Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish Transport Box Setup

I was just wondering. Does anyone have any photos, ideas, plans, specifications, for a simple fish box for transport. I was thinking of one of those plastice 200 - 250 gallon horse troughs, and then attaching an oxygen bottle with a difuser on the end. Something that could be placed in the back of a big dodge pickup. There are some bigger options at Tractor Supply.

I have not seen a thread about this yet, but if anyone wants to redirect me, that would be appreciated.

Thanks

I can see this being a sticky!

Already have one with O2 feed and aerator/agitator. Only 100 gallon though. Can use either or both as far as aeration. You have to be pretty cautious with O2 though. I would not say the average person should use that in a tank form diffused because of explosion hazard.

You can't be serious!

Oxygen by itself will not burn. It's considered to be an oxidizer. It's not like Acetylene which WILL go ka-BOOM.

Now, if you're referring to the cylinder going kaBoom during an accident, that's a possibility, but so is the fuel tank on the vehicle. It's not something that I lose any sleep over.

Hey STC

I have a 100G tub purchased from Tractor Supply that works very well for me. I purchased an O2 tank from a local welding supply store and a regulator and two diffusers from Keep Alive. He's a great guy from Florida that specializes in aeration systems for bait and livewells. I don't think I needed to buy the regulator from him, but his ceramic diffusers are really high quality and create very microscopic bubbles.

Shawn Banks, a fisheries biologist who frequents the forum, made some very cool customized enclosed livewells with hinged lids he uses for fish transport. Like everything he makes, it's beautiful and functional. Bungee strapping a tarp over my tub is less than ideal or functional especially when traveling down the interstate at 75 MPH - but one has to make due with the materials available.

I actually ran O2 generator when in the Navy. We called it the bomb. We had DI water and it was zapped to breakup the H2O molecules down to H and O. I hated that machine. I was in charge of damage control, and O2 banks. Smoking lamp is out during oxygen loading. Not during nuke weapon loading, not during torpedo loading. You fill a balloon with Acetylene and O2 and ignite it makes a big boom. More O2, bigger boom, more Acetylene, more pretty orange flame and smoke. Same as welding. Best place to use O2 is in sealed bags, or doubled sealed bags. And don't get it near oil, grease or anything like that. I think Hydrogen is the worst of the worst of gases. And magnesium for the metals. You want to see an intense fire, feed it O2. Nothing like it.

I think calcium metal is even worse than magnesium for being touchy to handle when in powdered form. Both will burn under water. Both burn at about the same temperature. Dont they use magnesium rods as steel cutting rods underwater?

tj: What size diffusers did you get, and what psi do you have the regulator set at when using them?

Would you have to use oxygen? Could you use air from a simple bubble tanks like is used to fill tires? I know that air is 75% or so N.

As this post evolves somewhat, I do have the following to ask:

(1.) Temperature is important, so how would I regulate that? -- When fishing on the coast, we generally stick in 4 or 5 water bottles which have been frozen over night.


(2.) What material should the box/fish holding tank be made of? (I would be thinking something conducive to holding in cool temps.)

(3.) Non-Iodonized Salt (Where to find, and what brand?) -- There are many threads on the volume to use.

(4.) Water? Should I empty buckets of water from a lake then put in the box? Could I be okay with adding well water, letting it sit, or treating it for fish transport? Seems like there is always a little chlorine in tap water and even well water. There are some products availabile to counteract these properties. What do you guys do on water in your box, prior to transport?

--Thank you immensely

I'd use the water from whoever is supplying the fish. That eliminates the temp. and chlorine problem. You will have to acclimate the fish to the pond water before placing in the pond. It would be too hard to acclimize the fish at the pick-up point to the pond water.

If you cool the water for transport, then you will spend longer time adjusting the temp at your pond.

You can get non-iodized salt from just about any grocery store.

Material that the box is made from? Anything that will withstand the rigors of lots of water sloshing around. The rubbermaid containers are rotomolded reinforced plastic I think.

Fish hauling tanks are commercially made from aluminum or stainless.

I’ve moved a lot of fish with a simple 120 quart cooler and 12-volt live-well pump. I’ve moved as many as 30 frail and sensitive 12-inch trout to 25 very robust and self-confident 10-14 inch catfish with this setup. I’ve moved quite a few other fish with this setup also.

I replaced the drain coupling in a 120 quart cooler with a 12-volt live-well pump. The output of the pump is returned to the cooler through a hose in the top of the cooler. This year I’m going to replace the pump with a bubbler stone to get a little more oxygen into the water. But the pump setup has been pretty successful for me. The pump plugs into the cigarette lighter socket in my truck.

The only problem I’ve had was when the pump died last fall when transporting trout. When it did, I stopped at a convenience store and bought a box of salt and 20 lbs. of ice. I put a couple of handfuls of salt into the water and about five pounds of ice. Then, every ten minutes or so, I’d pull over and add a few more pounds of ice into the water. It took me an hour to get home with twenty-five rainbow and golden trout that were 10-14 inches. I didn’t have a single fatality that I was aware of.







I’ve also borrowed a box from a friend that is about 3x3x3 feet. I don’t know where it he got it, or how it was made. It is fiberglass, with a hinged top. It looks kind of like a top loading washing machine without an agitator. The non-hinged part of the top has a propeller in a hardware cloth cage that slaps the water to add oxygen to the water. I’ve hauled as many as 50 trout for more than an hour with it. I never had any fatalities.





Lastly, I've bought a lot of fish that were packaged by the hatchery. This eliminates the need for any kind of hauling system.

Here is an interesting website for Oxygen Bottles and hook-ups. We are going to be putting one of these on a Yetti Cooler for a shrimp/croaker live bait set-up on our bay boat.

I like the idea of using something like this on a transport box for fresh water transport of BG, Golden Shiners, etc.

http://www.oxyedge-chum.com/

http://www.plasticfishcontainers.com/

I bought one of these drilled a hole in the top, have large oxygen cylinder attached in back of truck, ran hose through the hole with large diffuser at end of hose. Fits between wheel wells on pickup, and used a tie down across the top. Have hauled 4-6 pound bass in the dead of summer in excess of five hours many times and have yet to lose a fish. just my 2 cents.

To be honest, I was really thinking about a box that could handle the following: transport of 30 or 40 bass all under 18", 100 or 150 large bluegill, loads of golden shiners (maybe 5,000 or under)? This isn't a whole-whole lot of fish, but not small either. I love the boxes, by the way, pretty cool website. I haven't been able to figure out the volume for each box yet, but am looking. My guess is that the larger boxes range from 200 gallons, on up...

I didn't mean a transport of all at the same time, just one of any of the above, i.e., just the golden shiners, just the BG, or just the bass....

Off topic from the original question but akin to Pond Frog's post. My state does not allow one to transport oxygen cylinders with gauges affixed. The cylinder must be capped. Your state regs may differ.

All my fish are transported in double sealed bags loaded with O2. Fortunately, I'm only a 25 minute ride from my fish supplier.


- Russ

Just a foot note, Oxygen is non-flammable. It is a catylist though. Oxygen being used in an open bed truck is no danger.

You do need special diffusers for oxygen. Common air stones are far too porous. I almost always run the aerator to eliminate CO2 in the water and oxygen.

stcIAG, You can get a product called PRIME made by SeaChem to treat any water if you like. I prefer clean well or treated tap water over pond water unless filtered very well.

You can lower the temp by using good old ice, again treat it with prime to be safe.

Salt for a small load? again Go to PetSmart and buy some Aquarium salt...it's cheap, or if you can use Stock salt available at any feed store.

Most live haul tanks are well insulated, but for short hauls, anything will work. Just avoid tanks that are dark colored.

Salt is generally only used with very fragile fish or hauls over 8 hours and densely stocked tanks.

The water Foaming can be an issue as well. Pure, Food grade liquid silicone will stop that and is safe for the fish.

You can find the oxygen diffusers and Anti-foam along with dechlorinators at Aquatic Eco Systems website.

Russ, Fish transporting is specifically exempted from the Oxygen tank regs due to it being required to support life.

I've had issues at Weight Stations on this and get shut down till they get it verified occadionally. I am not required to use Warning Placards either, regardless of the volume on board.

We have setup a good many fisherman with a point four diffuser system, Basics...O2 bottle (buy local welding shop), regulator, flow meter, hoses and microfine point four diffuser (pays for itself over time with less oxygen use). As far as safety I flipped a truck over and luckily I was not killed as all sidds and roof dented. The bottle was laying in the highway along with few thousand catfish. The valve was dented beyond repair but still intact. Lots less to worry abotu than an O2 bottle in your truck. Also not one time has anyone ever checked me or my fish after hauling fish for over 15 years.

Thanks Rainman !


- Russ