# Does a pump raise water temp in a bait tank?



## redrum (May 5, 2015)

I'm in search of a good bait tank for my boat and the price of the nice commercial bait tanks with filtration and aeration is high to me, so I'm in the process of doing my research on which ones are the best. In doing this research I've read many posts where its mentioned that the water temperature will rise with a running pump placed in the water. I assumed this was true but questioned exactly how much difference it would make, so I did some testing.

I setup two 5 gallon buckets in my garage, filled with tap water 10" from the bottom. I put a Rule 360 in one bucket and left the other one empty. Using an aquarium floating thermometer I had the water temperature measured at different intervals throughout the day. I observed up to a 9 degree (fahrenheit) difference between the two buckets with the pump bucket maxing out at 80 degrees while the other bucket measured 71 degrees.

Here is the raw data:

Sample No, Date, Time, Air Temp, Pump Status, Pump Bucket Temp, Control Bucket Temp,
1, 05/04, 21:57, 71, OFF, 66, 70,
2, 05/05, 07:38, 69, OFF, 71, 71,
3, 05/05, 08:19, 69, ON, 71, 71,
4, 05/05, 09:16, 69, ON, 72, 71,
5, 05/05, 10:25, 70, ON, 73, 71,
6, 05/05, 11:18, 70, ON, 76, 71,
7, 05/05, 12:17, 70, ON, 76, 72,
8, 05/05, 13:00, 71, ON, 80, 72,
9, 05/05, 15:16, 71, ON, 80, 71,


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## bnt5 (May 16, 2015)

Good post. It stands to reason that an electric motor will generate a small amount of heat, it will become less noticeable with a larger tank and freshwater inflow and the addition of bait or gamefish into the equation. I had a bluewater bait tank with filtration and it didnt heat up at all during the summer even with the pump running constantly.


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## LeftCoastAngler (May 28, 2015)

Yes they will.
Thats why I went with a continous flush system which also allows scum to drain out...


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