# Live well conversion to bait tank--questions



## tfields (Apr 29, 2008)

I have a Fisher 1710 which has two live wells and one bait tank for a minnow bucket.  Both live wells and the bait well are aerated and will hold somewhere between 12-20 gallons of water (I think).  I do not have a bait tank for herring/shad and I don't want to take up too much precious floor space.  The live wells have square corners and that is a problem.  Question:  if I ripped down an appropriate length of 4" PVC into quarters and siliconed them into the corners, would that create a functional bait tank??  Any other ideas for solving the square corner issue?  Will I need any additional aeration/filtration?  Thanks guys!!!


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## Msteele (Apr 29, 2008)

The pvc sounds okay. The problem that you will have is the filtration. Thread fin shad would be okay for a while if you add some water softener and kept the water a little cooler. The gizzard shad will give you nasty water as they poop and pee when they get excited and will cause ammonia in the water and die in the warmer part of the year in a very short time. Not sure about the blue backs. You can ask these guys as most of them are smart on this subject.
www.seeinstripes.com           Good Luck.


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## tfields (Apr 30, 2008)

Thanks for the info... I figured that filtration would be likely my largest issue.  I believe my live wells will exchange water freely with the lake and that should take care of some of the problem especially if I have the aerater going.  I might have to look into adding a custom filter box---hmmmm.


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## Stock (Apr 30, 2008)

build a filter... there are several ways you can do it.  you will save yourself alot of time and energy if you just do it right up front.


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## Tenkiller (Apr 30, 2008)

Add rock salt to the water and they will live longer also. When you start to get foam on top of the water non dairy creamer will take it off. A cheaper but effective alternative to buying that foam-off.


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## Corey (Apr 30, 2008)

What if you got a filtration system like you use in a aquarium at home..Seems like that would work to help keep them longer.


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## tfields (Apr 30, 2008)

Corey said:


> What if you got a filtration system like you use in a aquarium at home..Seems like that would work to help keep them longer.



Actually, that is whay I am thinking of since I have had a good bit of aquarium experience.  If I can build a decent filter box (perhaps some old tupperware container as the "box") and fill it with the same mesh material/activated charcoal, it should work fairly well... in theory!  Well, I figue I will only have a few bucks in the whole system and if it works, it sure will save me a bundle!

I have heard about the salt addition before and read about it on many sites... any idea what the ratio is (i.e. cups per gallon)?  I also heard about the coffee creamer but I have never seen it work.  This won't harm the bait at all?

Thanks!!


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## Stock (Apr 30, 2008)

you are right on with tupperware and aquarium filter material and charcoal... have seen it done succesfully many times.  I actually used 1/2 inch PVC pipe which comes out of the tank and into a 2 inch piece of PVC in which i have mechanical filter, charcoal, and ammonia reducer, all from the petshop in it (just make sure you use the pipe that can be unscrewed and cleaned in this section, gizzards are nasty) i then took the 2 inch back down to a half inch, ran it through a pump, and up some tubing to the top of the tank... really works well.

One tip if you go that route... electrical conduit screws together flush and fits PVC>  So if you need to put a "spout" in the bottom of the tank to pull water from use electrical conduit opposed to PVC which you can never get to screw flush


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## Corey (Apr 30, 2008)

Also was thinking most of the aquarium's I have seen are 
square corner. How do they know that stresses them out 
more?


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## tfields (Apr 30, 2008)

The problem with shad/herring is that they move very fast and ram into the corners of the tank.  Before long, you got scales all over the place, red nosed bait, and dead bait all over the place.  Rounded corners are essential for bait tanks.  However, you can keep trout alive just fine in the live wells as long as the water is nice and cold---good winter bait for stripers!  If I can work out the filtration deal, I will take some pics and post for others if they want to give it a try.


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## Corey (Apr 30, 2008)

Wont you get one of them large round gatoraid coolers that will solve your problem right there and then put in your filtration deal.

Sorry got away from your first post.


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## brett30030 (Apr 30, 2008)

A bass boat livewell is only going to keep a few shad or herring alive. You need a minimum of 1 gal per bait, more with bigger baits. Filtration and water temps are going to be a real issue in a small livewell. I hope you can make it work, but if it was easy there would be a bunch of "livewell" to "baitwell" conversion kits on the market for all the folks who would like to live bait fish without the big tank. Good luck and keep us updated.


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## Stock (Apr 30, 2008)

*Okay well here is my version of a tank and it does the job very well*

You need to have a bait tank, because Brett30030 is right on.  There is just not enough water in your avg bass boat livewell.  The livewell on my boat is now the cooler.  

Here is what i did.  This is a 20gallon rubbermaid brute tank.  Perfect tank for the job, but is not insulated.  I upgraded to a 50 gallon and used the same concept but i am too lazy to post pictures.  This will give you the idea.  This will filter better than most anything you can buy and I know because i have used alot of tanks.  It is just high maintenance.

That is why I still today borrow my buddies tank instead of using this one and probably why i will buy a tank of my own in the future. 
1) maintenance.  the filter clogs and its a pain to clean but i installed a valve(not seen in the picture) so i can do it on the water now and it has helped but it still takes 5 minutes to clean the filter opposed to 30 seconds on a super bait tank.  Bait shop bait that has already purged is no issue but since i have been really getting into netting my own bait i am finding that i have to clean the filter 4 or 5 times a trip and that is just a pain.  
2) insulation... bring some ice in the summer...also maintenance

However for the two years i have used this concept it has worked great it just requires a little more work.  But for $100 bucks vs $500 it was worth the work.

Hope it helps.  PS i am not a professional photographer.. or spelling bee champion for that matter


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## tfields (Apr 30, 2008)

Corey said:


> Wont you get one of them large round gatoraid coolers that will solve your problem right there and then put in your filtration deal.
> 
> Sorry got away from your first post.



LOL---that is what my dad uses in his bass boat!  It works pretty good, too.  I just don't have the space for it.

I actually have two live wells in my boat.  I will measure the water capacity of each before I complete the conversion but I think I will have enough space for the amount of fishing I will be doing.  I only plan to have 20-30 baits total at any given time so I think I will be fine.  

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.  I will certainly keep updates on here as well as pics of the final product if it works.


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## Dino (Mar 22, 2012)

*Ancient Thread But any update?*



tfields said:


> Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.  I will certainly keep updates on here as well as pics of the final product if it works.



I KNOW THIS THREAD IS ANCIENT BUT... I am in the same shape as it would seem you were a couple of years back.  I am seriosly considering trying to convert my front livewell serve as my shad bait.  I would love to hear what you tried and what your final decision was.  Did you convert yours or break down and conceed that a professionally made tank was the way to go.  If you have any pictures of your conversion (assuming that worked) then please post them or email them to me.

It's not too late I am just trying to do this now...'
Thanks,
Dino


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## Terribleted (Mar 22, 2012)

I just modded my 20 gallon rectangular livewell to an almost oval.  I used High quality plexiglass sheets from Home Depot.  Glued them in the ends using one piece on each end. Cut them the right height and then using a bottle jack and 2x4's pushed the plexy into the ends with automotive panel bond applied in the center of the sheets and the ends where they contacted the sides of the tank. Siliconed all the way around so no water getting in behind them.  I placed my keep alive pump aerator so that the water circles the tank. The Herring and Shad live better than they have before.  A filtration system would make it even better.  I also am not to hot on the Keep Alive pump in the tank as I am sure it heats the water up some...I will likely fashion some piping for a circulation pump that does not sit in the water.


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