i’m going with a larger bully tank this year.
couple questions
what size pond pump to use with a 100 gallon tank
and for a filter system, what can i pump the water through to provide enough filtration? a bucket full of sand and rock? or do i need to buy an actual filter system?
I built a tank last year but never got around to using it. It has a filter that’s good for 100 gal. I might be willing to get rid of parts of it or the whole tank itself. Shoot me a pm and we can talk. Just too much to do 
you can rent a charcoal filter for like $6 or $10 a month from a soft water company and you only pay for the “change” meaning, every change is a ‘months worth”.. they are about the size of an under sea oxygen tank..
trust me 8- 10 years of owning a bait shop proves me right..
It depends what kind of pump you get. If you get a cheap one, they are overrated or rated at 0 head. Turning the tank over two or three times an hour would be pretty good I think. In a cheap pump you’ll need 800gph+ to do that with the flow loss from plumbing.
I trickle through a bucket of lava rock suspended over the tank. The goal is surface area with available O2. Charcoal does the same kind of thing but it wears out vs the bacteria culture that just keeps going. Google biofilter and you’ll find some good info.
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what size pond pump to use with a 100 gallon tank
and for a filter system, what can i pump the water through to provide enough filtration? a bucket full of sand and rock? or do i need to buy an actual filter system?
You don’t really need to run a pond pump to just keep bullheads. I keep a 100 gallon tank and just use your standard aquarium power filter. The aquarium power filter is an AquaClear 110 Power Filter. It mounts right on the side of the stock tank, is easy to reach to clean and operate and is relatively noise free. I run the power filter 24/7 from April to early October. I am still using my original power filter so this will be its 6th season this spring. I also run two airstones in the tank. I do about a 50% to 75% water change about every 5 days – I’ve got my tank rigged with sump pump so the water change is about a 15 minute operation – pump it down and throw the garden hose in the tank and fill it back up. I used to treat the water for chlorine but the last 2 years I haven’t bothered treating the water and my bullheads have been fine. You can make the tank as complicated as you want – mine is pretty simple and easy to maintain and I always have bullies on hand ready to go. Look in the IDO Articles Forum and you will see and article on “Cat Tip of the Day: Bullhead Bait Tank” it may answer some of your questions.
Steve brings up a good point. If your filter is too small you have to do a bunch of water changing to keep your bait alive. I used a hang on back filter like that for a long time. Sunfish did ok because they are tougher but I couldn’t keep chubs alive very long.
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It depends what kind of pump you get. If you get a cheap one, they are overrated or rated at 0 head. Turning the tank over two or three times an hour would be pretty good I think. In a cheap pump you’ll need 800gph+ to do that with the flow loss from plumbing.
I trickle through a bucket of lava rock suspended over the tank. The goal is surface area with available O2. Charcoal does the same kind of thing but it wears out vs the bacteria culture that just keeps going. Google biofilter and you’ll find some good info.
thanks Josh!
I could use a hang on aquarium filter, but i want to avoid having to change the water a few times every week.
well, after about 10 minutes of searching and reading, i found this site and went through the plans.
http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm
his system is based on a 2000 gallon pond, so if i break that down to a 100 gallon bait tank, i would need 3.5 gallons of filtration – ie: one 5 gallon bucket.
1 pond pump
1 5 gallon bucket
filter media (scrubber floor pads)
5 bucks in PVC
some sort of grating (not sure on price)
and about an hour of my time to make it.
anyone have any experience using one of these?
My bucket of lava rock is the same thing. You will evantually need to change some water unlike the pond. Unused nutrients which which they are growing plants with will eventually become a problem for fish.
There are a lot of variables, hot big of a tank, how large is the filter, how much bait, how big the fish are and what temp. If you stick in 100+ flathead baits for short periods, some carbon or water changes will help you and might be required. If you keep 40 or so and don’t let it go empty, the biofilter will get established and it will be lower maintenance.
Using aquarium equipment, the rule for stocking fish used to be one inch of fish per gallon of water. So we end up needing a lot larger filter or water changes because the stocking rate in a bait tank is a lot higher than that.
I think it takes two weeks for the bacteria to double so a couple weeks with a few fish and then add some more. After that, things become a lot more stable. It is handy to get that started before it’s really time to fish.
Yes… I also have experience with it.
Your attempting to create a warm water high volume bait tank, with minimal maintenance. (infrequent water changes)
In your calculations you are correct for correlating the volume of water…to filter size….but it doesn’t take into the consideration of how much bait you are keeping at certain water temps. I’m not a biologist, chemist or engineer… so I’m not able to provide a formula to calculate what you need… but I can tell you that it probably will be more that what you would initially figure.
Its a lot of work….Lot of trial and error and it takes time to get the Bio-Filter properly cycle.
Bait shops keep water cool to slow down metabolism and they turn the bait over.. hopefully fairly frequently.. Charcoal filters work to remove smell and clear the water but they don’t serve as a Bio-Filter.
Steve. D probably has one of the easier set ups to work with, but does require water changes to reduce, ammonia and Nitrites and maybe nitrates, all of which are toxic to fish.
Josh brings up more valid points… nutrients = nitrates which being in the nitrogen family is excellent for feeding plants… that being the last step in the Nitrification cycle.. its the least harmful of the 3 to fish.. but still toxic in escalating quantities.
It is a lot of work. In fact, I think I am done with it. Seems like I get things running well, then I end up with that white, fuzzy crap and it starts wiping things out.
Keep and eye on the classified. I will likely post a few things that may be of use to someone looking for this type of thing in the next week–pond pump, bucket-type filter, 55 gallon tank.
A couple things that I keep in mind that seem to help with the fuzz or infection.
When you get a batch of fresh bait, you want to do your best to keep them from getting over exposure to high levels of ammonia. It seems, if they get an over exposure, it greatly reduces the effectiveness of their immune system. Allowing for infections to set in and spread quickly as water temps rise.
You can minimize over exposure by frequent water changes for the first 72 hours, If your able and willing, you treat the water with a conditioner and add salt, during this process. The fish are giving off the highest amounts ammonia the first few days as they purge.
There are chemicals available that can help lower ammonia levels as well, I’ve tried them. I think they help, but I can’t say I’ve seen definitive results in using them.
Since I’ve started putting salt into the treated water. The infection rate has gone down so much I rarely see infection, even as water temps get close to 80.
One last thing to keep in mind also. Is try not to over handle the bait, leave it alone as much as you can.
Larry – What kind of salt are you adding and how much do you add? That seems like a fairly easy thing to do and I might give that a go when the tank water temps start getting high.
I have added salt, and I do think it helps (I just used rock salt). Also, my tank was in the basement–it was always between 65-70 degrees F.
The thing I noticed was that once crud got in the tank, it spread quickly. If the bullies stayed crud-free, I was golden. Once one got it, they went quickly. And since I am generally out of town on weekends, it was hard to keep an eye on them.
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Larry – What kind of salt are you adding and how much do you add? That seems like a fairly easy thing to do and I might give that a go when the tank water temps start getting high.
Steve… I usually use aquarium salt… I’ve used Kosher in a pinch, I like to add it any time I do any sort of water change.
I made the mistake one time of putting water softner salt in with out reading the ingredients…. It was not very fish friendly.
Rock salt if it had no additives probably works fine.
Ralph what kind were you adding?
I used aquarium salt too but just because I had it from some brackish water fish keeping. I think a strong dose for freshwater fish is a tablespoon per gallon and you don’t usually need to go that far. Something like a cup in 50 gallons would have an effect. It helps fish cope with nitirite poisoning. It’s also in a lot of fish cures for fungus and stuff.
The red nose and fast breathing is brown blood disease which is nitrite poisoning. I don’t think fish like bullheads get that too much? Bluegills are pretty resistent but minnows and chubs and especially shad are vulnerable to it. Nitrite is poisonous to fish in really tiny amounts. .0X ppm will kill fish but once it’s converted to nitrate, 100ppm won’t kill them.
I found this on-line. Interesting reading – I may give this a shot when the crud shows up in my bullhead tank this summer:
Next time your fish is sick, the remedy might not be farther away than your kitchen table. Ordinary salt is a useful remedy for the prevention and treatment of several freshwater fish diseases. It assists in the healing of injuries, promotes formation of slime coating, improves gill function, reduces the uptake of nitrite, and is effective against some parasites.
Before you go overboard using salt, be aware that some of the same benefits can be achieved by using a stress coat product. Furthermore, some plants and species fish cannot tolerate salt, so it must be used with care. In other words, salt is a double-edged sword.
When To Use Salt
•Nitrite Poisoning – The addition of one half ounce of salt per gallon of water is beneficial in the prevention of nitrite poisoning in a newly set up tank. Keep in mind that scaleless fish cannot tolerate much, if any, salt.
•Parasites – Many parasites can be effectively treated with the use of salt, particularly Costia infestations.
When Not To Use Salt
•Live plants – If you have live plants in your aquarium, avoid using salt. Plants can be damaged with a relatively low dosage of salt, which is one reason it’s best to treat sick fish in a hospital tank rather than your regular tank.
•Scaleless fish – Scaleless fish, particularly Cordydoras, are very sensitive to salt. Even a small amount could harm them. Tetras are also somewhat sensitive to salt.
Contrary to popular view, it is not advisable to add salt to your aquarium on an ongoing basis unless the fish require brackish water conditions.
Type and Quantity of Salt
Common table salt is suitable, however it should be non-iodized and contain no additives. Rock or Kosher salt are excellent choices, as they are straight sodium chloride with nothing else added.
The quantity will depend on how and what it is used for. A dip is a short exposure that is useful for the eradication of parasites. For dips a 3% solution is generally used for up to a half hour.
Baths are essentially treating the entire tank, and are useful for treatment of stress, nitrite poisoning, as well as some parasites. Salt concentrations for a bath are lower, 1% or less, and are used for up to three weeks.
Performing a Dip
When treating parasites, a dip is the method of choice. Place four teaspoons of salt in a clean bucket, then slowly add one gallon of water from the aquarium, swirling it to dissolve the salt. Once the salt is completely dissolved, place the fish in the bucket for five to thirty minutes. Observe the fish closely, and if any signs of distress are observed, return the fish to the original aquarium immediately.
Performing a Bath
A bath is ideal when treating an entire tank for prevention of nitrite poisoning, or for reduction of stress.
For stress treatment, measure out one teaspoon of salt for each gallon of water in the tank. Using a small container, dissolve the salt in a small quantity of water taken from the tank. Once it is completely dissolved, slowly add the solution to the to the tank.
For treatment and prevention of nitrite poisoning, measure out three teaspoons of salt for each gallon of water in the tank. Using a small container, dissolve the salt in a small quantity of water taken from the tank. Once it is completely dissolved, slowly add the solution to the tank.
When using bath treatments, weekly water changes of 25% should begin one week after initial treatment. Do not add additional salt once bath treatments have begun.
For those of you wondering how to measure out all those teaspoons of salt – I’m way ahead of you. 1 cup = 48 teaspoons.
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