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Oxygenator 100% Oxygen vs. aerator 21% Oxygen/80% Nitrogen –that’s a no brainer in the summer when keeping minnows alive when low oxygenproblem start.
All mechanical aerators have the same serious limitation – theyonly ambient air. That is a problem in the summer when the water warms up to100F. Minnows get red-nose and die in the bait bucket so quickly and that timeis near now.
How many of you have tried and use that Marine MetalOxygenator that makes pure 100% oxygen for live bait?
Actually I think your referring to the one made by T-H marine. I’d suggest you do some research on that thing. Not very good reviews and been some study’s done on using it to keep tournament fish alive. Doesn’t do a very good job. Here is one study.
The Oxygenator, how effective is it?
Thanks for the heads up on those Oxygenators. It’s funny that most of the bass boat manufactures install those Oxygenators as an OEM standard equipment and the salesmen really promote that 100% oxygen administration.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cray
Clearly some biologist at TP&WD Inland Fisheries do not have a very high opinion of those livewell Oxygenators. On the up side, they do promote their oxygeninjection livewell equipment they developed that also delivers 100% pure oxygen.
Do you have any opinion about TP&WD oxygen injection systems that delivers 100% welding oxygen?
I have seen thatall the tournament live release boats have those big green oxygen tanks on board and they do use 100% oxygen for the 20 boat ride to the live release sites. I would think that those big green oxygen tanks on those release boats have got to be very dangerous.
Livewell Oxygen Injection Systems by Fishery Biologist Randy Myers TPWD, Inland Fisheries Division, SanAntonio, TX Publication 6/2011 http://www.slideshare.net/raminlandfish/livewell-oxygen-injection-8773301
Most of the tournament guys I know use medical oxygen. If you can find someone to fill them for you without a prescription then you can get the small bottles off eBay. They use the pediatric regulator that cuts down the mount of oxygen to a very minute amount of letters per minute. Then you need a very fine stone to create very tiny bubbles. They use the small bottles for portability and ease of storage. They use on their minnows and in livewell and it is very effective. The regular welding oxygen is not as pure and really don’t know how effective it would be. You might post your questions on the main board because we do have a lot of tournament fishermen on here that use different systems.
I appreciateyour advice Clay.
I do realize that the vast majority of the live bait fishermen never have any problems with their bait in the summer and that is because they do not overcrowd their livewell and they can maintain excellent water quality with Mr. Bubbles or other mechanical aerators/water pumps, ice, etc.
I do overcrowd my bait tank and I do have a problems with summer bait mortality and red-nose bait problems because I do overstock and carry more than a lb. of fish/bait per gallon of livewell water in the summer.
Everything I have read about summer bait problems points to low oxygen being the culprit and that adding supplemental oxygen corrects this low O2 problem which sounds logical to me if the bait/fish in the livewell need more O2. If Mr. Bubbles is delivering plenty air, there may be enough O2 and additional O2 is unnecessary and a waste of time and $.
The issue is…which oxygen system to buy, there are many different types of O2 systems available today for fishermen. A commercial fishing O2 rig will cost as much as a good rod and reel rig or a good pair of sunglasses which is not cheap.
I see several companies are actually selling aluminum lick-style medical O2 regulators on the internet and advertising them commercial marine grade oxygen regulators which seems to be popular.
The $100 Oxygenator is definitely a very poor option for a dependable life support system. It delivers 100% oxygen only while it’s running and it’s certainly not dependable in the summer when you need it to work because it doesn’t generate enough 100% oxygen in the summer for a limited amount of bait or fish. It causes a low O2 problem in the livewell in the summer. Add ice to the well water and the Oxygenator cycles off and stays off till the water warms up and produced no oxygen at all when it is not running.
Medical oxygen and medical oxygen equipment has its own problems like you mentioned before.
Ronnie Capps and several other crappie pros use a commercial fishing oxygen system calledthe “O2 Edge”. Bass Cat Boats make another oxygen injection system called the “TigerTank O2 system.” And many bass fishermen use the oxygen injection system that TP&WD Inland Fisheries developed and sells.
Most of the tournamentlive release boats use homemade oxygen injection systems with big welding O2 tanks and Victor adjustable O2 regulators. They are always testing the DO in the water with a DO meter and increasing the dose of O2 on the regulator as they add more fish to the livewell…. they say that more fish in the livewell require more O2, they increase the flow of 100% O2 on the regulator as needed. They dial in whatever O2 flow it takes on the regulator to maintain 100% DO Saturation. This is how they can control the DO and insure minimal safe oxygenation for all the fish in the livewell in the summer.
I will do as you suggested and bring this up on the general forum, thanks.
I bought the Keep Alive version 3 years ago, and it was one of the best purchases I have made for Tournament bass fishing. I use welding oxygen, refill is $14 and that will last me about 25 tournaments. I no longer have to worry about the fish, and ones that are bleeding badly have stayed alive.
I also you the keep alive .It works awsome no problem with keeping bait alive when it is hot !!
Wonder how an oxygen concentrator would work.
I have wondered the same thing......Quote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
Seems like they could be found on the used market , portable and rechargeable