Home made Minnow Tanks

Lots of interest in this subject. Thought I'd add my tank and see if we can share ideas. Some of you guys are old pro's at this yet I am just starting. Here is what I have....... First I promised the wife automatic waterers for her horses in exchange for one of her half poly drums (hehe).... I then used refrigeration grade sheet insulation (left over from a job) and made a giant "hugger" to insulate it. I used a blue drum because I read that the blue color calms the minnows. I picked up a 110v air pump from academy, added well water, better bait and dropped in my left over minnows.

My first results were not great. The air bubbles started the water to churning. It created a current in my tank. The leftover minnows fought 24/7 against the current created by the bubbles. You could see them rolling when they surfaced and then back to the bottomk they went. I lost alot of minnows.

My dad told me he had an old submersible gold fish pond pump. Hmmm. I used 5/8 copper tubing with 1/8" holes in it for a spraybar. Only my minnows wanted to get sucked into the pump. I read, learned what I could. Some from here, some from pond sites. I bought charcoal in a container from wally world and made my filter from the very container I bought it in.

I drilled holes in the bottom of the container, and used scotchbrite to put in first. Then I put the charcoal in pantyhose and stuffed it in. Two layers of scotchbrite then the lid. The lid was drilled out and a pvc conduit fitting attached. I hose clamped the fitting to the pump suction.

I have kept 4- 10 dozen minnows in it for a month with very little die off. My water looks as clean as tap water. I have the tank outside in the carport and it stays shady all day. It is setting next to a refrigerator that I intend to incorporate into water cooling when it is necessary. So far so good without it, and we have had several 95 degree days. Upper 80's is the norm here.

I feed the minnows once a day the cheap walmart goldfish food.

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/o...0531101518.jpg

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/o...0531101520.jpg

http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/o...531101520a.jpg

As you can see the spraybar makes plenty of bubbles, so I do no use the air pump anymore.

For 10 dozen minnows this setup has worked real well, with no real water changes. Now, the kicker. When I fish,I have had better success keeping alive my minnows than baitshop minnows. Last sunday out of 10 dozen, I had ONE minnow die in my two bait buckets and it was over 90 degrees outside. The "cold" baitshop minnows simply did not hold up as well as my aclimated ones.

I have 3 pounds of minnows coming thursday, so I will be giving the tank (and what I have learned) a real test. I am worried about my ammonia and nitrates spiking and killing minnows, but I do have well water here at home for some water changes if needed. Heck, if I lose 3/4 of them I still come out even considering I've had to buy them at $2 a dozen. Anyone have comments, questions or input?

It's gonna be a chore with the summer heat arriving to keep that many alive in one tank. Be ready to constantly change out some of the water almost daily. In the winter time...no problems. But during warmer weather that's crowding the tank and the ammonia levels will spike thru the roof quick. You have a good setup and IMO about the best you can do (other than a bigger tank). Refrigerated minnows dont last once your minnow bucket water warms up some or when the minnows hit the 80+ degree lake water.:rolleyes:

But, like you said, youre still way ahead even if you loose half. And it's so much nicer to have the minnows at the house when you get that urge to go fishing. No more waiting on a store clerk to count them out one at a time.:rolleyes: I just HATE seeing them doing that since I KNOW how much they have in minnows.:mad:

Looks good to me Bill.

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Originally Posted by gabowman

It's gonna be a chore with the summer heat arriving to keep that many alive in one tank. Be ready to constantly change out some of the water almost daily. In the winter time...no problems. But during warmer weather that's crowding the tank and the ammonia levels will spike thru the roof quick. You have a good setup and IMO about the best you can do (other than a bigger tank). Refrigerated minnows dont last once your minnow bucket water warms up some or when the minnows hit the 80+ degree lake water.:rolleyes:

But, like you said, youre still way ahead even if you loose half. And it's so much nicer to have the minnows at the house when you get that urge to go fishing. No more waiting on a store clerk to count them out one at a time.:rolleyes: I just HATE seeing them doing that since I KNOW how much they have in minnows.:mad:

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Well, hopefully I will only be keeping that many for a short time :D. I been using about 6 dozen a trip out and 1 - 3 trips a week. I can't afford $2 a dozen. If I can stay on the fish and they keep biting like they have been, Maybe I can take what I learn and have to get 3 more pounds soon ;)

Sounds like a plan Bill.:) I have 2-55 gallon barrels for bait tanks. In one of the barrels I used a pond pump and filter before but later on just replaced it with aquarium bubbler from Walmart (like was in the 2nd barrel when I added it) and they do a pretty good job. I only feed mine a little small piece of loaf bread about every 3 days and they do pretty good. I live about 30 minutes from where I can buy by the # so I usually only get 2#'s, one for each barrel. I'll fish 'em up before they start dying usually. Good luck with your minners.:)

here's a little video of our setup, reach in deep freeze we put a thermostat on to regulate temp, 110 aerator, clean it out about once a month in the summer, add a little better bait occasionally. i shot this when filming for the bnm video contest so the ending is still on there, i'm taking a month sebatical from editing due to health purposes so if you've seen my contest entry you've seen the ending here.

YouTube - My Video

I've had problems keeping minnows during the summer. I'm keeping them in smaller numbers in a aqarium in the house at the momment.

I have an idea to combat the summer heat. I'm going to get a plastic stock tank and bury it in the ground. My therory is the cooler soil temps will help keep the water cooler. I think it may work for winter also. Our winters are fairly mild.

Try not to feed the minnows at all. That will just cause more ammonia, from the food itself and the fish droppings. They shouldn't need fed if they will only be in there a couple weeks.

I have two minnow tanks i started this spring and not had the greatest results. One thing i did find out, with my filter that i copied from Sac-o-lait, i needed as many holes as i could get in the filter itself to keep from plugging the filter too quickly. I even added a tee and doubled my filter tubes. Water flows alot better now.

I see you have water spraying into the tank too. Thats good to help release the nitrogen that the bacteria produce. I have a small PVC tube coming out of the top of my pump into a pond type sprayer. Sprays the water out into a dome shaped spray.

I did some research on aquariums and found that along with frequent water changes, the water inside the tank has to go through a complete nitrogen cycle before it becomes really healthy for fish. Once you add minnows, the ammonia will go sky high until a benificial type of bacteria builds up inside the filter itself. Once enough of them populate they will eat the ammonia and those levels will go back down. This usually takes 3 to 6 weeks to happen. If you clean the filter material only use tank water to clean it. Declorinated city water will kill the bacteria in the filter media. Always put some of the older but cleaned out filter media back into the filter to keep the bacteria alive and growing in your filter.

Get some test strips and check your ammonia often. When it gets high swap out some water. There is also a tank additive that nuetralizes ammonia. use this if you have to. I try not to add anything into the water if i can. Sometimes additives will mess up the other tests i do on the water. I have just gotten used to having some minnows die off daily until all the tests and ammonia have leveled out. I need to get my tank insulated too. The colder, the better.

Good info Iowa. I had already read your earlier threads and was wondering how your progress was going. I have an old chest freezer here at the house I just today sealed up with silicon and painted (inside was rusted). I used the "krylon fusion" paint... listed as non toxic. I will be adding water and a SMALL amount of minnows later this week as a test to see if it REALLY is non toxic. Once I have deemed it minnow safe I will be making this my main tank. It has a small refrigerant leak somewhere in the box. I am going to recharge it with refrigerant and put the compressor on a timer without the thermostat to run a few intervals a day as the weather gets warmer. Here is my new "tank" drying.
http://i389.photobucket.com/albums/o...0601101717.jpg

KingKrappie I watched your video. If I tried to keep minnows at 42 degrees here and dunked them in this 80 degree water I think they would sizzle when they hit the river. lol. I like your setup and mine will be similiar soon. I will be keeping the pump system I have and trying to run the tank at a fuller water capacity. I know the colder water will keep my minners alot longer but I am gonna strive for something closer to 75 degrees and cross my fingers.

yeah we try to acclamate em best we can in the summer, fill the minnow bucket half with lake water and half with tank water, but there definately pretty dossile when you put em in hot water, reelfoot gets pretty warm, rosy reds get lively much faster than shiners, but availability is always an issue with them.

Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, that's why they are more lively in cooler water. Air stones and aeriation pumps put oxygen in the ater as well. Just water movement also works.
Most aqaurium stores have bottles of stuff that will "cycle" your water and add "good bacteria" to your water. You can get a used filter cartridge from someone that has an aqaurium and add it to your tank for a few days to get live bacteria.
Treated or city water will kill fish from the chemicals in it. If that's all you have you can let it sit for a few days in an open container and the chemicals will evaporate out.

I've kept fish aqauriums for a couple years now but never kept minnows, but I've been thinking a lot about it this year. There's never a bait shop open when I have time to go.

Update. I washed out my freezer and put the few dozen minnows I had left in it to give it a test run. Let it run a day and lost about 3/4 of them. I wasn't surprised, I had a new homemade filter and a freshly painted freezer. Let it run 24 hours, Drained, then added fresh well water. Placed in 3 pounds of minnows yesterday with the half dozen or so I had left. Minnow delivery girl says there are 200-250 count per pound depending on size. Says I prolly got 210 in a pound. Anyhow lost about 4 in 24 hours.

The funny part. I bought some tank treatment from a local pet shop. Adds bacteria to jump start your tank. Says right on the front "Treats 65 gallons for 32 weeks". SOLD! I estimate about 80 gallons.... so I added the bottle. This afternoon, sitting there grinning, admiring my tank with its 4 dead minners. Glad its not 50 dead minners... I was thinking wonder when I need to treat my tank again. The side of the box reads a little differently. Yes It treats 65 gallons over a period of 32 weeks..... a few ounces at a time. Oh well. The shiners don't seem to mind it too much, but that stuff did stink my water up. Guess I'll read a little closer next time.

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Originally Posted by BamaBill

Update. I washed out my freezer and put the few dozen minnows I had left in it to give it a test run. Let it run a day and lost about 3/4 of them. I wasn't surprised, I had a new homemade filter and a freshly painted freezer. Let it run 24 hours, Drained, then added fresh well water. Placed in 3 pounds of minnows yesterday with the half dozen or so I had left. Minnow delivery girl says there are 200-250 count per pound depending on size. Says I prolly got 210 in a pound. Anyhow lost about 4 in 24 hours.

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Where are you located Bama Bill. I'm in Alabaster. On your tank. Is it still working well. I am wanting to build one and i like your idea of chest freezer. I have no need to run it I can keep it in my basement it's cooled. I do like the running aspect though. Can you explain how you run it without burning it up trying to freeze all that water.

A couple water quality tips from a 40yr aquarium veteran. DO NOT OVERFEED. Overfeeding will kill captive fish faster than anything else. Food that is not eaten rots and poisons the water in a closed ecosystem.

Helpful bacteria that break down nitrates( fish waste) live on the bottom. You can increase the number of bacteria by increasing the surface area of the bottom by tossing 1/4" of pea gravel in the bottom. The bacteria only live on the surface so there is no need to make a thick layer. Pea gravel is heavier than fine gravel or sand so its easier to vacuum accumulated waste without sucking up the gravel.

Water changes are needed to remove ammonia but adding chlorinated water can be just as deadly as no water changes. you can let the water sit in an open container to air out(takes about 24-48 hrs), use well water or use a simple water change system and never have to change or add water again. To do this drill a small hole near the top of your tank as an overflow drain. Add a fill hose(not a garden hose, they contain heavy metals) to the tank and turn it on to drip water in at about 1 drip per second. At that rate chlorinated water doesn't matter and it will change a couple gallons a day removing ammonia as it overflows out the drain. An ammonia test kit can tell you if you need to change the flow rate.

I used this system for many years in all my aquariums. The only fish I lost were due to old age or predation. The only work I had to do once set up was monthly gravel vacuuming.

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Originally Posted by L8hntr

Where are you located Bama Bill. I'm in Alabaster. On your tank. Is it still working well. I am wanting to build one and i like your idea of chest freezer. I have no need to run it I can keep it in my basement it's cooled. I do like the running aspect though. Can you explain how you run it without burning it up trying to freeze all that water.

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Use a temp controller like this http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...RR5cARlrzw_wcB just turn your frezzer to the coldest setting and plug it into the controller. Set the desired temp on the controller and it will turn power on and off to the freezer the same way the freezer thermostat does.

Those of you who order minnow by mail. Where are you purchasing your bait? Thanks

Also for more info on bait tanks search ice fishing forums. They have some awesome set ups and ideas. Most guys catch and keep bait most of the year just for ice fishing.

Sounds like a fun project. Been thinking of doing one sometime this winter. Might have to pick yalls brains.

all you need i plastic drum, water pump and a plastic bottle to hold filter materials. the water falling from the bottle filter(hung from the side) will aerate the water. simple as that. i can keep 40 small gills without issues. you will need to start off with a few fish in the tank, to get the filter dirty and working, before trying to hold more fish. if the filter is fresh and clean, it wont keep up on the ammonia. always leave a chunk of nasty filter matt. in when cleaning it. mine is in the basement out of heat and sun. the entire tank cost was just the cheap water pump. that was like 15bucks.

I have found that there are two good filter materials. When dealing with lots of fish I use activated carbon and zeolite. both are rated for aquarium use. The Charcoal removes toxins from the water, which reduces stress on the fish and reduces the likelyhood of disease striking up and killing your bait. The aquarium zeolite is very good at absorbing large amounts of ammonia, which occurs with large amounts of fish. This gives your ammonia eating bacteria a chance to build up to being able to deal with such large quantities of ammonia. I use a 55 gallon drum with a large filter attached to a good bubble.