future darter tank?

I picked up a couple more stainless framed tanks today. One is no-name plain-jane 15 gallon breeder/farm tank, the other, the real score, is a late '60s/early '70s Pemco show tank. 30 inches long x 14 inches tall x 8 inches wide, just under 15 gallons. The tank is very long and narrow. It looks perfect for a high current tank. At 14 inches tall, there is also enough depth for a deep substrate and complex rockscape. I drew up plans for a small darter tank a few months ago, put in the -huge- "to do" pile. Funny that I find a tank with nearly identical dimensions, in vintage stainless, on Craig's list only 20 minutes from my house!

Long and skinny:


Old kitty inspected:


Pemco:


I'm restoring my 100g Metaframe first, but this one is now number two.

Rick (19 tanks, and counting...)

That's a great looking tank!

Cool. What kind of darters are you thinking? Will you be doing just darters?

Types of darters- probably rainbow, redline, orangethroat. Darters that are high flow, and can be purchased... For other fish, I don't know.

I guess I should build a chiller too.

Rick

Rick, looks like another fine project. Those metal tanks are long lived. I always thought they were the "retro" of the aquarium trade.
Look forward to seeing your progress!

I've never gotten a metal frame that didn't leak. Whats your sealing technique?

You want RETRO? I saw a cool one on the WaterWolves site. Really odd looking and the stand had seahorses for legs.

Slate bottom?
I had a slate bottom metal frame 20 long which belonged to my father and had fish in it when I was kid. It survived his six kids and four moves. It came to me and I discovered the slate bottom makes a great snake tank.
I had a funky colored garter snake in it when my two year old son picked up a hammer and "fixed" the tank for good. Snake escaped in the house. Kid you not.

BTW you shouldn't need a chiller for rainbow darters [can't speak for the others]. Being in the cellar was cool enough for Ma. In Ca maybe a room with AC.

Edited by mikez, 25 February 2010 - 04:38 PM.

Oh, now I see the pics, glass bottom. Pics didn't open when I first read the post.

I've never gotten a metal frame that didn't leak. Whats your sealing technique?

Depending on the tank... I've done full "old school" restorations on a couple of small metal framed tanks. I found a recipe for the original tar goop out of an old Innes book (pg. 490, 1944 edition of 'Exotic Aquarium Fishes'). The first two paragraphs are the recipe I used. The second recipe used powdered lead, among other things...

The way leaking old stainless slate/tar tanks used to be "resealed" was to put them in the bathtub and fill them with -hot- water. This still works, sometimes, but after 40, 50 years, the tar goop is often just too dried out to soften up enough to reseal.

Simply resealing all the inner seams in a slate bottom tank with silicone isn't a great solution, as silicone doesn't stick to slate very well. It might work, it might not. I've seen some horrendous attempts at reseals. Great globs of milky silicone, often with bits of gravel or sand embedded, looking like it was applied by drunken monkeys equipped with mops. The tank I'm going to use as a darter tank has had a drunken monkey silicone reseal. Razor blades are your friend at this point.

When I rebuild a stainless tank for my personal use, I generally replace at least the front glass, after 40 years, it surely has a ton of scratches. And I use silicone rather than tar to reseal. So I also replace the slate bottom with a piece of thick plate glass. To disassemble, use a heat gun to slowly heat up the tar in the frame, and slip a putty knife between the glass and frame all the way around. It takes a while, and you can't pry, the slate and glass has to ooze loose on it's own or else it will break. Use a heat gun and paint stir stick to get as much tar out of the frame as possible. Then, can(s) of carb cleaner and brush to get the residue off. It takes a while and is stinky, tedious work.

To reassemble, I bed and seal using black silicone, which gives the tank an original look.

Once the tank is done, I take the left over original slate bottom, clean it off, round the corners a bit and sand the edges smooth. It gets set, loose, in the bottom of the tank, on top of a thin layer of closed cell foam, added protection for the glass bottom from heavy rocks. Shot of a pico with the slate laid on foam on the bottom.

You want RETRO? I saw a cool one on the WaterWolves site. Really odd looking and the stand had seahorses for legs.

I was after a very nice deco Jewel aquarium on eBay a few weeks ago but missed it. The deco tank on WaterWolves is a repop of a BIG Jewel tank. Very cool looking.

Rick

I've seen some horrendous attempts at reseals. Great globs of milky silicone, often with bits of gravel or sand embedded, looking like it was applied by drunken monkeys equipped with mops.

Hey now... I resemble that remark!


Very nice looking tank. It will be great for darters, keeping them towards the front for better viewing. I've often thought that a cool darter tank would be about that height and width, but about 6 or even 10 feet long. Then mounted on the wall at eye level.

That's a great looking tank, and I'm sure it'll be even nicer when it's all set up. Thanks a lot for posting that Innes page. I've been looking for that "tank tar" recipe for months! I was all set to try black paraffin on a slate-bottomed tank I've been meaning to reseal.

I've been looking for that "tank tar" recipe for months!

It works great for smaller tanks (>10 gallons). On larger tanks, it's more difficult to keep it hot enough when you lay glass in. Keep in mind that when Innes says "thickened linseed oil" he's not talking about "boiled linseed oil" like you find at Home Depot/Lowes/etc. Store bought boiled linseed oil has metallic drying agents added.
I thickened my raw linseed oil down around 25%, like the book says, outside, using a gas burner and junk (garage sale) pot. The process produces some nasty smoke and fumes.
Gilsonite is usually available on ebay for a reasonable price.

-a cool darter tank would be about that height and width, but about 6 or even 10 feet long.

Yep! I've always thought a tank 8 feet long, 15 inches tall, 8 inches wide, would be very cool.

Rick

I wonder is stand oil would work? It's a partially-polymerized sun-dried linseed oil used in painting. In fact, I may have a jar somewhere...this calls for experimentation.

The tank I want to fix is 20 gallons. Maybe just warming the glass beforehand will keep the sealant plastic long enough. It'll probably be a month before I can work on this, but I'll post the results when I do.

Very neat, Rick! I think that that tank will be a great darter tank! I look forward to seeing more pictures as the tank progresses.

As far as the darters go, you shouldn't need a chiller for them. I keep my darters at 78*F and have no problems.

One of the species you mentioned that you'd like to get was Rainbow Darters. I should have them in-stock in under a month. If you'd like to be notified of when I have them available, please send me an email. My address is below. Thanks!

Brian

Depending on the tank... I've done full "old school" restorations on a couple of small metal framed tanks. I found a recipe for the original tar goop out of an old Innes book (pg. 490, 1944 edition of 'Exotic Aquarium Fishes'). The first two paragraphs are the recipe I used. The second recipe used powdered lead, among other things...

The way leaking old stainless slate/tar tanks used to be "resealed" was to put them in the bathtub and fill them with -hot- water. This still works, sometimes, but after 40, 50 years, the tar goop is often just too dried out to soften up enough to reseal.

Simply resealing all the inner seams in a slate bottom tank with silicone isn't a great solution, as silicone doesn't stick to slate very well. It might work, it might not. I've seen some horrendous attempts at reseals. Great globs of milky silicone, often with bits of gravel or sand embedded, looking like it was applied by drunken monkeys equipped with mops. The tank I'm going to use as a darter tank has had a drunken monkey silicone reseal. Razor blades are your friend at this point.

When I rebuild a stainless tank for my personal use, I generally replace at least the front glass, after 40 years, it surely has a ton of scratches. And I use silicone rather than tar to reseal. So I also replace the slate bottom with a piece of thick plate glass. To disassemble, use a heat gun to slowly heat up the tar in the frame, and slip a putty knife between the glass and frame all the way around. It takes a while, and you can't pry, the slate and glass has to ooze loose on it's own or else it will break. Use a heat gun and paint stir stick to get as much tar out of the frame as possible. Then, can(s) of carb cleaner and brush to get the residue off. It takes a while and is stinky, tedious work.

To reassemble, I bed and seal using black silicone, which gives the tank an original look.

Once the tank is done, I take the left over original slate bottom, clean it off, round the corners a bit and sand the edges smooth. It gets set, loose, in the bottom of the tank, on top of a thin layer of closed cell foam, added protection for the glass bottom from heavy rocks. Shot of a pico with the slate laid on foam on the bottom.



I was after a very nice deco Jewel aquarium on eBay a few weeks ago but missed it. The deco tank on WaterWolves is a repop of a BIG Jewel tank. Very cool looking.

Rick

Thanks for posting this, I found a 30 long stainless tank with a slate bottom in a old barn. Who knows how long it was there, anyway it has a slow leak. I am going to try the hot water trick right now. I hope it works, the tank has been sitting empty in my basement for about 10 years now. I am glad I did not throw it away.