Share your tips/experiences with breaking down summer tubs

[PineSong]

It's about 8 weeks until I will have to bring in the fish from my 110g summer tub pond, and since this will be my first time doing it, I'm eager to hear how experienced summer tubbers handle the process.

What I'm picturing:

• remove all the plants and wood
• drain most of the water
• net out the fish and put them in 5g bucket for sorting in the house
• leave the tub alone for a few days so everything can settle and any fry that were missed can be seen and netted out.
• remove the pebbles, sorting for any remaining fry as I go
• maybe let the tub set another few days, check for fry again before turning it over and putting it in the shed to wait for spring.

Of course, this highly organized fantasy does not address the problem of snails, or how to overwinter the plants. I have dwarf water lettuce, water lilies, horsetail and papyrus I'd like to keep if possible. Any tips?

Another question: what's your process for the fish you bring back in? Isolate and watch for problems before adding them to indoor tanks, or do you just bring them in and put them in your tanks with fish who've been indoors all along?

 

[modified lung]

If I have to breakdown a tub, I also drain the water through a net into a bucket with a overflow hole cut into the side to catch anything living. For plants, I usually try to keep only a few specimens alive wherever there's room and let them regrow when the tub is set back up. Extra snails can be sold or given to puffer owners if you know any.

[nabokovfan87]

I am definitely not experienced in this, but I did have to do it.  Let's just say there's a reason I have 3-4 buckets on hand at any one point in time for fish stuff. 

Plants in one, rocks in one, fish in another.  I setup their destination ahead of time and then I took everything out and tried to QT it or remove dead parts of plants and such.  Fish were fine, rocks were generally fine.  the biggest issue for me was rocks and hardscape that had plants on it.  It kind of always has to have a place to go.  This is kind of where I like Dean's indoor tup setups for the sake of having things with a place to go, even for a few weeks, indoors. 

My tubs were indoors, I didn't have to worry about pests only algae.  I had planned to clean the bins when I was done, after about 4-6 months of use.... no way.  Not worth the time and effort and they were toast. Especially with the stuff I was dealing with.

My process, sorry for the rambling, was to just clean everything as best I could.  I wanted to have a place for it to go and keep everything wet.  Take it from the pond, clean it, do whatever trimming or prep need be, then move it.  When all the scape and plants were moved, then I moved the fish.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 8/14/2022 at 4:01 PM, PineSong said:

What I'm picturing:

• remove all the plants and wood
• drain most of the water
• net out the fish and put them in 5g bucket for sorting in the house
• leave the tub alone for a few days so everything can settle and any fry that were missed can be seen and netted out.
• remove the pebbles, sorting for any remaining fry as I go
• maybe let the tub set another few days, check for fry again before turning it over and putting it in the shed to wait for spring.

Good question, and list!  I might follow a modified subset of this as appropriate for my case.  It is my first summer tub as well.  Because I am only dealing with one plant (a dwarf lotus - Nelumbo) and some WCMM, my storage plan is pretty easy in my idealized world.  Pull the lotus, let things settle.  Net fish as possible.  Pump water (my fountain is made by an internal power filter with a sponge on the intake) out to drop a few inches, net more fish, repeat as necessary.  Then the lotus tuber(s) will be stored damp in a cool room in the basement, as will be true with the WCCM in their own 10 gal tank with the well seasoned filter from the summer.  If production of WCMM exceeds the capacity of the tank, then BAP, give to LFS are the plan.  I anticipate it will go about 20% as smoothly as I envision.  I look forward to hearing how it all goes for you as I expect higher success for you.

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:17 AM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

  I anticipate it will go about 20% as smoothly as I envision.  I look forward to hearing how it all goes for you as I expect higher success for you.

Ah, I appreciate your faith in me but not sure it's merited. I have three kinds of fish in there that will eventually be going into 3 of my existing tanks and probably 1-2 new grow outs due to the number of swordtail fry I see. It's going to be a process of getting them sorted, especially if any of the swordtail fry are old enough to sex.

It doesn't look like the WCMMS have made any babies at all, and the guppies are all male, so for them it'll just be a matter of getting them in a glass box and observing them for health before I put them back in their original indoor homes.

Your plan makes me realize I should throw a few sponge filters in the pond right now so when I bring fish in I will have seasoned filters for any new tanks I set up. Thanks!

[JettsPapa]

I'm paying for it now, but living in the southern edge of zone 8 does have some advantages.  I bring the guppies in when the night time temperatures start getting down into the mid 50's, and that's it.  I leave the tubs out.  The guppy grass and hornwort do just fine, along with the shrimp.

[redfish]

Is running heaters during the winter to keep the water warm a viable option depending on location?

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 8/15/2022 at 9:00 AM, redfish said:

Is running heaters during the winter to keep the water warm a viable option depending on location?

I can't recall where @PineSong is located, but here in MN, we can get down to -25C to -30C.  It'd be quite a heater.  🤪  Actually, I do keep a birdbath heated in the winter, so maybe I am just not thinking about the right approach.

[PineSong]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:00 AM, redfish said:

Is running heaters during the winter to keep the water warm a viable option depending on location?

I would not hesitate to leave goldfish out all winter here, with a heater, but it would be far too cold for my guppies. And I really don't want to have to tend to the pond in the winter when it's dark when I leave and dark when I get home. Can you tell I'm already dreading it? 😞

I'm actually a bit eager to get all the fish in where I can see them, see how my swordtail fry develop, and give my WCMMs a stern lecture for going a whole 12 months without producing even one baby!

Actually, maybe I will leave the white clouds out for a few weeks after the other fish, to see if having 110g all to themselves allows some fry production to happen!