13 replies to this topic

[GarryL]

I have set up a live bait tank with pump and pickup in my 12ft tinny before I upgraded to a bigger boat. So I have a bit of experience with pumps and plumbing and stuff. I can also generally manage to catch poddies and keep them alive overnight. What I do at the moment is fill an esky with 2 or 3 buckets of water and use a 240V aquarium aerator to bubble air through the water, which gives me a good success rate of keeping them alive, even for a few days. If the weather goes bad I can keep them long enough to give them names and class them as pets. I'd like to get away from using the 240V outlet outside the caravan, and stopping the need to transfer them from the esky into the boat in the morning. I like to get out without too much mucking around when I do eventually drag by back side out of bed. The water from the esky is also getting a bit past it's best by the morning (depending on how many poddies I have) so sometimes they are struggling for oxygen by the time I get to the boat ramp and get a change of water for the minnow bucket. I find that with poddies the minnow bucket is generally all I need so I haven't set up a live bait tank in the new boat just yet, although one is on the cards once I start getting the knack of catching yakkas and squid and start putting time into the Jewfish / Kingy thing (upgrading from Flathead).

Anyway, getting to the point.......

If I set up a 12V aerator or "Esky live bait kit" (250US Gal / hr pump) in the esky already set up in the boat, and leave the pump running off the boat battery all night (and possibly a day or so) Is this likely to drain the battery? In the long term is it likely to kill the battery by draining it down? Nothing would "disturb" me more than getting to the ramp and finding the battery doesn't have enough grunt to turn the engine over. I do, however, have a second battery which I could switch to, but I wouldn't sleep knowing I might have the switch in the wrong selection and drain both........

The other idea I had would be to use a small battery operated aerator (2 x D cell batteries) and convert it to run off 12V (somehow). I'm guessing this would use a heap less power as the two D cells last more than a night. Is this a better option?

Any thoughts out there?

Thanks in anticipation....

Garry

[obey1]

If it was me Garry..I would buy a cheap car battery and put this in the boat and run the pump/aerator off that.You can always take it out of the boat and put it on a trickle charger when you don't have any livies to keep.
Like squidward said..I would hate to be stranded !!

And yes if you fully flaten your boat battery it will do harm to it in the long run.

Edited by obey1, 07 February 2012 - 09:01 PM.

[fishon]

Get a small deep cycle battery 4o bucks from bias I think
There designed to be drained n recharged
Cheers mate

[GaryO]

maybe u can mount a 12volt bilge pump on the inside of the eskie or what ever you are going to use, and just mount it under the waterline so the water circulates an disturbs the surface( this provides the waters oxygen uptake) then run the pump of a 240v to 12v transformer inside the caravan area an just extend the lead on the low voltage side to run it to the bait tank..hope that made.sense

Edited by GaryO, 08 February 2012 - 11:03 AM.

[hookerbruce]

maybe u can mount a 12volt bilge pump on the inside of the eskie or what ever you are going to use, and just mount it under the waterline so the water circulates an disturbs the surface( this provides the waters oxygen uptake) then run the pump of a 240v to 12v transformer inside the caravan area an just extend the lead on the low voltage side to run it to the bait tank..hope that made.sense

Hi

Instead of just disturbing the water place a snorkel or similar "U" shaped piece of pipe on the outlet and have it splash back down into the water. This circulates the water and aerates it. To keep it vetical attatch a couple of large snapper leads to the base of the pump.

bruce

[Benzeenees]

why not buy a small battery pack - the kind used for jump starting motors. You can get a small one for about $70. I have one in my car that I put in the boat each time I go out. Haven't used it yet - using it to power an aerator sounds like a good idea - better than it sitting there doing nothing. It has a cigarette lighter type outlet.

Edited by Benzeenees, 12 March 2012 - 11:50 AM.

[wher'd all the fish go]

If you are going to keep them for a longer period of time ie 2 or 3 days why dont you get a corner filter like they have in small gold fish tank that runs of the airater.Now if you replace the filter media with Amonia absorbing media they should last longer.Its not just about air in the water you have to watch out for the Amonia spike.
Stop in at your local aquarium shop and they will fix you up.
Regards Stuart.

[GarryL]

Thanks for all your comments guys. So, here's the plan. I don't want to rig up a 12V bilge pump as they drain way too much power. I couldn't bear the thought of draining the battery down. I've given the small battery operated pump to a sparkie at work and he's going to rig up a "Switch Mode Power Supply"or whatever that is which will drop the 12V boat battery to 1.5V and should consume very little power he assures me. I'll see how it goes and post a few pics when I get it set up. I'm also keeping my eye out for a inexpensive deep cycle 12V battery. I've got a battery charger that I can use to top it up and it would give me peace of mind by not using the boat battery. I also need a decent battery as I've been given an Electric winch to play with that I haven't set up as yet.

Using the 240V AC aquarium pump I've kept poddies for a few days in an esky, although I did have to change the water a few times to keep the ammonia down. It doesn't take long for the water to get cloudy as well. A filter that removes it would certainly help reducing that work. I'll certainly have a look at that.

After I've done all that then I'll set up a full live bait tank in the boat,with a pickup and pump mounted out the back...........

[Benzeenees]

It's not the voltage that's critical - it's the power, in watts, consumed by the pump, and this is what determines how much water/air you can move around. If you're using a 36W pump (say) at 12V you will draw a current of 3 amps from your battery. If you reduce the voltage in some way to 1.5V, you will now have to draw 24 amps. The power is voltage x current. And this will be less efficient because the heat generated in your wiring will increase 64 times unless you use heavier wiring.

[Juggs]

they are not struggling for air in th emorning, as you are adding air all night

they are struggling to deal with the waste product in the water, pee poop food they regurgitate
only solution is more water

[wher'd all the fish go]

they are not struggling for air in th emorning, as you are adding air all night

they are struggling to deal with the waste product in the water, pee poop food they regurgitate
only solution is more water

Correct.You have to remove the Amonia and that can be done with Zeolite in a small coner filter opperated from the air pump.

[GORNNN]

You seem keen on having something run off a battery in the boat which is cool, but figured i would throw this out there, my brothers boat is not suited to having a built in live bait tank (hopefully upgrading boats soon) so we have been using a surecatch live bait bag, which is basically a foldable bucket with 2 lids, one is mesh so that you can empty and refill without any fishies escaping and then a plastic lid to start any spilling when carrying it or from movement in the boat(both have zips to open/close). Also has a pouch on the side for a battery operated aerator to sit in.

We where using an aerator that used 2 x D batteries but the switch broke so you had to take the battery out to turn it off. So i bought a $12 jarvis walker aerator from grrrrrrrr that uses 1 D battery (its also 2 speed). This has been used for a total of about 18-24 hours and no signs that it needs a new battery yet. Generally have 12 to 15 poddies in the bucket and never had one die while using the new aerator or the old one, never had them in there more than a day or 2 though.

The upside is it takes up very little space when not being used as it folds flat, and we go and catch the poddies the night before then just put the bag in the boat ready for the next morning. Easy to change the water, and no need for having things wired up and using the boats battery.

[Dfishin]

I run a dual battery system on an isolator switch which allows you to use one battery or the other or both. When fishing over night like all night for jewies i turn it to just one battery. I run Deck and cabin lights. Live bait pump. Anchor light, Sounder, Fridge fair bit of stuff. i start the engine every couple of hours just incase. then when its bed time i leave just the anchor light and the bait tank going. I havnt ran one battery flat yet but the idea is if i do i can switch the isolator switch to the other battery and know it still has full charge. Dave

[Mr Rosebay]

Ive converted a battery operated air pump to run off a 12 volt battery.

thing is it only draws about 0.3 amps. So if you leave it over night. say 10 hrs, it has only consumed 3 amp hours, which is chicken feed. even 20 hrs is 6 amp hours still nothing to worry about.

I ve kept poddies alive for over a week, i use a 240v air pump, corner filter with cotton and ammonia removal stones.

Trick is to filter the droppings out of the water regularly , and not over feed them,

you must keep the water cool if it is in summer, i do this by thowing in a frozen water bottle, a temp of 18 degrees keeps them less mobile, less chance of the oxygen been consumed and less chance of the water fouling.

this is also important when transporting them home, if you have a large number of them in a bucket, an aerator could be useless if the water is warm,

dont be afraid to add some fresh water if needed. but add it gently as to not shock them with sudden temp change.

cheers paul.