Funky Tanks

[RovingGinger]

This showed up in our local FB market place. 30 gallon breeders with slate bottoms and steel frame. I'm not really interested... but I am curious. How old is this thing? When was the shiny steel tank siding popular? Would this've been a store thing, a breeder thing, both? 

Share your funky tanks and funky tank stories. Anyone got one of those headboard tanks? A DIY coffee table tank? Or just some crazy Craigslist posts.

[Daniel]

When I first started keeping fish in '69, this was the only kind of aquarium you could buy at my local fish store. The company was MetaFrame.

Then then slate bottoms became glass bottoms, but still had the shiny stainless steel sides.

Next came the style we know today of 5 pieces of glass siliconed together with top and bottom plastic rims. The company was All Glass. I first saw these in the early 70s. I thought 'no more old-fashioned yucky MetaFrames for me!'

Of course, now I lust after those old Stainless Steel (especially with the slate bottoms) MetaFrames.

So those tanks in the photo are probably from the 50's or 60's and way cool.

Did you buy them? Were they cheap? I can live vicariously through the details 🙂

[JerseyBundy]

Those are cool! I saw a old metal frame tank I fell in love with but will not spend the money to buy it or restore it.  But love how cool things were made back in the day. So much more quality. 

[RovingGinger]

I did not buy them, it was $250 for all pictured and I don't have the space or the ladder necessary to clean that top tank! They're not drilled at all which I thought was interesting - was that a later innovation?

Gotta say between the two I like the cast iron antique ones more from an aesthetic standpoint. Rimless is cool and all but it'd be neat to see replicas of historic tanks available.

[Daniel]

2 minutes ago, RovingGinger said:

They're not drilled at all which I thought was interesting - was that a later innovation?

Drilling was an early innovation so a metal plug could be inserted and then heated with a gas flame and thereby warm the aquarium.

But by the early to mid 1930s glass thermostatically controlled heaters pretty much like the ones we use now became widely available so people stop drilling the slate bottoms of aquariums.

But I think they (consumers) didn't trust a glass bottom. So MetaFrame kept the slate bottom. Eventually the MetaFrame tank did have glass bottoms so the slate wasn't really needed, MetaFrame was probably just catering to consumer preference.

[RovingGinger]

Just now, Daniel said:

Drilling was an early innovation so a metal plug could be inserted and then heated with a gas flame and thereby warm the aquarium.

But by the early to mid 1930s glass thermostatically controlled heaters pretty much like the ones we use now became widely available so people stop drilling the slate bottoms of aquariums.

What about drilling for water changes? I think I saw drilling for a sort of filter fairly early, but I don't know when sump systems or auto changes came into being. 

[Daniel]

Oh @RovingGinger you always push me to learn just a little more than I knew the day before. 

I just searched the 1936 Innes Book (available for download from this forum)

and I couldn't find any reference to a sump.

The only reference to drilling was drilling the frame of the aquarium to attach it to slate.

I checked the advertisements in 1930's through 1945 aquarium magazines like this 1936 issue of 'The Aquarium'

and believe or not cannister filters seem to be the go to filtration method (if you had the $8.50).

 

[RovingGinger]

I was misremembering the air pump as requiring drilling in the Innes book. It does not, it hooks on like a modern canister filter but air powered. 

Apparently, canister filters remain about the same price - $8.50 in 1936 is about $160 today. 

[RovingGinger]

On 9/21/2020 at 7:58 AM, Daniel said:

 

Did you buy them? Were they cheap? I can live vicariously through the details 🙂

Ok, I did end up buying them. I have an endler breeding project I want to tackle and they dropped the price to $200 and dropped it off. Said they got it some time ago from someone in SD who was breeding discus. They used it for bristlenosed plecos. 
 

It looks like it was originally drilled through the slate and then that was sealed? 

[Daniel]

48 minutes ago, RovingGinger said:

Ok, I did end up buying them.

I am green with jealousy 

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Daniel
And you got the stand too?

[RovingGinger]

Yes, stand too. For $200 that felt like a fair bargain for 3 30gs and a stand to hold them, was my mental justification... I could wait til a dollar per gallon sale, get some 29s and a metal shelf or DIY something to hold them all, and at that point I’m out probably nearly equal cash and more effort, for something with less “cool factor”.

They threw in 3 HOBs but I bought sponge filters from the co-op, planning to leave them substrate free and use lots of floating plants. 

Definitely made a mess rearranging the office to fit but hey! Soon all my conference call audio will just be bubbling sounds. 

[braids]

I've been watching that setup for nearly two years! Such a cool stack! Congratulations! I thought these would have been cool for a snake keeper.

About the same time I first saw those there was a 40 Gallon Long Metaframe down by Mankato. I was trying hard to get the seller to make a plan, but it never happened.

I saw a chrome tank with a Chrome stand in Mpls last year. I wanted that so so so bad. It still had the chrome light top too!

I got lucky and found a chrome tank (not sure if its a Meta or not - have not looked for the logo yet) at a garage sale this weekend for $2.00! It does hold water - at least at the bottom as it had rainwater in it. And the glass is in super shape - a few light scratches on the chrome. No noticeable dents and the seals look surprisingly good.

And then I found this vintage stand! Same era, but not as cool as the chrome one for sure!

Congratulations on buying that super sweet stack set!

Tank dimensions are about 30" by 13" by 16" I think it was. Came out to being a 27 gallon by all estimates. Its like a 20 long but 3" taller.

@Daniel I just read your post about the 1930's (?) tank you were doing prior to the tragic accident. 😔 

This tank also has a slate bottom. Is there features that would tell me the age of this? I presumed it was from the 50's/60's. I will have to look at this tank more closely when I can get some help to turn it around. It is in a storage room for safe keeping.

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by braids
Added tank dimensions.

[shkote]

I've been seeing a lot of these "retro" box tv aquariums on FB marketplace lately. They seem interesting.

[jefferz]

On 9/21/2020 at 7:58 AM, Daniel said:

When I first started keeping fish in '69, this was the only kind of aquarium you could buy at my local fish store. The company was MetaFrame.

Then then slate bottoms became glass bottoms, but still had the shiny stainless steel sides.

Next came the style we know today of 5 pieces of glass siliconed together with top and bottom plastic rims. The company was All Glass. I first saw these in the early 70s. I thought 'no more old-fashioned yucky MetaFrames for me!'

Of course, now I lust after those old Stainless Steel (especially with the slate bottoms) MetaFrames.

So those tanks in the photo are probably from the 50's or 60's and way cool.

Did you buy them? Were they cheap? I can live vicariously through the details 🙂

Do you remember the lights that would burn your fingers?  I have memories of getting burnt more than once by the light.
I still have a glass bottomed 10g MetaFrame but unfortunately it leaks.  I've tried a couple times to reseal it but I haven't had any success yet.  I picked up a 2.5g a couple years ago but unfortunately it leaks as well.