As some of you may know, I had some livewell issues last year. After a good bag where I had one dead one and 2 more on the way, I decided to seek some advice and do some research. What I ended up with is what I believe the most superior budget livewell system in the world.
First, I want to describe what I had. What was killing my fish is that my livewll only pumped in water from the lake. It didn't pump oxygen in, just water from the lake. I had a spray head with a 500 gph aerator and a back up floating aerator that I would use and hook up directly to the battery.
This setup actually worked well for me up in Delaware but the water is cooler and the fish smaller. With the larger fish and warmer water here my fish were in a death sentence in my boat.
So I did some research online, Ron gave me some good advice and this is what I came up with.
1) Upgraded aerator from 500gph to 700gph.
2) Replace spray head for an oxygen inducing one from flowrite:
https://www.flow-rite.com/marine/product-info/aerators/powerstream3) Used old 500gph aerator as a separate recirculating oxygen inducing system using flowrite parts:
https://www.flow-rite.com/marine/product-info/aerators/power-jet4) Used Hydrogen Peroxide and set livewell to recirculate. 1/3 cup in about a 25-30 gallon livewell.
5) Used frozen bottles of water to cool livewell.
This year i'm taking another step. I will be using SureLife's Please Release Me Livewell Additive.
So, total investment upgrading my livewell was less than $100, and so far it has worked great. The livewell additive cost me $11 and should last all season. Calms the fish, heals wounds, reduces weight loss, and replaces slime coat... a no brainer at that price.
Here are some pictures of my setup