I've been searching through the forum trying to get ideas on how to build a bait tank for shad. Almost everyone says you need a good filter system. But one of the posts had this link:

http://www.catfishing.tv/Main/tips-section/aerator1.html

The author says with this setup you don't need any filtration for keeping shad alive--just the right amount of salt in the water.

Have any of you tried this out? Does it work without a filter?

if tiny said so, it's so!

Here's the ones I make. I do my airation just like in the example you posted, but my pump is inside the filter box/piece of PVC

Home made shad tank and filter

If you already have an existing tank like I did, this is what I did.

Pretty simple setup and cheap, with the right amount of Salt and Shad Keeper my bait is healthy all day no matter how hot it gets(we normally fish 6-8 hours). Take in consideration the space between the tank and console which also helps keeping the water cool. I did switch over to a foam filter that easily pulls out and rinsed of scales in the lake.

Both of those filtered setups look pretty easy.

So the filter is mainly to get rid of scales and fish poop? I normally won't be keeping bait overnight, so I'm wondering if the no-filter system in my link would be good enough for a day's worth of fishing.

I don't have a tank yet, btw. But I plan on finding a 20-30 gallon barrel of some sort so I can keep this project as cheap as possible.

Thanks for the input.

The shad began to float in my tank within the first hour without any filtering system in it.

Man ya'll would die laughing if you saw my bait tank. It's probably 20-25 gallons. I don't measure salt, just poor some out of a box. Just plain old rock salt. Then I have an air pump/bubbler with a hose that goes to a ring of tubing like a soaker hose. Add a few drops of foam kill and go catch shad. I've been keeping them alive all day long like that for about 20 years now. Sometimes, I have even kept them overnight. They aren't the peppiest shad the next morning, but they are alive.