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Post by treich on May 1, 2017 7:00:11 GMT -5
After a lot of reading about tanks on here (thanks!), I got a shiny new Xtreme 20 gallon tank from Kenny Short. It's a beauty. Now that I have it, I need to figure out what to do with it!
Seems some folks use tap water to fill the tank, with anti-chlorine treatment, and some use lake water. Are there reasons not to use lake water? Seems easier. With either, one cup of non-iodized salt per 10 gallons and a water conditioner is required, right?
For those of us who don't get to fish every day, should the tank be emptied and cleaned after every trip, or can water be left in from one weekend to the next? If the tank is left full of water I imagine it gets all moldy and mildewy inside? Any way around starting over each weekend?
Sorry for the raw beginner questions. Once I get the tank figured out, maybe I can learn to throw that dang net and get to put some bait in it.
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johnr
New Member
Posts: 1,293
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Post by johnr on May 1, 2017 7:32:43 GMT -5
I only use lake water in my tank. If the water is real warm, I'll add some ice. I once subscribed to the 1 cup per 10 gallons theory. These days I am using 5 heaping (double) handfuls of yellow bag salt in my 20 gallon tank. I'd bet it's quite a bit more than 2 cups of salt.
I used to clean my tanks after every few trips. I don't ever clean them anymore, except to loosen the scum and heavy buildup and let the filter take care of it while I'm fishing. My tank always has about 4" of leftover water in it. I've seen no problems. You ever seen where a gizzard shad spends it's time??? LOL.
Right now I am experimenting with filters. So far, I've got 5 trips on my filter stack without changing or cleaning it. Yesterday the water was crystal clear and the bait was mint.
Plenty of salt and plenty of air will work wonders for your bait.
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Yam
New Member
Posts: 585
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Post by Yam on May 1, 2017 7:36:48 GMT -5
Use lake water if it's cool.. 70 or below. If not, use well water. If neither are available, figure out how to pull deeper water from the lake. Mward posted how to make a deep water pumping system. I made one and use it religiously.
Changing your water and cleaning your tank religiously is necessary so you can remove that as a variable when trying to figure out what you're doing wrong. Once you get dialed in, it's probably not necessary.
Caring for bait is a combination of art and science. Enjoy!
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Post by smlfishing on May 1, 2017 8:12:28 GMT -5
I have always used lake water without any problems. I add more salt after reading Bentrods post saying it make the bait a little more shiny. I am not sure on the filters in the xtreme but that is the area I would spend most time to get dialed in.
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