Vintage Metaframe Restore

[hydrophyte]

I just finished getting a new tank mostly set up here in the living room. This one is a 30-gallon Metaframe-type tank that I found in the barn at my mother's place. It was in surprisingly good shape--the glass had very few scratches--but the old tar seems were obviously not going to hold water. I cleaned the interior glass surface and re-sealed the four corners and the bottom seems. The tank had the original slate (heavy!) bottom. Silicone does not adhere to slate very well, so I siliconed a piece of 1cm plate glass into the bottom so that I could get a tight seal all the way around.

I fixed up the old rusty stand that I found with the tank with a coat of spray paint and.

Here is the tank post-leak test. Everything looks good so far.

I managed to fill the tank too. I intend to plant this one mainly with plants rooted in tank planters. Here is a quick shot of the first new plant that I stuck in there, some kind of sword(??).

I intend to mainly use large, showy plants--no attempt at subtlety here! I think that these will go along with the old-fashioned look of the whole setup.

I hope to post more pictures soon.

 

[NeilW]

Awesome tank, good work on the 'modernisation' too. I'd love one of these, I think they're really stylish. How old do you think it is?

Funny how ADA have a stand very similar;
http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_product/83_index.html
Fashion must be recycled

 

[Garuf]

Does anyone know where we can get stands like that? I'm certain I'd seen clearseal doing them but can't see it anywere.
I'm sure it'll be great, though I'm not sure swords will take be being collard like that knowing how big the root footprint of a single plant can get.

 

[hydrophyte]

I did some research a while back and I remember 1953 as the year they started making Metaframes. I imagine this one to be 50s or 60s vintage.

I don't recommend a stand just like this one. This one is real flimsy, but I hope that it will hold with the reinforcement that I added. I have seen similar stands that were better constructed.

Swords grow real well in those tank planters. So do crypts. The limited root run does start to limit the grwoth of the plant after a time, but that can be beneficial for swords in a smaller tank like this one.

 

[hydrophyte]

I got the tank set up with lighting too. For now I am just using a single 24-watter HO T5. This ought to be good enough for a while so long as I stay with crypts and certain swords. It was easy enough to hang this light up anyway.

I might consider upgrading to this hydroponics T5.

http://www.paradigmgardens.com/hydroponicstore/store/product.php?productid=2204&cat=84&page=2

That one might look pretty cool with this tank, and it is about the right amount of light.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's a quick update. I added some more plants. I think that there are seven different kinds of swordplant. I need to figure out some kind of visual theme. I might consider a taller grassy plant (maybe a val?) for the background, and paring down to just two or three different echinodorus. I do like the looks of the swords in this shape.

 

[nry]

Very nice, I had one of these many many years ago, not seen on for decades!

 

[hydrophyte]

Yeah I was pretty tickled when I found this tank. I have two more to fix up. This one was the easiest because the glass was still in good shape. The other ones have badly scratched glass, so I will need to replace at least one panel for each.