Summer Tub Questions

[Cheryl P.]

I'm going to do my first summer tubs this year and I'm pretty excited about it!  I picked up a couple of 110g tubs that were on sale.

I plan on doing custom waterfalls in each tub. Anyone have any feedback on a good brand/type of pump to use? Also, what type of filtration (if any) do you typically use?

I have some platinum rice fish and WCMMs that I'd like to put in the tubs. Would putting them in the same tub be a good idea or should I stick to one species per tub? I'm hoping for a lot of babies and I'm not sure if predation between the two will be a big problem. I'm planning on bringing in/selling most of them in the fall but I want to leave some out over the winter to see if they make it. We live in Western PA.

Any tips for a first time summer tubber?

[JettsPapa]

I haven't kept those species outside, just guppies and shrimp, and in much smaller containers, but I will be happy to share my experience with them.

• All of mine have a big mass of either guppy grass or hornwort, so I don't have any mechanical filtration or water movement.
• As I said above, I don't have any experience with those fish, but if it was me I'd put them in separate tubs unless someone gave me a real good reason not to.
• I bring the guppies in when the night time temperatures start getting into the low 50's, but the shrimp stay out all year (southeast Texas).

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

I would go with a solar powered pump. For filtration I would just get plants. They don't have to be "pond plants" either. There are TONS of plants that will grow with their roots in water. One that springs to mind right away are cannas. They have really nice looking flowers, and if you're feeling squirrely you can eat the rhizome when you drain the tub at the end of the season. You can also use society garlic too. Nice thing about society garlic is that it's repellent to critters like raccoons....

Edited March 22 by Expectorating_Aubergine

[Cory]

I recommend using sponge filters. Most first time summer tubbers are sad at the end of the season when they didn't make any babies, cause their water pumps were eating them.

[TOtrees]

I've always and only used sponge filters, and one or more of duckweed, hornwort, water lettuce (full size not dwarf) or water hyacinth. Usually a large clump of java moss too.

I'm outside of Toronto (zone 4?), and I get my bins/tubs filled around mid-late may. I seed the tubs with HEAVY squeezings from the sponge filters in my basement tanks. I let them run with no fish for 2-4 weeks. During that time, I add fertilizer and fish food to prep the water/filter, and I usually see a green water bloom, but once it gets warm enough for the water lettuce to take off, the green water algae dies off (I've found that to keep green water going, you need to have no other plants). 

Once the tubs stabilize and the floating plants take off, I don't do water changes, but I do have to remove plants regularly. I've bred endlers, and also daisy's and youkihi rice fish. I've always had shrimps in the tubs, and there are never fewer at the end of the season than what I put in, but I think the fish always get the babies. I've been tempted to do a shrimp and no fish tub, just to see. 🙂 

I think outdoor tubs offer the highest reward:effort ratio in the hobby. Low effort to get going, very low effort to maintain, high effort to clean out at end of season 😞, but high reward overall, in terms of both having lots of baby fish to continue growing and sell, and golden moments of enjoyment through the season. 🙂 

[JettsPapa]

On 3/22/2023 at 1:11 PM, TOtrees said:

. I've always had shrimps in the tubs, and there are never fewer at the end of the season than what I put in, but I think the fish always get the babies. I've been tempted to do a shrimp and no fish tub, just to see. 🙂 

I think outdoor tubs offer the highest reward:effort ratio in the hobby. Low effort to get going, very low effort to maintain, high effort to clean out at end of season 😞, but high reward overall, in terms of both having lots of baby fish to continue growing and sell, and golden moments of enjoyment through the season. 🙂 

Try putting a container with rocks at the bottom of the tub, sized so the shrimp can get inside but the fish can't.  A layer of dead leaves helps also.  It gives hiding places, and as a bonus the shrimp will graze on them.

[Cheryl P.]

On 3/22/2023 at 1:09 PM, Cory said:

I recommend using sponge filters. Most first time summer tubbers are sad at the end of the season when they didn't make any babies, cause their water pumps were eating them.

Yeah, I am a bit worried about a pump for the waterfall sucking up fry. I was thinking of maybe building a sponge "box" around the pump sort of like a prefilter. I don't think I'll need a large pump so I'm hoping it won't be too much of a problem.

I have a really great idea for the waterfall that I want to try my hand at.

[PineSong]

Welcome to the world of summer tubbing--I enjoyed the heck out of my first year of tubbing last summer.

I had WCMMs in my 110g summer tub last year with no pump, just a sponge filter, but still got zero babies out of it. Whether they did not produce eggs/fry or they were eaten by the adults or the guppies in the tank I don't know. I did get lots of swordtail fry when I added swordtails, so it's not like a tank where no fry could survive. It's okay because I don't really need more WCMMs, but I was surprised since I'd heard so many people say they pretty much multiply automatically.

I think you should have your waterfall if you want it--the whole point of tubbing is to have fun, so make it fun for you.

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 3/22/2023 at 1:09 PM, Cory said:

I recommend using sponge filters. Most first time summer tubbers are sad at the end of the season when they didn't make any babies, cause their water pumps were eating them.

Wouldn't a pump with a prefilter sponge on the intake work? That way @Cheryl P. can have a waterfall and babies.

On 3/22/2023 at 2:11 PM, TOtrees said:

I've always and only used sponge filters, and one or more of duckweed, hornwort, water lettuce (full size not dwarf) or water hyacinth.

 

I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that "dwarf" water lettuce was the same species as regular water lettuce, but it just couldn't grow to full size in an aquarium. Time to go down a rabbit hole, I guess.

Edit: I think this is what I was thinking of:

"In the wild, the florets of the dwarf water lettuce can get as big as 10 inches wide! If the water is completely still, it may get even bigger than that!

Thankfully, things are a little different in closed aquariums! Captive growing environments typically stunt the size, stopping its growth once it reaches about four inches in diameter."

(https://www.aquariumsource.com/dwarf-water-lettuce/)

They give the Latin binomial as Pistia stratiotes, but maybe there are other species in the hobby, too.

Edited March 22 by Rube_Goldfish
Added the bit from Aquarium Source

[Cory]

Here is the presentation I did on tubs today 😉

 

 

[Cmike15]

Such a fun topic especially when it can be done in smaller containers although maintaining a proper temp and parameters would be harder. Thanks for the presentation. I'm getting some floating plants so i can grow them out some to protect my fish this summer.  

 

I'm listening to the live now. how does everyone deal with ph with all the rain?

[Levi_Aquatics]

Hey neighbor!!-western Maryland here;) I don’t have a ton of experience with summer tubs, but I had 2 a couple years ago and used a solo sponge filter in each. If you have more than one tub I’d probably go with one species in each, but if you only have one then you would probably see fewer numbers of each, but it would still yield results.