IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Ice Fishing Live Baits and Plastics => Topic started by: Ravo Himself on Nov 11, 2012, 06:10 AM
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so after gathering all the information from you guys that i think i need, i started piecing together my bait tank
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352612063537.jpg)
its a 54 gallon rubbermaid tote from home depot
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352612084473.jpg)
decent size. correct me if i'm wrong but i think if the filter works as good as i hope i should be able to get about 150-250 shiners depending on size
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352612098347.jpg)
heres where the fun modifications came in
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352612111887.jpg)
filter bucket sits in the hole. i drilled a lot of holes in the bottom for the drain/airation.
i plan to layer the bucket from the top down: poly fill, carbon meadia, ceramic media, bio balls
i dont have pictures yet but i also put a cut all the way across about 3" in front of the bucket so i can hinge the lid for easy access
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looking good so far!! It'll be interesting to see how the lid holds up to the weight of the filter, It may want to collaspe in.
Interesting design so far, can't wait to see it in action.
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Loookin good! I'd also be weary about the lid not supporting the weight, especially if you cut it. I've cut them before and tried to hinge them, it doesnt work.
If you havent drilled holes in the bottom of your bucket yet, try building a small stand taller than your tank and put the bucket next to the filter instead of on top of it. Then run a piece of PVC out the bottom and angle it to drop the water in through the big hole you cut. That way you dont have to take the filter off the tank to get at the bait or even look at them.
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Loookin good! I'd also be weary about the lid not supporting the weight, especially if you cut it. I've cut them before and tried to hinge them, it doesnt work.
If you havent drilled holes in the bottom of your bucket yet, try building a small stand taller than your tank and put the bucket next to the filter instead of on top of it. Then run a piece of PVC out the bottom and angle it to drop the water in through the big hole you cut. That way you dont have to take the filter off the tank to get at the bait or even look at them.
X2
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Oops sorry, I misspoke in that last reply. I meant put the bucket on the stand next to your tank.
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Well I'm reinforcing the lid so it should be able to hold up to the filter. Also I noticed that the hing idea is more complicated than Ithought but I'm gonna make it work. I put flat stock underneathe it to reinforce and to have something to screw the hinges too. I'm also gonna screw the side of the lid that has the filter to the box for strength
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Hinged lid will not work because the lid is not the same shape throughout. The edges have the raised part to snap on the edge of the box. When hinged this prevents it from flipping up. I tried it last year when I wanted to use one as a storage box in my shanty... just wouldnt work. Plus I couldnt cut the darn thing worth a darn when I got to the edges. I had to get the soldering iron and burn through it. Center cut fine, but those edges are TOUGH.
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I just cut it with a cutting disk. Went through like hot butter. As for the snaps. This lid only has locks on either end at the handles. So it should still be able to open and close
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(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352758689744.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352758710928.jpg)
you can see the piece of aluminum flat stock underneath that i screwed in to. all i had to do was notch the humps on the edges a bit to clear and it flips up nice and easy. i can take better pictures if you want to see how i did it. just waiting on the filter media to get in the mail and ill be all set
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Say Ican put 45 gallons of water in that bucket. How many 2-4" shiners do yo-u think Icould hold assuming my filter works as good as Ihope
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couple hundred or more.
If you put 10 dozen in there thats 120. Which when you look at it in the 5 gal bucket when you get them at the bait shop looks like its full. Throw that many in your bait tank and it looks like you don't have that many in there. Just start putting them in there and see what your able to handle. start out with about 10 dozen and go from there see how it looks, then keep adding more into the tank and you'll know when its full, b/c it'll just look full. Also you start to see your bait stressing and dying. Base the amount of bait in your tank by the amount of bait you'll need to keep you fishing for the month, that way you won't have to go out and buy bait, if you trap your own thats even better b/c when you see that your bait supply is getting low. Go out set some traps check them in a couple days and then restock your supply.
When I go fishing just for the day I bring about 15 dozen med fatheads and shiners with me, that'll support me, my dad, my two kids, and my nephew all day, running 5 tipups a piece with some to spare if we get into the fish. For a pike tourney I fished last year with my dad I had 5 dozen 8" suckers, 5 dozen Jumbo shiners, 5 dozen XL shiners, and 10 dozen med shiners all in a 48 qt cooler with nothing more than a battery operated bubbler. It kept them alive all day, and the leftovers went back into the bait tanks and it was maybe a dozen of the med shiners left. 187 pike iced that day for our group of 4, I iced 67 my dad did around 40 something, my cousin and his friend probably 40 a piece. I keep alot of bait b/c I go through alot of bait, I pretty much supply my family and friends with bait, I don't make money doing it. Its just something I like doing and I try and do better at trapping bait every year.
Long story short 200-400 would be my guess.
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Yeah. My set up is for personal use too. That's cool I can probably get that many. I do trap my own. How can I trap through ice if I ever need to restock? I figured drill some holes in like a 2 foot square and chisel the remaining ice out. Drop the trap and cover to hole to keep it from freezing.
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(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1352933773592.jpg)
still waiting on some filter media so i ran to home depot for some adaptors and tubing for the pump. after fooling around with ideas for a bit this is what i came up with. drilled holes in the tubing to allow water to be dispersed more evenly across the whole bucket as apposed to dropping all in the same spot. hopefully i can start trapping bait this weekend
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what kind of traps do you use??? For my big clover traps I take my chain saw cut out a hole and then push the ice under. I use a old chain saw that I cleaned up( got all the petroleum bar/chain lube out of it, and just fill it with veg oil for lube) i use it only for cutting holes in the ice when trapping. For the small traps like the Gee's minnow traps, and the frabills I just take my 10" auger and drill 3 holes in a line and over lap them a little bit. Then I just put the trap in and just tie it off to a piece of wood that goes perpendicular to the line of holes. I usually suspend my bait traps just below the ice. The 10" auger width is just bigger than the width of the gee's and frabil minnow traps, the length of the three holes is about 8' longer than the length of the trap. When you go to check your traps, bring a spud bar to chip out he hole and lift the trap out. DON'T CHIP TO CLOSE TO YOUR LINE OR IT'LL BE CUT AND FALL TO THE BOTTOM.
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Perfect, but I'm wondering if you might have drilled too many holes. You need water to stay in the bucket or you will never form any good bacteria. Its a fine line, which is why most guys use the pipe on the bottom to the tank with a valve so they can control how much water exits the bucket.
You really need the bucket to stay over half full of water, you want most of your filter material to be in the water... except for the top thin layer if you are running one for mechanical filtration. But if you dont have most of that filter material submerged 24/7/365 with water flowing through it, then you are never going to get good bacteria to form and your ammonia levels will go through the roof thus poisoning your bait. :-\
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Good catch BBk, I looked at it and thought the same thing.
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Rav check this out, its pretty much how I do my big traps when I'm trapping with them. Except I use a clover trap. Hole is about the same.
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Cool. Thanks for the video.
Also. I didn't know that about the water levels in the filter. Ill go to petco and get some aquarium silicone and plug some up. Will the filter material slow down the flow at all. It will be easier for me too check the water level with none in there
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It will slow it down a little, yes.
You dont need aquarium silicone. Just shove some duct tape in the holes and call her good. (break off a patch, stick it on and push it through from the top with a pen or something to where you can pull from the bottom, it will create a nice plug) Plug em all then pull a few through until the water flow is right. Just call me Red Green
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Too late. Petco is a minute from my house so I already got some and some PRIME. It says 1 cap full for 50 gallons so its kind of perfect for my tank size. But I plugged up half the holes with the silicone. Ill test it tomorrow once everything is dry. Hopefully it gives me a few inches off water
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Is the most important to just have the bio media underwater. Like if the cermaic and bio balls are submerged but the carbon is not. Is that ok. It makes sense for the bio media to be submerged but shouldn't the carbon still clean the water with it running through
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Carbon doesnt matter, its only live for 24 hours then its no good. But yes, you want it in the water. If you hold it up to your ear while its wet, you should be able to hear it sizzling or popping. If so, its alive.. if you hear nothing its dead. IMO its a waste of money. I used to run 30+ tanks breeding and selling tropical fish, I never wasted my money on carbon. The only time I ever use it, and this is very rare... is in one of my bluegill ponds in the fall. This time of year the oak leaves fall in the water and make the water a nasty brown color and makes it stink.. carbon takes care of that.
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fiddled with the bucket tonight. i plugged all the holes up and drilled 8 small ones. i slowly made them bigger untill it equalized at an amount i liked. it pretty much holds about 3 1/2" of water in the bottom. i figure with the bio balls and the ceramic in there it should displace enough water to cover both. ill know tomorrow when the rest of the balls get here
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bio balls were here when i got home. set up the filter and started filling her up
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/2012-11-16_16-21-43_771.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1353103376070.jpg)
i didnt account for the weight of the water bowing the tub out so i drilled holes near the top and used string to pull it back to about normal. not perfect but it works.
also i was getting nervous about whether or not the water level in the filter was right or not so i drilled a 1/4" hole just on top of the ceramic so the water can never get above that.
i'm still debating as to draining an inch or 2 of water to putt less stress on the tub and to allow for better airraition from the drain holes.
what do you think?
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I'd leave the water the way it is and build a box to reinforce it. Especially if it is going to be in colder temps.
As for the aeration, I dont think you have enough nor will you get enough out of that filter for 100-200 fish. I think you should hit up the pet store for a cheap dual output aquarium aerator, tubing, and stones. Can never have too much aeration when it comes to baitfish.
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My dad has one from an old fish tank he's going to give me. I'm gonna go catch a dozen or two tomorrow just to get some bacteria started growing and see if everything works
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the newer totes are a bit flimsy and will bow, Like others have said you can make a frame around it to keep it from bowing, or you could redneck engineer it by puting some angle aluminum along the inside lip to strengthen it.
Its looking good so far, and once you get that air pump and stones going your on your way.
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(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/ResizedImage_1353360825993.jpg)
did a 24 hour soak with a trap. only got 4 goldys and 4 crawfish. in the summer you can get like 2 dozen in an hour. all this size or bigger
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Nice looking bait!! Perfect size if your targeting some larger species like pike or big lakers. One thing I notice over the years of trapping bait is sometimes it takes a little while to dial in on where the bait are holding at. Sometimes they're suspended right below the ice, sometimes midway down. I just keep playing with my sets till I find what works. I also use a Recipe for my bait in the bait trap.
Here is what I use:
3 handfuls of purina dry dog food(green bag)
2 handfuls of purina dry cat food(blue bag)
2 handfulls of Cheese balls
A pack of old stale hamburger buns
A piece of White styrofoam for each bait trap(kinda acts as an atractor, don't know why buy everyone swears by it, some only use a piece of stryofoam)
I mix it all in a 1 gal ice cream bucket with a lid and carry it out with me to my traps. I then just reach into the bucket and grab a little bit of the mix and try to get a little bit of everything. Then I crumble up a hamburger bun and throw it in, then a piece of the white styrofoam.
Some people use different things, this is what I came up with that works for me. Never hurts to try, and with it being still early yet you can pull traps everyday and each little bit helps. When you get some good ice to walk on you can move some traps around to try and find the bait.
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Yeah. Hopefully I can get another couple dozen of this size and a couple dozen a little smaller
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well. after another 24 hour soak i got nothing. i had put it in a slightly different spot hoping to possibly get more than 4. didnt work. i rebaited and put it back where i got these. i really need to get a few more traps to increase my yield. what kind of traps do you guys use. i have the gee style round one with the cones on either end. i would at least like a couple dozen before we get ice
also. how do you go about keeping the bottom of the tank clean. if they poop near the pump it sucks it right up like its supposed to. but everywhere else it just kind of settles. when i get more fish will they stir the water up and keep it floating more?
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nice build it will work ok
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also. how do you go about keeping the bottom of the tank clean. if they poop near the pump it sucks it right up like its supposed to. but everywhere else it just kind of settles. when i get more fish will they stir the water up and keep it floating more?
Yes
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well. initial spot was a dud. rebaited with all bread and moved it down the shore about 50 ft. 5 hours later my dad walked out and checked it. 7 fish. there was still bread so he threw it back out. hopefully this spot keeps producing. there was one even bigger than the one in the previous picture. 2 were like a normal size med shiner and the rest were large.
is there a way i can target more of the mediums? the large ones are nice for pike and bass but i would like to try and get some more smaller ones for everything else my trap has probably a 1 1/2 or 2" opening on each end. so its kinda big. would cutting down on the hole size work?
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once more bacteria starts to grow will that help keep the water more clear?
i have about 3 dozen in there now and its starting to cloud up a little. i'll do as many water changes as i need to. but less is preferable
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once more bacteria starts to grow will that help keep the water more clear?
i have about 3 dozen in there now and its starting to cloud up a little. i'll do as many water changes as i need to. but less is preferable
Yes. Make sure you leave that filter media alone now and it will clear up in about a week or so. Make sure you always have fish in there to feed the bacteria. If you don't have fish in there you can take a leak in there every day to keep the ammonia level up.
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cool. good to know. i'll keep an eye on it just in case
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Initial start up requires about 4-6wks for the tank to "cycle" Amonia levels spike causing cloudiness, foul smell, then with some partial water changes to try and keep it down will help. then the Bacteria start to grow eating the amonia, then creating nitrates, then into nitrites which are pretty much harmless and disperse out of the water into the air if I remember correctly.
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Initial start up requires about 4-6wks for the tank to "cycle" Amonia levels spike causing cloudiness, foul smell, then with some partial water changes to try and keep it down will help. then the Bacteria start to grow eating the amonia, then creating nitrates, then into nitrites which are pretty much harmless and disperse out of the water into the air if I remember correctly.
Bingo!
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check out my aquarium
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=230393.msg2328064#msg2328064 (http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=230393.msg2328064#msg2328064)
add aquarium stones to the bottom and it wont stir up as much
for cleaning do like my set up, that way you dont fool around with the filter and you remove the poop and uneaten foods
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check out my aquarium
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=230393.msg2328064#msg2328064 (http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=230393.msg2328064#msg2328064)
add aquarium stones to the bottom and it wont stir up as much
for cleaning do like my set up, that way you dont fool around with the filter and you remove the poop and uneaten foods
DO NOT do that! Rocks are your absolute worst enemy for a bait tank. All the poo and crap will settle in there instead of going up in your filter and cause enormous ammonia spikes. If you do what he does, you will need to vac it out and do a 50% water change EVERY SINGLE DAY. You want as slick of a bottom as possible so the fish stir up their crap and it goes in your filter. Your media and bio balls will catch it, and it will be broken down in your filter (feeding the good bacteria). The only reason his set-up works is because he has a dozen fish in there. If he packed it full like my tanks his fish would be dead in a couple days.
You WANT it to stir up and keep stirring up. The more stirring the cleaner your bio filter will keep it.
There should not be any uneaten foods, as you should not be feeding them regularly. If you hold for more than a week you should give them a small pinch of food once a week. The less you feed the less they will poop and the cleaner your tank will be. They will go weeks without eating, but I suggest feeding every week so you keep them nice and juicy.
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I like my set up as is. So far with 3 dozen i haven't had any fire off and the water stays clear. Haven't even done one water change. Due to my ponds starting to freeze over and the low numbers i was catching i switched to the small streams in my area.hopefully i can start catching some more shiners or maybe even some small chubs or something.
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well i think im accepting defeat. after trying a whole bunch of different spots i cant seem to find any shiners or chubs or anything. i'm at a loss. looks like i'm switching over to buying.
maybe once we get ice i'll be able to find them with the traps that way.... what a bummer
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Maybe now that you have a nice holding tank you can convince one of the local shops to sell you some in bulk for a discount.
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one localguy is a small buisiness so i like dealing with him. usually once you know him good enough he will throw in a few extra if you get 2 or 3 dozen. i figure sometime this week i'll go buy 2doz med and 2doz large because his meds are a little on the smaller size
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got 4doz fish from the store. puts me at about 7doz and doesnt even look half full. gonna keep gradually increasing the numbers untill i think it looks good
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/Mobile%20Uploads/2012-12-05_17-41-00_472.jpg)
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ravo that tank looks like its doing pretty good!!
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Good Job and keep the updates coming please. Me thinks a projects coming for next winter...
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Lookin awesome! ;)
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Don't give up on trapping your own bait sometimes it takes a while till go get on the bait and sometimes once you get walkable ice its better b/c then you can suspend your traps just below the ice that works the best for me
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That's what I figured. I tried a couple ponds and streams in town so I figure just wait until we have ice
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had a bad bait loss this week :( i hope i might have temporarily fixed the issue. first the tank iced over due to single digit temps for a few days straight. next the ones that died got stuck on the pump intake. more died and kept sticking. limited water flow means limited filtering. a whole bunch were just half dead. instead of picking out all the dying ones i needed a plan quick. since i currently dont have anything to use as a screen in front of the filter, i decided to put the bubbler right next to the filter. its keeping everything circulating near the pump so i'm hoping that will allow the filter to run at full potential and save what i can. i also added some ammonia chemicals. temps are supposed to come up in the next few days so that should at least elliminate the icing issue
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A CHEAP. Way to keep it ice free is a heat lamp, you know the metal clamp on one's, position it a 1-2" above the water. We had -15 the last week and it kept mine thawed i'm using a 250watt red broader heat lamp. No dead bait
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A CHEAP. Way to keep it ice free is a heat lamp, you know the metal clamp on one's, position it a 1-2" above the water. We had -15 the last week and it kept mine thawed i'm using a 250watt red broader heat lamp. No dead bait
All cocked up ready to serve?
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Yup!!!! When you're on a farm you use whats available. I had 6 of these out in the barn that I wasn't using till spring, my other stock tank heaters are in the stock tanks in the pastures for the Belgians.
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well. things got out of hand and they all died :'( kind of a bummer but its ok. i couldnt get a handle on the amonia levels after that initial die off and they died. i've got big plans for next year though. i'm thinking stock tank, bigger pump, rework the filter, and install a drain at the bottom. and definitely make a cage for the pump. that was the root of all evils this year
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That always seems to do it, the pump sucks a few to it and they die, then it's a fast spiral down hill to loosing the whole tank. Gotta get all the dead ones out as soon as you see them
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the problem was there was like 2" of ice on top so i couldnt break through to get them. once it thawed enough there was just too many dead
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Great thread. Excellent info.
WS
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Bringing my old thread back to life. Never got around to doing the tank last year and it was such a pain having to buy bait every time I went fishing. Aside from having to deal with their hours. So I decided to get the ball rolling and get it set up now. As I said before this year I went for a stock tank. 110 gallon tank to be exact.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141027_162516998_HDR.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141027_162516998_HDR.jpg.html)
Plan is to put some sort of acrylic or plastic dividers to sperate big and small and separate them all from the pump. Upgraded to a 550gph pump so If I fill it 3/4 I should be able to get a turnover rate of almost 7.5x an hour.
Also stepping up the size of my filter and reworking it a bit. I have more bio balls and ceramic media coming in today. Hopefully have it up and running in a week or two
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Started one the same size about a month ago. I have a lot of bait and its running great. Started up a chest freezer about a week ago ready to start catching some large minnow for that one this weekend. Its kind of like a school project.
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Nice. Looks better than my 20 gallon aquarium. Should hold more too. ;)
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Well I think before they all died from the freeze I had about 12dz or so. That was probably only 40gal of water. I'll have double that now so I'll have plenty of room this time.
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got some work done on the filter. went for fresh baits design
about 5/8" off the bottom
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141030_182000890.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141030_182000890.jpg.html)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141030_182004934.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141030_182004934.jpg.html)
3" layer of bio balls
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141030_182713336.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141030_182713336.jpg.html)
3-4" layer of ceramic material
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141030_182937131.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141030_182937131.jpg.html)
almost double the filtering media from last year
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141030_182946711.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141030_182946711.jpg.html)
lastly did a layer of pillow stuffing or whatever to catch the solids. i'll finish up spray bar and intake once i get the new pump in the mail and get everything figure out
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Spray bar inside the filter
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141101_151104272.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141101_151104272.jpg.html)
The full set up minus the dividers. I'll take care of that tomorrow and then fill her on up
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141101_163905054.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141101_163905054.jpg.html)
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got the dividers all finished up. just gonna wait for the silicon to set up and then fill it with water . i like the way it came out. probably should have made the center divider longer and not left as much dead space around the filter, but this way there arent any shiners nearby to get sucked in. so not the worse thing in the world. still plenty of room. larger on the left and smaller on the right. might cut a big hole in the wood and throw some really big goldens or suckers on the pump side being as they should be strong enough to never get stuck to it.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141102_142234834.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141102_142234834.jpg.html)
i just cut wood blocks to make tracks for the dividers. that way if i ever want to take the dividers out they arent glued in place.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141102_142257378_1.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141102_142257378_1.jpg.html)
i made the right side smaller. i figured the smaller shiners didnt need as much room
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141102_143112402.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141102_143112402.jpg.html)
i'll update again once i get some fish in there
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Shortly after that last post I stopped at cto and picked up a lb of large shiners. They've been doing good. As you all know it's been below freezing the past two days. Stupid me forgot to plug in the stock tank de ICER. This is what I found(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20141119_162948701.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20141119_162948701.jpg.html)
Whole right side of the spray bar was frozen and right side tank had at least an 1/8" of ice. Plugged in the de icer and barely an hour later full water was flowing and it was almost completely thawed. Pretty impressed with it
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I seem to be having a slight ammonia issue. I've been having a slow but steady die off. So I checked the ammonia and it was high so I did a water change and it brought it down a lot. 2 days later I had 4 more dead and the ammonia was right around 2 or 2.5ppm.
I'm confused because it's been running a while so I shouldn't be dealing with ammonia spikes anymore. It's the same filter set up I ran before only bigger. Any suggestions? I really want to get this figured out before I start loading up the tank for the winter
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I think your just going to have to keep it running. I loose a few a day. I just pull um out. I have a couple hundred dozen fatheads in two tanks. It levels it self out. Are you still running the heater? The colder the water the better as well.
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I haven't heard anyone mention salt? The right amount of salt can make a huge difference in your mortality rate. There is a huge wealth of info for keeping bait here. http://www.catfish1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?521-Livewell-and-Bait-Tank-Review I keep several dozen large chubs and bluegills in the warmer months for flathead bait and I found some really great info here.
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No I'm not running that heater. I bought a 100w aquarium heater. So far I've been able to keep it right around 35*. I'll only use that big de icer if it freezes over. I've been wondering if maybe I just started off with too much bait. I haven't had one die in 2 or 3 days now. As for salt ice never tried our but know some people swear by it. I'll look into it
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Nice set up, I thought about doing a homemade one this year but in the end I found a cheap 10G aquarium starter kit for $40 and went with that. I trapped 7dz good size minnows before the creeks and ponds started freezing over and have only lost 1 in a month of being in the tank. I have a tropical tank so I was familiar with the issues that arise from a new tank and overcrowding so even with a filter and a bubbler I still did 25% water changes daily for two weeks. Pain in the ass but it makes all the difference until things start to balance out. I had a couple extra fake plants so I put them in along with a few big flat rocks stacked on top of each other so the minnows could swim underneath. I am no expert but I beleive providing cover is key in reducing stress levels and therefore mortality. Because it is glass I also put a piece of cardboard around the front and one side of the tank to again provide more "cover" for the fish.
(http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z322/jonzuliniak/CF0B309A-C8CB-4B2F-83DB-2F9F66AF7F73_zpszr5sjhtj.jpg) (http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/jonzuliniak/media/CF0B309A-C8CB-4B2F-83DB-2F9F66AF7F73_zpszr5sjhtj.jpg.html)
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http://www.petco.com/product/116668/Hydor-Hydroset-Electronic-Thermostat.aspx?CoreCat=MM_FishSupplies_Heaters#description-tab
anyone ever use one of these? seems like a good way to maintain the temperature. the cheaper one goes down to 41* and from reviews is pretty accurate
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I don't know how well they work, But might wanna try something like this..
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/thermo-cubereg%3B-thermostatically-controlled-outlet (http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/thermo-cubereg%3B-thermostatically-controlled-outlet)
Turns on when temperature falls below 35° F, and off when temperature rises above 45° F
You could use a standard aquarium heater, just plug it in..
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Don't want to start an argument but there seems to be some misleading information being passed on here about biological filtration. Biological filtration media does NOT need to be submerged. Autotrophic nitrifying bacteria that grows on the surface of this media requires ammonia and oxygen. Submerging the media limits oxygen exposure to what is dissolved. Keeping the water line below the bio media and letting the water flow down through it will increase the water surface area and allow more oxygen to be absorbed. Chemical filtration does need to be submerged however. Another potential issue I can see is the temperature requirement differences for bait and the bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria efficiency peaks at a much warmer temperature (around 30 C or 86 F) than what we would keep our bait at. Any way that you can keep your filter warmer would improve its efficiency. The bioload of bait tanks is huge and there will be wild swings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate throughout the cycle. Anyway you can help the bacteria do their thing is going to help in the long run.
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So I spent the money on that hydor thermostat thing. The digital one goes down to 42*. Best thing i could have done. Have it set at 43 and it's constantly at 43. No temperature swings, no ice. A little warmer for the bacteria to live in. My fatality rate has dropped significantly. I've never seen the fish swimming around and looking as healthy. Before they would just sort of sit on the bottom. Definitely recommend it for temperature control
Bad picture but
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20150101_102956551.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20150101_102956551.jpg.html)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l305/RavoHimself/IMG_20150103_122835571.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/RavoHimself/media/IMG_20150103_122835571.jpg.html)
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My basement stays about 52 degrees in the winter and about 70-72 in the summer and this is where I'd keep my tank. I had a river aquarium setup down there and I was able to keep brown trout alive throught the year with no problem. It was only 72 when it was extremely hot in the summer. For this setup I had a 20 gal long in an entertainment center that was built real sturdy, then the other side of the wall was my sump filter. This was a wet/dry filter with a tower for bio material above the water line, a section for submerged media, another section with 'Live Sand', then finally a 3rd section for the pump. The tower was acrylic and the sump was a 10gal aquarium. The water intake was at one end of the 20 gal aquarium and the pump output at the other, so it created alot of current.
Getting to my point. For that setup I used a cheap filter media that my friend and I came up with about 20 years ago, recycled mono fishing line. We'd go to sporting goods stores and they'd give us all of the fishing line that was dropped off in their recycling bin. There is a lot of surface area with rolled or balled up fishing line and once the water starts flowing through, it settles and you can add more. We used this in our marine aquariums and I still have a sack of it lying around.
I never thought of using a wet/dry filter for minnows, but then again, I never tried keeping a large quantity of them. I would think a large sponge filter with a good air pump is all one needs, or maybe two, depending on the size of tank. Minnows are pretty hardy and I would think a highly oxygenated filter media is a bit overkill.
For those having ammonia spikes. This will happen for 3 reasons: when you first setup the tank with living animals and isn't avoidable, when you introduce a lot of fish all at once to an existing community, or if you disturb the filter media; releasing a lot of bacteria. But you would want to jump start the life cycle of the filter by first introducing a large supply of minnnows, since they're rather cheap and you can afford the initial die off.
By the way, I've raised all sorts of game fish and marine fish/invertabrates, feel free to PM with any questions. But I've never tried to keep minnow alive throughout the year.
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just something that came in an Email
http://www.in-fisherman.com/catfish/baitfish-care-and-survival/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=infisherman&utm_content=enlfeatured2
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Hey everybody, long time no update. So I haven't had the tank up and running but I finally got my own house that has a nice basement garage to set the tank up in. Shouldn't have any more freezing issues. Looking to take everyone's advice about keeping the tank around 45 to help keep the bacteria in the filter active.
I've had it running for about a month and did the old pee in it a couple times to jump start it. Have had about 3 dozen creek chubs in there for 2 weeks and they seem to be doing great. Currently hanging around 60*. Waiting on the damn cooler weather. Checked my ammonia levels and it was high around 2ppm but that doesn't surprise me that much. Did a half water change. How much longer do you think I have to wait for the filter to finish cycling? I'd love to start filling it up with shiners to prepare for winter but don't want to rush it
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Because i don't think any of my old pictures will load in this thread, here's the tank. 110gal tank with a 5gal bucket filter. Pick up tube off the bottom of the bucket so the water has to flow through the media. About 3"of bioballs, 4"of ceramic tubes and stuffing material for mechanical filtration.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ctc1YY9K/20191030-184140.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ctc1YY9K)
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I've had it running for about a month and did the old pee in it a couple times to jump start it. Have had about 3 dozen creek chubs in there for 2 weeks and they seem to be doing great. Currently hanging around 60*. Waiting on the damn cooler weather. Checked my ammonia levels and it was high around 2ppm but that doesn't surprise me that much. Did a half water change. How much longer do you think I have to wait for the filter to finish cycling? I'd love to start filling it up with shiners to prepare for winter but don't want to rush it
Never heard of the Pee thing. no wonder your ammonia is high. Ammonia is bad. do you have charcoal in your filter? that and bacteria helps neutralize the ammonia. adding water from where the bait came from helps since it already has the bacteria in it. toss a few shiners in to see how they do. with the water temp about 60*, di not overcrowd as this will cause Ich fungus once that starts, you'll lose everything in the tank and you will have to start over after scrubbing out the tank. If you re using tap water, be sure to treat it for the chlorine. when doing water changes, I always add marine aquarium salt. the salt helps with the slime coat
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Only pee in it at first to get a little anomia in it. You need some ammonia to start the bacteria growth in the filter. I don't have charcoal in my filter because from everything I've read it only stays activated for a couple days and doesn't do anything for ammonia removal
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Looks like the filter is finally cycling. Checked it over the weekend and had almost 2ppm for ammonia but ran out of time to do a water change. Checked it again today before the water change and it had dropped down to like .3ppm! Gonna give it another couple weeks to finish the cycle before I start adding more bait but haven't had one die off yet so it's a good start. Also added another 2" of bio balls to the bucket. These are above the water line so that should help with oxygenating the water as well as added bacteria
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how do you know if the bacteria count is up and doing good...is there a test?
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how do you know if the bacteria count is up and doing good...is there a test?
Idk if there is actually a way to measure the bacteria but by checking ammonia and nitrate levels you can usually tell. Once those numbers get down close to zero and stay there, you know you have a healthy bacteria colony in your filter
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Never heard of the pee method but i use the fishless cycle method using pure ammonia that can be bought at the hardware store.guess piss is cheaper tho.lol
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Just stumbled on a great method of eliminating ammonia from the tank. Went out and trapped some bait so I had to fill my bucket with pond water to transport them home. No waders so I had to take the nasty, stinky, dirty water from right next to shore. It was so bad, I was in a big hurry to get them home for fear they would suffocate.
My tank needed a water change, as I could smell it. It was a bit low anyway, so I just poured then water from the bucket into the tank. The next day the tank was crystal clear and did not smell at all! I even had some duckweed hanging out in the filter, lol. My setup is in a dark basement and never grows bacteria. I think that when it gets colder, this "dirty" water won't be available, but it is a short term solution for now.
On a side note, I am getting baby sunfish 3 to 1 vs shiners in my traps. Any suggestions? This is my first season trying. Thanks.
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Is there any downside to just grabbing a bucket of water from a local lake to start a bait tank?
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Just stumbled on a great method of eliminating ammonia from the tank. Went out and trapped some bait so I had to fill my bucket with pond water to transport them home. No waders so I had to take the nasty, stinky, dirty water from right next to shore. It was so bad, I was in a big hurry to get them home for fear they would suffocate.
My tank needed a water change, as I could smell it. It was a bit low anyway, so I just poured then water from the bucket into the tank. The next day the tank was crystal clear and did not smell at all! I even had some duckweed hanging out in the filter, lol. My setup is in a dark basement and never grows bacteria. I think that when it gets colder, this "dirty" water won't be available, but it is a short term solution for now.
On a side note, I am getting baby sunfish 3 to 1 vs shiners in my traps. Any suggestions? This is my first season trying. Thanks.
Light or dark shouldn't have any affect on growing the bacteria. My tank is in my basement in the dark too. Sounds more like you just don't have enough bio material in your filter to keep up with the size of the tank. As for shiners, I'm no expert, sometimes I can find em sometimes I can't to save my life