I’ve been getting lots of projects done around the house this winter, finally I got to work on a fun one. I just finished my bait tank and filter. I might add an aquaponic set up for 2 stage filtration. It’s a 250 gallon stock tank and the filter barrel was free. Managed to salvage everything except about $20 in fittings.
Nice! 
Looks like you’ll have some happy bullies there Goat!
How many big bullies do you think I can keep in a 250 gallon tank with good filtration and aeration? What was the length limit again?
Per Licensed Angler:
288 under 7″
100 between 7 and 10″
My freezer tank (about 250 gals) will hold 300 (5-7″) as long as it’s not the hot part of summer…I start having problems if I try holding more than 300 for any length of time.
Keeping the temp around 50 degrees helps too.
Some of the other cat guys can get much more in depth than I. I seem to go through them rather quickly.
I can’t wait to start filling that sucker up Joe!
looks studly…….
SG, you could’ve designed meth labs. That’s exactly how I picture their decor! I like that rust with blue accent.
Really though, the filter media is more effective if it isn’t submerged. If you had the barrel up higher, etc.
It works good to get a few fish in early to cycle the tank. There’s some sort of fishless cycling where you put a tiny amount of ammonia in to start the culture but I haven’t tried that. It takes two weeks or so for the bactera to double.
There’s nothing like your own bait tank………… says the hermit.
Goat
Can you elaborate on the filter system,how its made,filter material.etc.
thanks.
I got the pump from my dad who salvaged it from some place he used to work. It moves water pretty fast, but I couldn’t find a gallons/hour rating. The black pipe and fittings were used on my pasture water line and are 1″ inside diameter. I had been using the blue filter tank for livestock feed, but I’d think any rubbermaid trash can would work. The flat sides are easier to get a good seal with a bulkhead fitting.I’m planning on using a layer of pea gravel with a layer of sand for the filter media. I discussed the flow layout with a friend who installs out door koi ponds and he seemed to think it would work fine. I used a bigger filter tank than is probably necessary to give a good margin of error if there is any loss of efficiency from the water being pumped in from the bottom. I plan on running the pump on a timer and having a bubbler on all the time.
Does the pump draw from the bottom of your large black tank? If so, I suspect your fish will position themselves in front of the opening and block all flow to your blue media tank. I speak from experience. A suggestion is to make some sort of screening tube on the inside of your tank, perforated/ported with holes to allow inflow. Velocity is increased with a single drawing location, by adding a ported pipe you diffuse the velocity at each hole, resulting in less “suctioned” bullheads.
Regardless, I like the “salvaged setup!” 
I’ll see if I can get photos of up my setup this weekend. “Its exactly the same but different.”
I have a 12″ section of PVC with holes drilled in it for the intake so the fishies don’t get sucked in. I have a few suckers and fatheads in there now to get the good bacteria going early. I had to flush the whole system several times to get all the silt from the gravel out. They all seem pretty happy so far.
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