Thread: Homemade Bait Tank

Thanks Michael. With the price of bait tanks being what they are this will save us a lot of money to buy gas with. Thanks again. I am looking forward to your instructions. Mikefish put pictures of the bait tank he built on here a while back. I like both of the designs, his and yours. It is always nice to have a choice.

Kellog

Great idea michael,

ok guys here goes going to explain what i used and how i made it. the barrel i got is a black 45 gallon and the lid is made from 3/4 inch plywood that i fiberglassed the bottom side of it so the water wouldnt soak up and rot the wood. the 2x4 is just screwed to the top of the plywood that i used to mount my filter in and run mt pipes through. the top side of wood i just painted with white exterior paint and i painted the barrel white also.

1.) Now the build. Inside the barrel in the middle i have a tsunami 500 gph bilge pump that pumps water up from middle of tank through a 3/4 pvc. also got a air stone and line zip tied to the pvc pipe for extra oxygen in summer months. i use a battery powered bubbler that runs on D batteries.



2.) once on top of the tank i got a elbow 3/4 to 3/4 to make my turn then i have a 3/4 to 1/2 adapter to adapt the 3/4 to 1/2 inch. i then have a 1/2 inch piece of pvc inside the adapted that i hook my rubber hose to. the reason for this is to allow my 3/4 rubber hose to connect the pipe to the filter. the 3/4 rubber hose fits over the 1/2 pvc very snug and doesnt leak. however i use zip ties to make sure theres no leak.



3.) The filter is a house filter that i purchased from lowes. i got 2 elbow plastic fittings screwed into each end of the filter to connect the rubber hoses to.



4.) Now the trick to get it to suck air in with the water is the very tricky part. on the pvs from filter i got a 3/4 rubber hose same way that connectes to a 1/2 pvc connecter. this adapting down from 1/2 to 3/4 is what lets the air get sucked it the pipe.



5.) So you come from filter 3/4 inch flex hose to 1/2 adapter with 1/2 pvc to a 3/4 inch T adapter and from here on out the water is free flowing. its no longer under pressure after this point because its coming from 1/2 to 3/4 so this allows it to suck air and mix it with water. when you first turn the pump on water will squirt out of the hole on top of the T adapter untill it gets running. On the CAP of the T just cp the end off and drill the smallest hole you can in the CAP.



6.) put 1 cup of non iodine salt per 5 gallon of water. so if you got 25 gallon of water you need 5 cups of salt. i buy pool salt and use it its only 5 bucks for 40 lbs. rock salt works good to but its high. also if you use city water you must remove chlorine and you must keep the water cool for better bait.












if any more questions feel free to ask. Thumbs Up

Is that pump not gonna suck your minnows to it? I have the same pump in a cooler,and mine did.I went to Walmart and bought a pool filter and put on the bottom of it.Just unscrew the red strainer off the pump and the pool filter will fit then.Works pretty good for my setup.Your deal looks great.

its 1/2 cup salt per 5 gallons of water not 1 cup but the salt wont hurt the fish.

i do not keep minnow in this tank i use it for shad 3-5" long while striper and catfishing. the pump never sucks the shad up to it because its pumping water up through the 3/4 pvc then forcing it through filter so its not pumping that hard. you dont want a bigger pump or you may have the water spinning too fast and you will wear down your bait fish and wear them out. a smaller pump just isnt enough to filter the water. i have tried 300gph and 750gph and 500gph is perfect.

Great tank, great instructions! Thanks for the share! Thumbs Up

Thanks for the great info and sharing it with others.going to build mind this weekend

How difficult is it to clean the filter and how often do you have to do it?
Mike

Take a kid outdoors!