Just took some ideas and made my own minnow cooler. Now no more waiting on bait shops.
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Just took some ideas and made my own minnow cooler. Now no more waiting on bait shops.
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Looks great! That should hold plenty of live bait..:ThumbsUp
And no more throwing away lbs of minnows after a bad day of fishing, because you can't keep em alive until the next weekend!!!!!! looks good !!!!
That ought to work!
nice, now you can buy em 5-10 lbs at a time
Let me know how it works. Looking to make one myself.
I remember the Ole Minnow Free Day'z, Now he's building Condos for them. My... My... how times have changed. LOL
Shat up cp lol. Lee I have been running it for a while and it works good. Just been too busy to post on it. Wanted to share for folks to maybe learn from mine. The freezer came from a friend and was free except pickup lol. I have 2 bio sponge filters and then the external filter also has bio balls and other self sustaining stuff.
Looks good man.
Man that looks great!!!!
Can you give us detailed instructions of how you made it?
Building a shop very soon ... Gonna add this to the project .... Looks like a winner JW!!
Some details please ! I have a freezer just that size empty in my garage.....and I do hate going to the bait shop. I would like to get some wild minnows stocked up.
Dp Ca isn't talking with me so probably won't see any comments.
I used a Duvall aquarium filter to pump and filter water. It works by gravity so the freezer had to be placed on milk crates so filter is lower. I used a 3/4 or 1 inch hole saw and put fitting through the freezer. I put a couple T's on the bottom so that I could shut water off to pump and drain iff needed. Also make sure you seal the inside of the freezer up with silicone or it will leak. Put only a a dozen or so minnow in tank to start off with because it must cycle. The bacteria must build up in the filters. The bacteria helps to rid the water of ammonia and other stuff.
It will turn a milky color then back to clear. Just research new fish tanks and you will see what I mean. Also, I have 2 biosponge filters that use an aerator. This also helps filter the water and are cheap. So in essence I have 3 filter systems.
Approximately how much cost are we talking? Without the freezer
It all depends on what you want to use. I got everything on eBay.
Ok about how much for yours?
Less $200
Not bad sir
Does the freezer work? If so, you can put a johnson control temperature control on it for 60$ and keep em what ever temp you want... Just a FYI
No randy it's not working but thanks for the info
Yall welcome... It works well, i use one on a deep freezer at deer camp. We keep deer in them at a smooth 40 degrees... Saves on ice on long weekends without freezing before processing... Coolest thing i have bought in years... Lol.. No pun intended
There is also a guy on the "live bait". Forum that built the same minnow tank out of a freezer and used the control... Keeps his minnows at a desired temp and works well
The two most important things to keeping minnows a live is water temperature and clean water !!!!!
I never checked to see if I could get the freezer fixed. I haven't had a problem so far with them living. The spray head cools the water okay. It is kept in my shop though. I enjoy hearing the sounds of the water spraying. It goes good with my plastic making, crank bait painting and lead pouring. It's just like a peaceful sound of the water lol. I can cool the water by swapping out cool jug of frozen water if needed.
Thanks randy for sharing the info.
do you have an optimal range you try to keep you water temp?