliminate some water once it gets hot. Thanks. CF

4.7ppm is the low end of the scale ...... 5ppm and up would be a good reference point for their "preference" of dissolved oxygen content.
I assume you have a DO meter, since you are requesting "ppm" readings. You will also have to take into account the "temp" thermocline - if your waters are deep enough & stable enough to produce it. Summer waters can heat up to some pretty high temps ... but, Crappie can still be caught shallow (early AM, heavy cover, grass beds, shaded cover, etc). And, even though oxygen depletes from warm water faster than colder water ... plants produce oxygen, when growing in those warm waters -- and the colder waters below the thermocline can be nearly devoid of any appreciable oxygen content. .......... luck2ya ...... cp

[crappiefarmer]

Thanks CP, Most of the coastal waters here in N.C. are not deep enough for thermocline. You get big areas of dead water. mainly a wind tide so there is very little current. Maybe I can eliminate some water. I bought a temp plus oxygen gauge from Bass Pro for about a 50 dollar bill. Don't know if this thing is crap or not but it seems to be right on, on the temperature. If it will just give me a ball park reading on the oxygen then I'll be satisfied. Thanks. CF

[Moose1am]

Most fish will do very well at 8 PPM Dissolved Oxygen. that's 8 mg/l of oxygen.

Could someone please tell me what level of oxygen crappie prefer in parts per million? Water gets pretty low in oxygen in the summer in my neck of the woods. I could use this knowledge to eliminate some water once it gets hot. Thanks. CF

[Moose1am]

Thanks CP, Most of the coastal waters here in N.C. are not deep enough for thermocline. You get big areas of dead water. mainly a wind tide so there is very little current. Maybe I can eliminate some water. I bought a temp plus oxygen gauge from Bass Pro for about a 50 dollar bill. Don't know if this thing is crap or not but it seems to be right on, on the temperature. If it will just give me a ball park reading on the oxygen then I'll be satisfied. Thanks. CF

Did the manual that came with your DO meter have a calibration table for Saturated DO vs water temp? If you know the water temp you can saturate a sample of water in a BOD bottle and can then be sure that the amount of DO in that water is a certain amount. Say the table says that water at 15 deg C will contain X amount of DO when the water is saturated with air. You saturate the bottle by using a air stone and a air pump for a period of time. After you saturate the water with air immediately stick the DO probe into the water and calibate the meter to read X amount of DO. X is a variable in this case. Refer to the calibration chart to determine X in PPM or mg/L milligrams per liter of water.