new bait storage tank

[mytoyzfishing]

Since I dont live water front and bait can sometimes be a pain or I dont want to wake up early to throw on lights I decided to make a home storage tank. Working good so far. Simple design.

[mwardncsu]

Nice job

[jon]

Thats cool.
Is that filter sand on the bottom of the tank or do you try to feed them something?

Jon

[grasscutter]

Looks good.....wait till the coons and snakes realize that's a feeding station lol

[mytoyzfishing]

jon - its some of the gravel/sand from the filter. I had an OOP's moment and havent gotten it all out yet.

grasscutter - yea i have section of deer fencing over it to keep things out of it

[BentRod]

You may also want to cover that filter if you're going for a true "bio filter." I think the sunlight is bad for it.

[mytoyzfishing]

Thanks for the reminder Bentrod. I have a piece of colored acrylic that I need to put on top of it and forgot.

[Gotcha]

True bio-filter the water from the top of filter must be spread over as much of the rocks as possible to build the algae and bacteria in the rocks as possible! With no water running over the rocks the bacteria/algae can't grow without moisture! It must get oxygen too, so the water must run over it! A simple 12"-18" pipe with holes drilled in the bottom to spread the water will work! (The water running over the rocks will also create more oxygen!)

The sun in the summer time will create a large amount of algae threw the whole tank so the whole thing will need to be covered! By this the only down side would be is you would be cleaning the filter a lot more than you would want! Like three times a day! No the algae is not bad, it actually gives them something to eat but in a tank that big will have plenty of algae with that filter style!

Don't get disappointed if the first couple tries with bait fail! It's like an aquarium and takes time to get the P.H. and the correct bacteria to keep them alive! If hard water/chlorine in water- Southern States has a chemical called "sodium thiosulfate" like two tea spoons will clear it! If on city water! Well water I think you should be fine!

As in all tanks salt is always a good thing! Keeps them bad boys slimy! Don't over do it though! That tank, five pounds max! Every so often with water change add another pound!

Get swimming pool p.H strips to check the p.H. 6.7-7.4 is the area p.H you want! Well water should be coming in at around 7.2! Key should be keeping that water changed out! 1/3 changed every few days.

Very nice tank mytoys! I'm very jealous!

[mytoyzfishing]

Keeping a setup running right is not an issue. Ive been keeping a 180 gallon reef tank inside for years not to mention the koi poinds ive built over the years.

[BentRod]

Shad are an entirely different ball game. Even alewives are nothing in comparison. You will kill a batch or five, I promise you.

If you net this many in a throw. Dump them back in the lake, they'll never live in a home tank. If I can net 8-12/throw I'm very happy and confident I can keep them alive. If they're missing any scales at all, throw them out. If you get them through 72hrs and they look great, then you'll have a tough time killing them usually. Moneymakers are a little easier to deal with.


I've had a tough time this spring. I either hit a million huge shad or very few. The million just won't live through all the stress and being beat up unless you do everything perfectly. They'll live for that days trip or even the next day just fine, but long term is a struggle. They're already stressed from the cold water which is why a lot are red. I did catch shad further up the lake Saturday that weren't red and looked tougher. I think they'd do better in a home tank.

[jon]

saw these on craigslist and thought about this thread

lynchburg.craigslist.org/for/3696036741.html

roanoke.craigslist.org/zip/3691780506.html

[mytoyzfishing]

Man that first you could keep A LOT of bait in that might be something Bentrod needs to invest in