Live bait tanks in city water

What are some tips/tricks you guys use? I am sick of transferring water from the well at work here to my house for creek chubs. Just curious to hear ides some others use for this.

Find yourself a old smaller freezer and find a shady spot behind your garage and bury it in the ground. Plumb in a few overflow fittings and make yourself a bio filter hook it up to a small recirculating pump. Fill it with water and let it run a few days after that most of the crap they put into city water is gone. You can add some water treatment for the minnows. Even in the heat of summer it stays cool. pump out and change half the water every so often. It will take the bio filter a couple months to be fully functioning. Bolt a hasp and padlock on it so nobody messes with you bait.

I don’t use much livebait in the summer, but in the winter I always have a jug of water in the fridge next to the bait jug to let the chlorine and other junk they put in evaporate off. Every few days I drain the bait jug and replace it with the clean water.

I’m sure your setup is a bit bigger than mine but it can certainly be expanded. I don’t even use an aerator, which may help to extend the time between changes.

https://www.fishusa.com/assets/product_images//assets/product_images/954710001/Variations/500-1.jpg

This is what I used to use when I lived in town. Works like a charm. Simply fill your container with tap water, stir in the correct amount (a bottle lasts a looooong time), and add minnows & aerator.

I used this to keep 20-30 doz rainbows in a 50 gallon tote in my garage without issue.

Tim_C wrote:

Find yourself a old smaller freezer and find a shady spot behind your garage and bury it in the ground. Plumb in a few overflow fittings and make yourself a bio filter hook it up to a small recirculating pump. Fill it with water and let it run a few days after that most of the crap they put into city water is gone. You can add some water treatment for the minnows. Even in the heat of summer it stays cool. pump out and change half the water every so often. It will take the bio filter a couple months to be fully functioning. Bolt a hasp and padlock on it so nobody messes with you bait.

Tim c, Does this work for willow cats? Also what is the bio filter you speak of? Thanks. Shawn

It works for everything. Bio filter 5-7 gallon bucket with lid. Run a PVC pipe through the lid to the bottom with a 90 elbow at bottom this is your fill pipe. 2″ thick of 1 1/2 rocks at bottom then 2″ of pea Gravel fill with clean sand to 2″ from top. Plumb a fitting out the top side of bucket below the rim. this is your return pipe. Hook it up and let it run

was just researching DIY minnow tanks last night and came across this:

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/live-bait/242385-homade-minnow-tank/

has some good info in there. he mentions using a product called “minnow saver” to purify the water. this is probably a similar product to what Timmy mentioned.

Word of caution for the folks that use freezers. Maybe it doesn’t have to be said, but I will.

Make sure it’s in a safe area and kids can’t get into it especially when in the ground. Auto locks disabled.

I can’t imagine opening a bait tank and finding something in there that wasn’t meant to swim. Know what I mean?