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Posts: 9
| How do you keep your suckers alive at home? What type of tank do you use? Do you use a air pump, or a filter? |
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Posts: 705
Location: Alex or Alek? | Cooler with a air pump. Change water every couple days. Though i have access to a old cow trough this year i may try to use. |
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Posts: 103
Location: Miller time Wisconsin. | As an aside going by your subject title, is there a sucker shortage? Rollie and Hellens said they will have have them through October but never mention anything about a shortage. Please elaborate. |
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Posts: 103
Location: Miller time Wisconsin. | Whoops, I need my glasses. Sorry. |
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Location: Vilas | Ive got a stock tank from Farm & Fleet, 2-110 air bubbles aerators and I sprinkle in some Shad Keeper from bass pro, then I change water every 2-3 days.....works good for me |
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Posts: 770
| Guys, if you are keeping suckers for any amount of time build a biofilter... It is a no brainer you can build this whole system for $30 and it is 100% maintenance-free, never change the water..... An image is below the black garbage can is my bio filter, the gray tote is my sucker tank. There is a pump that pumps water from the tank into the biofilter, inside the biofilter is lots of landscape plastic. Any plastic will do. The water then overflows back into the sucker tank creating aeration. There is no need for an aerator in this system. I can keep 30 suckers alive in here all fall long and I never change the water. Inside the biofilter is the plastic, how it works is there is so much surface area for bacteria to grow on that the bacteria will eat any chemicals put out by the suckers. the only catch to this system is make sure you start with a small number of fish to build up the bacteria, if you dump 30 suckers in here on the first day it will take longer for the bacteria to grow and you will lose some fish. If anyone has any questions just let me know, I see a thread like this every year, and every year I try to educate people on a biofilter.
Edited by T3clay 9/25/2018 8:42 PM
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Posts: 770
| https://thefishsite.com/articles/how-to-start-a-biofilter |
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Posts: 9
| how much plastic do you put in the filter, do you ball it up or just strips? a picture of the plastic would be great! |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | used this for years pre-buying and holding suckers for friends and ungratefuls ... works great. change 1/3 water every 3 days, keep air on em and especially keep em dark and cool. never had a problem ... https://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Dry-Stor-Livewells/738031.ut... |
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| Something I heard but don't know if it is accurate, that you should not use city water if it is chlorinated? |
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Posts: 100
| No chlorinated water. Let the water sit out for a few days so the chlorine evaporates before adding water. |
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Posts: 770
| Plastic doesn't matter as the water can move around it, the more the better |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | T3clay - 9/25/2018 8:30 PM
Guys, if you are keeping suckers for any amount of time build a biofilter... It is a no brainer you can build this whole system for $30 and it is 100% maintenance-free, never change the water..... An image is below the black garbage can is my bio filter, the gray tote is my sucker tank. There is a pump that pumps water from the tank into the biofilter, inside the biofilter is lots of landscape plastic. Any plastic will do. The water then overflows back into the sucker tank creating aeration. There is no need for an aerator in this system. I can keep 30 suckers alive in here all fall long and I never change the water. Inside the biofilter is the plastic, how it works is there is so much surface area for bacteria to grow on that the bacteria will eat any chemicals put out by the suckers. the only catch to this system is make sure you start with a small number of fish to build up the bacteria, if you dump 30 suckers in here on the first day it will take longer for the bacteria to grow and you will lose some fish. If anyone has any questions just let me know, I see a thread like this every year, and every year I try to educate people on a biofilter.
How big of suckers are you buying? Can't see 30 12-15 inch suckers staying alive in that little tote for very long. Good idea though, I'm doing the same with my big cattle tank. |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | North of 8 - 9/28/2018 5:12 PM Something I heard but don't know if it is accurate, that you should not use city water if it is chlorinated? Get some Tetra Aqua Safe and you will not harm the fish in any way with city water. It also helps keep their slime coat nice and healthy.
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Posts: 770
| I haven't had 30 in there, but I have no doubt I could keep 30 in there, its all about clean cold water and that's what the biofilter is for, I have had probably 20 in there at a time 10-19"ers
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Posts: 745
| Are you using plastic poly and cutting it up or plastic-like solid pieces of plastic? |
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