Needing a filter?!?

[gabowman]

First off, I'm using an ice box for holding minnows, like the double door ice box you see sitting in front of 7-11 stores practically everywhere. The box is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, and around 4 feet tall complete with double doors and all. It's galvanized metal inside and is insulated (waterlogged and heavy as heck, but still insulated). All I have running in the bait tank is an airator you buy from Walmart for around $10-$12 with two air lines and two 6" stones. My tank works OK during cold months keeping minnows for several weeks with just the airator but when warmer weather comes along I start loosing minnows. I usually keep around 3-4 inches of water in the tank. I'd just guess that 6" of water would be somewhere around 55-60 gals or so.
I'm wanting to start buying minnows by the pound and need to know what I'd need in my tank to keep minnows fresher (and alive longer). I'm thinking some kind of filtration is needed and I'd probably have to build something and mount it inside the box screwed to the wall of the ice box. I'm really lost about what to get to help filter the water and anything else that I'd need and I'm open to any and all suggestions.

[crip47]

This might work for you. I know some store that has herring tanks use things like this. You’ll need a pond pump for 110 volt or a bilge pump for 12 volt. The filter container can be made from just about anything that won’t rust. 5 gal. Bucket, Tupperware. Anything like that. Drill a lot of small holes in the bottom. A big hole torts the top for overflow. A piece or foam rubber about 2 in. thick. Quilt batting on top the foam makes it a easy to clean. For minnows I don’t think the filter needs to run very long. When I get mine running I’ll run it about 15mins. a day. Any other thoughts will help me out also…..THIS WAS HARD TO DRAW WITH A MOUSE...SORRY.. Good Luck

[fishinRod]

is the ice box outside? if so is it in constant shade in the warmer months?
3-4" of water would warm up quickly. I would think you would need deeper water.

[stumpbumpers]

You should be an artist crip47...

I agree with the deeper water... you could plug it in, that would keep them COOL... LOL What crip47 said about the pillow stuffing, quilt batting or whatever, he is correct... My striper boat uses that stuff as a filter... water runs through it... easy to change... not expensive... and you can get it at your local wally world.

[willfish4food]

You could use the filter that are used in home aquariums. I had some minnows left from a fishing trip and put in our aquarium they are still living after about 6 months. Its a 29 gallon aquarium, so you might need two filters.

[fiddlefarter]

Buy an internal aquarium filter. You might have to buy 2. But really they're just minnows so 1 like this might be ok. And you should buy some test strips to monitor ph and especially ammonia. To keep ammonia in check you should perform frequent water changes. Like 20-30%, weekly. Look at it like an aquarium and it'll work well.

Here's a link to a website: Big Al's, Best prices on filters that there is. I think an internal filter would work best in this situation and they're relatively inexpensive.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...imaquaball2212

Of course a canister type filter would work best, but they're pricey. If you go with a hang on type like what they have at Walmart better get 2 because they suck

[1weezer]

If you are keeping minnows for that long, are you giving them any type of food to keep them going? If so, what kind of food do you give them? I never keep minnows long enough to worry about them going hungery, but thinking about fixing up a big tank so I can keep a couple pounds or so.

[papasage]

cool water holds more oxygen . you can cool the water with a old aircondishoner . set it on the side and put the cooling tube in the water . with a little effort they will bend down into the water .i have seen it don in a bait shop.

[ky-slabseeker]

Couldn't you hook up a small above ground pool filter to it???

[rango]

i store mine in a 55 gallon plastic barrel. i use a pond pump to pump to the areator and filter. the filter is a 5 gallon bucket with a drain hole in the bottom that drains back into the top of the barrel, which it sets on top of. the bucket is filled with lava rock with a piece of ac foam filter laying across the top. .. works great. below is a photo of the top of my bait tank. the round white thing is the old filter. thats where i have the 5 gallon bucket sittin now with the lava rock in it.