Vintage Aquarium Equipment

[Patrick_G]

When I was a kid you weren’t a cool fish keeper until you owned one of these. 
What equipment do you remember fondly? 

[gardenman]

The Supreme Super King power filters were neat. They filtered 600 GPH and were very well made. I used one for over a decade. Someone has one for sale on eBay for $400. I think I paid $60 for mine, but that was probably 40-45 years ago.

[Trish]

Does a 1960's Croton brass gang valve fit in the category?   It's awesome!

[Patrick_G]

44 minutes ago, Trish said:

Does a 1960's Croton brass gang valve fit in the category?   It's awesome!

Perfect for an under gravel filter with that Silent Giant pump! 

[Tanked]

The chrome/stainless lights usually found on the 10 gallon size.  They also came in a full hood version, and were hot enough to burn you or at least keep your coffee warm.  They would be perfect with todays LED bulbs

[Patrick_G]

On 6/7/2021 at 5:23 PM, gardenman said:

The Supreme Super King power filters were neat. They filtered 600 GPH and were very well made. I used one for over a decade. Someone has one for sale on eBay for $400. I think I paid $60 for mine, but that was probably 40-45 years ago.

I wasn’t even aware of that one, it would have been out of my budget as a kid in the ‘80s. 

[Patrick_G]

9 hours ago, Tanked said:

The chrome/stainless lights usually found on the 10 gallon size.  They also came in a full hood version, and were hot enough to burn you or at least keep your coffee warm.  They would be perfect with todays LED bulbs

My mom had a similar one but for my first tank she splurged and bought me a fluorescent hood. 

[gardenman]

9 hours ago, Tanked said:

The chrome/stainless lights usually found on the 10 gallon size.  They also came in a full hood version, and were hot enough to burn you or at least keep your coffee warm.  They would be perfect with todays LED bulbs

I was using one with a pair of LED daylight bulbs (6500K) but the bulbs had a very short lifespan in the fixture (2-3 months.) I don't know whether it was the horizontal orientation or possibly heat buildup in the largely enclosed fixture, but the LED bulbs did not last very long at all. 

[Frank]

Dynaflo HOB filters. You could direct the outflow in whichever direction you wanted. 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Frank

[gardenman]

12 hours ago, Frank said:

Dynaflo HOB filters. You could direct the outflow in whichever direction you wanted. 

 

 

I used a Dynaflo as the mechanical filter for my first Marine tank many years ago. I used a Nektonics UG filter for the biofilter. I liked the old top-down filtration of the old HOB's as you could layer filter material and then just peel off a layer as it became soiled. You didn't even have to shut down the filter to clean it. (At least until you got to the bottom layer.) Modern HOBs are either cartridge based, or like the Aquaclears, filter from the bottom up, so you can't just peel off the soiled filter layer. The siphon tubes were a bit of a pain, but they worked.

[Tanked]

12 hours ago, gardenman said:

I was using one with a pair of LED daylight bulbs (6500K) but the bulbs had a very short lifespan in the fixture (2-3 months.) I don't know whether it was the horizontal orientation or possibly heat buildup in the largely enclosed fixture, but the LED bulbs did not last very long at all. 

I'm in month 9 with my DIY 65w. (6500k) LED  mounted horizontally  inside a 7oz. fish food can.  The pictured bulb is an ECOSMART from Home Depot, running just over 8 hours a day. It's kind of ugly, seen from this angle, but the the only expense was the bulb.

The vintage fixture would be better.

[Patrick_G]

1 hour ago, Tanked said:

I'm in month 9 with my DIY 65w. (6500k) LED  mounted horizontally  inside a 7oz. fish food can.  The pictured bulb is an ECOSMART from Home Depot, running just over 8 hours a day. It's kind of ugly, seen from this angle, but the the only expense was the bulb.

The vintage fixture would be better.

@Tanked, that’s awesome! 

[Tjackaqua]

Supreme Dynamaster Piston Pump & this great sludge like trace element stuff in a brown plastic bottle with predominantly Asian writing that I mail order purchased after seeing it advertised in a TFH mag & took a chance on trying it back in the 90’s. It would cloud the aquarium for less than 60 seconds & the water would then sparkle. I had to make a huge minimum order to receive it & never regretted it! It was the BEST stuff ever. I’m so sad I don’t remember the name/manufacturer of it. I’d add it to my tanks when doing water changes as recommended & the fish would be in breeding mode immediately. I’ve not been able to replicate or find it again once I got back into the hobby after some years of a hiatus. I’d pay big money to ever find it again. 

[johnnyxxl]

On 6/7/2021 at 4:44 PM, Patrick_G said:

When I was a kid you weren’t a cool fish keeper until you owned one of these. 
What equipment do you remember fondly? 

I had a tank with a slate bottom and chrome frame