Buy some chlorine remover.

 

Let it sit for a little bit longer than just overnight, or get some water from a buddy with an untreated well. But there are always some fish that you hear of surviving chlorinated water.

 

These guys hit the nail on the head! You've got to lower the chlorine.

I've got a 150 gallon in my house and have had relatively few problems over the years. The problems I had were in the beginning & all related to water quality. Talk to the people at your local supply store - they usually know what they're talking about!

 

Overnight will be fine as long as you have active filtration that is circulating the water at least 3 times per hour (5 is better especially if housing goldfish) and have a heater that is at least 3 watts per gallon (5 is recomended). The heater should be not be turned on during its first 15 minutes in the tank and you should use 2 heaters for tanks that are 4ft long to maintain a balance temperature (no heater is necessary for coldwater fish like goldfish). Activated carbon will remove the chlorine, plus it evaporated quickly. This does mean that you don't need chlorine remover, you just don't need it to remove chlorine from water that has no fish in it yet. As long as the filter has been running for a few hours the chlorine will be gone and the tank should just sit long enough to get to the set temperature.

The problems people have with new aquariums are do to not cycling it properly (putting to many fish in to quickly). I always recomend zebra danios (they are hard to kill) for starting the cycle of a new tank, but with a larger tank start with about 10 inches of fish and wait at least two weeks before even thinking about adding anything else. The first month and sometimes two are where the bacteria builds up to a suffient level to support the fish waste, and that is why you can only add a limit number of fish intially.

One last thing you don't need air pumps unless you are using them to power an undergravel filter (on larger tanks you should use powerheads for this type filtration) or are using it for decoration. If you something breaking the surface of the water, like a power filter, then there will be know problems with oxygen.

I have a 75 the has been setup for 6 years and a 25 that has been setup for 5 years. I have setup many tanks for friends and others that I work with (In pet retail) over the past 8 years.

 

Fill it with room temp water. Make sure you have a charcoal filter made for 55 gal cycles. (Wal-Mart $20). Cycle it for 24 hours. The key is to get a slime coat to build up in the water.
As you are setting up the tank, I would suggest 2" of gravel and to help accelerate the slime coat base, add an Anacharis (sp) plant and a couple of small corey cats and a algae eater. (perclaustimus (sp) preferred). Add the plant after 24 hours and then the perclaustimus and coreys after 48.

It would also help you to get some water from an established tank and add to your tank.

I know it seems kind of a lot for bait fish. If it is setup this way, the tank won't stink, will stay healthy and clear, will essentially clean itself, and the fish will grow like you wouldn't believe (depending on how long they are kept).

JC

 

Do not put any fish in your tank for the first three days. TimJC has it right. you'll need to get the (good) bacterial process working and balanced with the bad bacteria first. Add the proper amount of water and start your filters (charcoal) and thermostat and let it run for 3-4 days to stabilize. Then add about a half dozen feeder gold fish to get the good bacteria to woking. The bad bacteria will be filtered out with the charcoal filter. If at all possible get about a half cup of gravel from an established tank and put it in the filter to speed up the process. You will be ready to add fish permanately after about 2 weeks without worry of a high mortality rate.

PS...you can always use the feeder gold fish as bait

 

Some of you guys are putting way too much thought into this. He wants to keep bait alive, not breed rare African cichlids. get a tank, fill it up, remove the chlorine, and put the fish in. every couple of days, empty and refill the water (don't forget to treat the water for chlorine). Unless you are filling up the tank with more bait than water, you don't really need gravel, filters, plants and the like. I can keep a couple of dozen goldfish, bluegill, and chubs alive in a 20 or so gallon stainless steel tank. I usuall have live bait at my house from april through early october.

 

Shuvlhed1, you're right...I certainly misinterpreted the question. The actual question was ambiguous...the topic itself clarifies the question though.