[Tex Gal]

Once I wrote my bio for the APC staff forum I asked my mom to find some pxs of her tank. I have two from when I was 4 yrs old. The date on the back of these pxs is March 51. While it's kind of hard to really see inside very well you will recognize the stainless steel sides, funky air toys and colored foil paper on the back of the tanks. Notice the air gang valve wood hanging on the wall! There is another px that shows the entire wall of tanks. She is still looking for that one.

I remember one day a little neighbor girl came in and was looking at the tanks. The next morning when we woke up Mom found that she had turned every heater up and all the fish were dead! That was so sad. Mom remembers that she raised angel fish, danios, many live bearers, silver dolllars. She remembers having "real plants that didn't do very good."

Do you have px that go back a ways? Please add to the thread.

 

[BryceM]

Imagine what our setups will look like in 2050. We'll have perfectly clear, amazingly thin, scratch-proof, seamless polymer aquariums that we'll simply hook up to a bio-preservation module. That one little box will supply light, food, CO2, nutrients, and will carefully maintain optimal parameters on a continuous basis. LOL!!!

Or not. Actually I'm continuously impressed at the innovation and ability of "old-timers" to accomplish amazing feats of fish husbandry with the barest essentials. Our ability to keep plants is really in its infancy. It'll be fun to see where it goes!

 

[gravy9]

Hopefully everything will be in tank and a single piece of equipment that performs the lighting, filtration, heating and even automatic feeding/fertilization!

Wouldn't that be nice!

 

[Bert H]

I had a 10 gallon tank that looked just like that when I was a teenager. Yeah, I guess I'm dating myself.

 

[Paul Higashikawa]

Wow, awesome antiques! Actually, I shouldn't say that because at the very moment my fiance has the almost-exact same tank with silver trims running smoothly in Europe

But honestly, if I have to choose....I'd go with silver any time of the year over black.

 

[niko]

Funny thing just yesterday I was thinking about this same kind of tanks. In Bulgaria they appeared in the late 70's early 80's haha. You could see the spot welding in every corner. They also had a shiny light hood. Price was about 1/3 of the average monthly salary. Nice! haha...

There were also another kind of tanks that had a metal frame. The seal between the glass and the L-shaped frame was done very interesting. It used physics - even spread of the pressure created by the water partly displaced the black goo-like substance that was between the glass and the metal. This black goo had the consistency of chewing gum. It was very soft - when you touched it you'd think the water would squeeze it all out. But it never did. If there was a leak you simply pushed back with your finger and in most cases the goo somehow realigned itself or something and the leak was gone. A bigger problem was the paint. The frames of these things always rusted and had layers and layers of thick paint in different colors, haha.

--Nikolay

 

[taekwondodo]

I had a 10 gallon tank that looked just like that when I was a teenager. Yeah, I guess I'm dating myself.

Ditto. My first tank was in 1970 (or '71?). A 20L... Steel/Chrome Rim, black "caulking" (what on earth was that stuff?)... guppies, and tetras - floored with Clown Puke. I was amazed at how that female guppy kept pushing out babies - and the only plant I had/could find was anacharis.

- Jeff

 

[Dielectric]

i had some old metal frames passed down to me when i was a kid. they had slate bottoms or something. they leaked. my dad tried to re seal them a few times but never succeeded.

 

[Tex Gal]

Wish you guys would post your pxs! It would be neat to see the "days gone by..."

 

[Bert H]

Wish you guys would post your pxs! It would be neat to see the "days gone by..."

To my knowledge, none exist in my case. I don't think my folks ever cared much one way or the other, about the tank. As long as it wasn't an eyesore, it was ok.

 

[Cavan Allen]

I'm told that my uncle Charles both heated and illuminated an aquarium with an incandescent light bulb trapped inside an airlocked, submerged jar! Apparently, that was common practice at one time.

 

[Cliff Mayes]

I can remember buying a Moor for a nickel and taking it home in a white, metal bail for a handle paper container.

I remember when all glass tanks first came out and I did not trust them.

Up until a few years ago the Cory breeders would snap up the asphalt sealed metal frame tanks at the Auctions; they claimed that the solid floor gave the Cories a sense of security 'cause the breeders used bare tanks to spawn and raise Fry. Now when the metal frames come up they are looked upon as anachronisms, at best.

I cannot remember the DIY heater. In fact the Metal Frame tanks probably predated the term DIY, if not the concept.

I have been around about 60 years and have seen a lot of changes. A lot of people who should have known better always touted what they read about so things have not changed too much.

 

[critter333294]

That's awesome that your mom still has pics of her old tanks! My dad gave me this old aquarium heater he found(looks like its an 80's/90's model) lying around our house. I'll have to put a pic up. It's amazing to see how much our technology changes over the years.

 

[AquaX]

i had some old metal frames passed down to me when i was a kid. they had slate bottoms or something. they leaked. my dad tried to re seal them a few times but never succeeded.

Those may have very well been from the Victorian era.

The slate was heated from below with oil lamps.

 

[Tex Gal]

So incredible. I can't imagine an electric bulb in a jar. That sounds scary! Of course I guess that's kinda the same thing but I trust the manufacturers I guess. Keep the stories coming.

...slate heated from below with oil lamps..... amazing!

 

[Coralite]

I just found and purchased a 3 gallon metaframe aquarium last week. I was thinking about setting it up as an antique aquarium and using only equipment, fish and plants which were available and common 30 or more years ago. Any ideas/suggestions of how I should set this tank up?

 

[ombcat]

I have the metal hood, stand, old heater, thermometer
and metal slate bottom 10 gallon tank and old air pump.I am keeping this to set up in The Cause, new building in the near future.
wilma

 

[Tex Gal]

I have the metal hood, stand, old heater, thermometer
and metal slate bottom 10 gallon tank and old air pump.I am keeping this to set up in The Cause, new building in the near future.
wilma

You need a corner plastic filter to fill with carbon and filter floss. You need colored gravel and plastic plants - not the silk ones but the old thick plastic ones. You need foil colored paper like they used on flower pots in the florist shop for the back. The other thing I remember is my mom painting the back of the tanks with some kind of glass paint that would dry with a color and crystalized. She would use that and the paper. She always had some sort of air toy in there too. Sometimes they were a wheel, or a plant with air behind it.

When you get it up you will have to take a px.

 

[ombcat]

I will take a pic when we get it set up in our new facility. It will be a nice addition, especially to show the school children when they arrive to see the facility and all the aquatic creatures.
wilma

 

[wet]

Here's an old pic of my metal framed Pemco you folks may like. (Its dry now.) It originally had a fixture for two incandescent bulbs, but upgraded that to the 2x13w AH Supply kit, then drilled it for a sump (that was fun!). Found it at a thrift store for like $10 and it got me into the hobby.

Here's another one of a sweet frame from another thrift store (it was my sump!). Its all wood and was made for a 10g -- I do not have any idea what year it was made, but it was sweet. Sadly this was lifted when I was fitting it for my first paludarium.