Thread: Homade minnow tank

This is a great thread - thanks for starting it, Gilman!!!

I'm going to make one myself and have a couple questions...

1) I have 55 gallon Blue Plastic Barrels and a couple Black ones. Would the black be preferred over the blue?

2) The aquarium filter seems kinda small for that big a tank - would a little bigger be better, or is that one big enough?

In my spare time, I make Rain Barrels. I have 4 setup (connected together) at two corners of my garage that I can get all the rain water I need to fill and add fresh water to the tank. I plan on putting my miner tank in the garage, so carrying a few gallons of fresh water from the rain barrels to the miner tank won't be much work.

Thanks for ALL the ideas from everyone on all subjects on fishing and gear - you guys are the greatest!

Tarzan,
Don't know if blue or black matters.
Filter size, bigger is better.
Keep water at 55 to 65 degrees.
The roof leaches chemicals and other chemicals land on the roof. I made a 5 gallon bucket with a hose bib at the bottom. A rv water filter connects to it and drains into the tank.

I have a deep freezer setup similar to the ones on the first page. I am having a heck of a time keeping the thing cool though. the freezer is non working so I can't use the freezer to cool the water. Any ideas? I keep it in my garage out of direct sunlight and the temp is all over the place. I am using a 500gph internal pond pump to pump the water through a canister filter then back into the tank. I had aerators running but when the air temp is above my water temp it just heats the water even more. Through winter I never saw it get below 42.5. The air temp was -10 a few days, and we had 10 days of highs and lows below 0. Last summer I couldn't keep it under 90 degrees, even adding 5 frozen 1 gallon ziplock bags of ice a day. I've tried lid up, lid down (vented) and I just can't keep the darn thing cool. Seems it stays 10 degrees above air temp and changes daily. Its about 50 out right now and the tank is 62 with the lid open. Of course I can't keep fatheads in this tank, they are dead within 2 days when the temp is above 60. Over winter when the water temp was 45-50 I kept them for a month with no issues. Unless I can figure something out I am going to scrap the idea and drain her down probably next week.

Originally Posted by canebreaker

Tarzan,
Don't know if blue or black matters.
Filter size, bigger is better.
Keep water at 55 to 65 degrees.
The roof leaches chemicals and other chemicals land on the roof. I made a 5 gallon bucket with a hose bib at the bottom. A rv water filter connects to it and drains into the tank.

I bought a thermometer and fish food today and a bracket to hold the aerator with 2 air-stone lines. Got a filter coming from Amazon tomorrow (Aqua-Tech Power Aquarium Filter, for 20-40 gallons)

I have 6 dozen minnows still alive in my boat livewell from Saturday - not a single dead minnow, I'm a happy Camper for that! I drove out to Cabelas to buy the 110v aerator, and they had "Closed Signs" on all the doors. Found out when I got home that they are closing up the one in Missouri and some others, too. I think Bass Pro may being buying them out?

Drove over Bass Pro and bought the Aerator that Gilman recommended (bought the bigger one with two lines). I have it in the livewell right now with the minners. Will put a couple in my Bait Well in the garage and see if they survive with the rain-barrel water before putting in the rest...

Will take a pic and post when I get it finished.

Thanks for the heads-up on the chemicals from the roof! These minnows must be on steroids - never had any this hardy... Maybe (I hope) the rain water don't kill them, since I have nearly 200 gallons available most of the time for adding fresh water a little at a time. (We have a swimming pool and test strips to check/monitor the PH and chems to adjust it, so will try to check that once in a while)

I have the minnow well setup at the corner of my garage by one of the doors and I put a spigot on it and short piece of hose where I can drain some old water off into a drain in the driveway before adding fresh.

Also, I have RA and get medicine twice a month that comes refrigerated and shipped in square styrofoam buckets with the plastic ice packs. I put a bunch of them in an old freezer in the garage to put in with the minnows when the water gets too warm.

If the ones I put in the live well die, I will drain it and put in tap water with the chlorine remover stuff.

Nice to be retired and have plenty of time and a forgiving wife so I can fiddle with projects like this... Life is good - now just need to catch some fish!

Originally Posted by canebreaker

Tarzan,
Don't know if blue or black matters.
Filter size, bigger is better.
Keep water at 55 to 65 degrees.
The roof leaches chemicals and other chemicals land on the roof. I made a 5 gallon bucket with a hose bib at the bottom. A rv water filter connects to it and drains into the tank.

I tried a black barrel but it has seams about halfway up and it started leaking at one of the seams, so I switched over to a blue one with no seams.

My tank is up and running. So far, so good.... (Rain barrel water seems to work ok, fingers crossed)

Question: How many minnows can you put in a 40 gallon tank? I have about 6 dozen in mine.

P.S A few dozen of these minners are getting ready to take a ride to river sloughs :-)

My 55 gallon barrel is filled to about 4 inches from the top, maybe 50 gallons. I get 2 lbs of medium minnows to start the season, about 14 dozen per lb.
I found a roll of 1/2" gray plastic tube. My plumber son-in-law said it was out lawed years ago. A lot of homes were built during the '90s with it and is having to be replaced. I made a 8' coil around a gallon jug. Placed it in the frig with clear vinyl tube running from a pump in the tank to the coil and back to the tank. A section of the door seal was removed for the tube. The tank and frig sits on a covered deck and the frig would reduce the heat about 5 degrees.

Wow! That's a lot of minnows! Didn't know a 50 gallon would support that many. Right now, I don't know if any place around here sells them by the pound, but will start looking around.

I hope I can keep the temps in my tank cool enough this summer. My garage stays pretty cool in the summer - knock on wood. I have Lots of the plastic-bag-type ice packs in the top drawers of my old freezer to toss in the bait well to try and help. Haven't decided exactly how to add them to the tank. Options, so far: Get an onion-type mesh bag, put a bunch in it and hang them over the side. Or buy/make some type of plastic basket I can hang on the side that goes below the water level...

Took some pics of my humble setup this morning.

Originally Posted by Kevin22

<snip> I am having a heck of a time keeping the thing cool though. <snip> I am using a 500gph internal pond pump to pump the water through a canister filter then back into the tank.

If the pond pump sits in the tank - there is your problem. Those pumps put out a lot of heat. I built a live-well once and put the pump inside and boiled a bunch of bass the first time out.