Live bait tank setup

[Jarrad stevenson]

Hoping for some advice on best way to set up live bait tanks. Have two factory corner tanks/ice buckets which has a single drain at the bottom which drains out to the duckboard.

My thoughts are to try and have a single pump that will actually fill in to both of these tanks using the existing bottom drain hole, and can then put in a new top overflow hole which will plumb in to the duckboard drains.

Questions are:
- does it seem ok to fill from the bottom like this?
- how big does the top overflow need to be? It’s a 25mm hose being used for the fill (based on my plan) so will I need say two overflow holes at the top to cater or will same size fill and drain be ok?
- how am I best to plumb in capturing the water to reduce the need to put holes in the boat? I have an easy access bilge area at the rear with the bottom of the pod being fibreglass only so I could a pick up direct in the hull, or try to plumb over the transom and hose it up over the duckboard.

Sorry a picture tells 1000 words but don’t know how to put pics up. If I can work it out I will

[stevej]

The outlet is normally double the diameter of the inlet
It’s always good to have two outlets for when a squid or other object blocks the outlet

need some sort of check valve to stop the tank draining when the pumps turn off.

filling from the bottom is always the better option as it ensures aerated cooled water isn’t just sprayed on top
and helps float any junk the bait throws up up and out of the tank

[Jarrad stevenson]

[NAGG]

If you fill from the bottom - how will you drain it ?

Chris

[Jarrad stevenson]

If you fill from the bottom - how will you drain it ?

Chris

Was thinking about that earlier when I took the photos. I was thinking about the fill being a 2nd feed on the bottom and use the current drain holes with either an open/close valve or just put a rubber bung in the bottom as a drain.

[Dignity]

If you fill from the bottom - how will you drain it ?

Chris

Stand pipe.

[Cobbo1]

Was thinking about that earlier when I took the photos. I was thinking about the fill being a 2nd feed on the bottom and use the current drain holes with either an open/close valve or just put a rubber bung in the bottom as a drain.

Find a bit of ally pipe that presses into the existing hole, cut to length at the height you want to overflow, remove pipe when you want to empty the tank

[Jarrad stevenson]

Thanks. Anyone have a suggestion or a picture of how they have sorted out the water pickup? I am thinking of doing a thru hull pickup but not sure if the best idea. Given the duckboard seems messy to try and run pipes over it and then under and down to the transom