This will not help you for the livewell on your boat however it will allow you to start your own bait tank for your home to ALWAYS have fresh baitfish before going out on the water. Have any of yall tried to start a live bait tank and failed because your fish died? If so I can very possibly help you. Not only am I an avid fisherman but I keep aquariums as a hobby. I understand how the nitrogen cycle in aquariums work so my steps and info would keep your fish from not swimming around in their very own porta potty/toilet bowl which is more than likely where your fish loss is coming from. 1st and foremost lets talk about the nitrogen cycle and how it affects your fish. All fish waste, dead fish and all uneaten food begins to put ammonia into the tank (NH3) ammonia is extremely toxic to fish and is heavier than the water so it tends to stay towards the bottom. There are colonies of bacteria that grow in the bilogical material of a filtration system within a fish tank that breaks the ammonia down into what is known as nitrites (NO2) STILL quite harmful to fish. From there a completely new set of bacteria further breaks nitrites down into nitrates (NO3) while not as toxic to fish nitrates pose their own issues such as feeding unwanted algae but that is a story for another time. So what can you do to help keep your bait fish healthy, 1st, have you ever heard of the term cycling a fish tank Cycling means that you have introduced an ammonia source to help start building healthy colonies of nitrifying bacteria that will convert ammonia-nitrite then nitrite to nitrate. Only when you begin to see the buildup of nitrates in your water will you see that your tank is almost cycled. A WELL cycled aquarium can break down 3-5 PPM of ammonia/nitrites within 8 hours and that is at full ammonia strength but a strength that your fish will never be able to accumulate at once in a correctly cycled tank. In a bait tank I would concern myself more on biological media and mechanical media than chemical media as hopefully fish will constantly be stocked and unstocked. The BEST way to cycle a tank is to get you a dedicated aquarium, container or plastic water barrel that a filter can be added to, obviously the bigger the better. Find some PURE NON surfactant clear ammonia (shake bottle if it makes suds its bad, if it bubbles like shaken water it is good) add 5 drops per 10 gallons of water daily until you begin to see nitrites on a tester kit, then drop your ammonia to 3 drops a day until your tester begins to read nitrates then continue through. The morning before adding fish to your newly cycled aquarium do a 50-75% water change using a water treatment liquid from the pet store and tap water. Water temperature has effects on how fast a tank can be cycled, I recommend cycling an tank at 80-85 degrees or until your tank can break down 2-3 PPM of pure ammonia in 8-10 hours. The best way to do that is depending on how big the setup is add enough ammonia and test it before work, then when you get home if your ammonia AND nitrites read 0 PPM you are ready to add fish. Weekly/bi weekly water changes of ONLY 15-25% of the water will be sufficient to keep the water clean and the fish healthy. An aerator in your transportable bait tank will keep the transfer of oxygen high through surface agitation, I recommend more aeration than less, NEVER go for the bare minimum (that most certainly goes for filtration also) I run 1200 GPH on my 125 I hope some of this helps and PLEASE feel free to contact me with ANY aquarium questions you may have. Here are pics of my tank as it stands now.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 02:08:50 +0000
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