My new bait tank with biological filter

Well I just put together my new bait tank getting ready for the snow to be done and over with so we can get out fishing. 100 gallon tank with 2, 325 GPH pumps with pre-filters pumping water into a 5 gallon biological filter I made and 2 60 gallon air pumps. Made it all for about $300. Already have a few bluegill in it to get the bio filter started. Once the weather warms up I will be adding a tarp cover to shade the tank even though it is not in full sun.

Nice job! that should hold alot of bait. Keeping the water clean and well oxygenated is the key. 2 thumb’s up Oh welcome to site!!

That looks great!! Been thinking about making one of those myself also.

Nice looking and colorful too! Welcome to Ido!

As I’m watching a bobcat move snow piles out my window, your pictures are warming my heart.

Thanks guys. I am really looking forward to fishing this spring summer and fall. My girlfriend is hooked on fishing just about as bad as I am. Only problem is we are expecting 6 to 8 inches of snow tomorrow and Monday. Wish this stuff was over as were were on the lakes and river.

Is that a homemade filter with scrubby pads or is that just what they look like? Can you give us a little overview or detail on how you did it?

I don’t need a big detailed write up, just curious about the components and parts.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that is pretty fricken cool. Thanks for sharing!

OK I was ask to tell a little more about the components. Here it goes. The filter was made by me out of a square tidy cat litter container. The inlet is a a 3/4 inch bulkhead and the pvc takes the water down to the bottom of the tank but it is about an inch off the bottom. The basket keeps the filter media from clogging the inlet lines. The filter media is in fact kitchen scrubbers. 4 packs of the round ones totalling 24. Larger mesh in them will not allow them to clog easy but will still catch fish scales and such. They also provide a large surface area for bacteria to grow on for the bio filter. The next layer of filter media is again kitchen scrubber pads but much finer mesh for the smaller particles and still a huge surface area for bacteria to grow on. The outlet back into the tank is an inch and a quarter bulkhead.

Total cost of the filter to make $12.99 for the 35 lbs tidy cat litter bucket. $14 for all the filter material at the dollar store. The little mesh basket was a $1 also at the dolar store. 3/4 inch bulkhead $5.98 and the 1 1/4 bulkhead $9.98 both from tractor supply. Total for the filter was $43.95 plus a few bucks for the PVC.

The Tetra water pumps and pre-filters were from Menards and cost $54.95 each. They pump 325 GPH each for a total of 650 GPH. The tank is a 100 gallon Rubbermaid tank that cost 79.99 from tractor supply. I also put in 2 Tetra 60 gallon air pumps from Meijer’s at 19.99 each.

My next project was new mobile bait tank and it was an easy one to do. Got a 150 quart cooler from Walmart and a 500 GPH bilge pump from Basspro and hooked it up to a spray bar with PVC. Still trying to work out how I am going to do some filter material for it but I am sure I will figure something out pretty easily.

If anybody has any question please feel free to PM me. Happy to answer any questions.

Very cool!

I like the ingenuity involved with using everyday items. Thanks for joining and sharing.

Well I said I was going to figure out a filter system for my mobile bait tank. Here it is. 500 GPH pump goes up to the debris filter then into the main filter with filter media and activated carbon and zeolite and then out to the sprayer bar.

Well give me your opinions and thoughts.

Both are very nice Tom!

I’m wondering about your portable tank and using a filter though. Not trying to poo poo your work at all. Just seems like it would be easier to change the water in the portable tank then to worry about the filter clogging at the wrong time.

Fully understand your comments. But that tank is on the back of my Jeep not in a boat. I only carry a few pieces of bait at a time in a bait bucket with a bubbler down to the waters edge to keep the rest of the bait as cool as I can. That debris filter will keep all the scales and sand or anything else big that may clog the main filter out of it and the cap screws off easily to be emptied and I can do that when I go get new bait out of the tank or at least check to make sure it is OK while I am getting bait. Less than a 1 minute process to clean it out. Jeep is also hardwired with a second battery that charges while I drive to run the bait tank off of. If I was in a boat that would be a different story.

Right now it is not as big of a deal with temp but come mid summer If I was to get water from the lakes we fish it would be surface water and warmer than water at depth. I have another smaller cooler I carry in the jeep with 4 frozen plastic 2 liter water bottles and plan on throwing one in to keep the water colder. If I have been working to cool the water why pour water in that may be warmer than I already have and reverse the effect of the cooling I have been doing.

Not disagreeing with you at all just trying to make it as easy on my girlfriend and I as possible when we are fishing so we can relax and fish rather than carrying buckets of water up to the cooler on the Jeep. It is a 150 quart cooler so that is 37 gallons. Nothing you want to lug around full and then have to lug a battery to run the pump too. Even filled with only 25 gallons at 8.34 lbs per gallon that is 208 lbs of water alone.

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But that tank is on the back of my Jeep But that tank is on the back of my Jeep

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Gottcha. Makes perfect sense!

One of the guys on this sight did some testing with the “in the water” pumps on how much they heated the water over time. I don’t recall how much it went up, but it was significant. Something to watch out for.

What’s your preferred bait?

We use Bluegill, Warmouth, Chubs, Shad, Goldfish and Isreali Carp. That extra heat from the pump and the summer heat is why I carry 4 , 2 liter bottles frozen with me in another cooler to fight the heat. Just drop one in every 3 hours or so. Keeps the water nice and cold. Caught my biggest on a 6 inch Goldfish last year. 72 LBS Flathead. Her biggest was a 38 Lbs Flathead and she caught it on Strawberry Chicken.

Isreali Carp? Strawberry Chicken?

You’re speaking Greek to me! LOL!

Ahh, we call them Grass Carp.

I’m going to guess at the Strawberry Chicken. Does it have to do anything with Jello?

Yes it is chicken cut up in chunks and powdered strawberry Jello is poured over it and covered and mixed for a couple of days. About a 6 inch Isreali carp is perfect for large flatheads.

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Goldfish and Isreali Carp.

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Caught my biggest on a 6 inch Goldfish last year. 72 LBS Flathead. Her biggest was a 38 Lbs Flathead and she caught it on Strawberry Chicken.

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Cripes! Sounds like the wild West out there!

What are the regulations on using invasives for bait in OH? Can you transport them around from one body of water to another? Does somebody sell them? THis sort of blows my mind, being from MN and all.

That is not going to work. The scrubbies you have on the bottom are the correct ones. The ones on top are not. The ones on top are going to plug with fish poo and ruin your whole set-up. You need to take the top layer off and just use the bottom type. The top layer will not hold bacteria worth a crap, they are doing more harm than good for you. Not to mention you have about 4 times too many in there. You want the water to flow through and around the bio media evenly, those top ones are going to plug and cause the water to go around them. Water has to flow through the bio media for it to hold good bacteria.

The best way to do it is to load it up with the bottom type, then put a screen on top with a couple nails going through the side of your bucket to hold the screen from floating up. Don’t press the bio media down though, you want as much surface area as possible. This will keep your bio media in the water at all times and will allow water to go through all the media evenly.

Also remember you NEVER change or wash out the media. It stays in that bucket untouched forever. Never drain it.

Yes you can buy all those different things as bait at a bait shop and you can also catch them and transport them yourself.

As for the filter media my tank is outside and will completely freeze during the winter so I only need that medai to work for about 8 months a year. I will completely clean it out to close it down for the winter and restart it with fresh bacteria from my fish and turtle tank next spring. It is not like it is a pond that had to run year round.

I had a bait setup in a cooler just like yours. They work well when the water and air temps are fairly cool. Like your experience, during hot weather the heat from the pump would warm the water and kill the bait. Gallon jugs of frozen water is about the only thing you can do to keep the temps down in mid summer. Nice tank too. Don’t know much about the bacteria levels its supposed to have but thinking about building one out of an old chest freezer, like BK has. I’ve got a sump pump with a float switch and I’m going to put that into a seperate small tank, maybe 5 gallons at a lower level then the chest freezer. Then when the small tank gets full enough it will turn on the sump pump and force water through about 50′ of underground pvc sewer pipes, that will cool the water. The smaller return pipe that comes off the end of the larger underground pipe, will then be pressureized and that pipe will go into the freezer and spray water from jets, or 1/4″ holes into the water in the freezer bait tank.

Basically I’m going to use the underground soil temperature to cool the water thats being pumped into the 3″ pvc pipe. The thing that will regulate when the pump comes on is a drain valve at the bottom of the freezer. What ever I need for aireation I adjust that valve for more or less water flow coming from the bottom of the freezer tank.

Need more oxygen in the water? then turn the valve and let more water flow into the smaller pump reserviour and it will kick on more often. Sounds complicated but if I make this tank I’ll take pictures. Everythings going to be on the shady side of the house and the 3″ sewer pipe about 1 1/2 feet underground.

Call before you dig.

Its more fun to find out whats there, befor you call the electric or gas company. Everythings safe, I know where the utilities are {{{{{located}}}}}……….. I hope