I was in the attic at my mom's house and I ran across an old Metaframe stainless steel framed, slate bottomed aquarium that had been my dad's. It has to be at least 50 years old. It's just under 5 gallons, outside dimintions are 14x8x10. The glass is all in tact, there was a lot of gunked up silicon from re-seal attempts, lime buildup on the glass and slate as well as lots of dirty gunk all over it. Digging around some more I found a couple of Metaframe hoods, neither of which were for this tank as they were both longer. As a kid I remember burning the crap out of myself on one of those hoods. Those incandescent bulbs got that thin stainless mighty hot.
I've decided that I want to to a densely planted Nano tank with a few small fish and shrimp for my office at work. Here's what I've done so far. Unfortunately my work in progress pictures are kind of sparse. I get pretty focused when I'm working and don't think to stop and take pictures.
The tank after I had started cleaning and scraping on it a bit.
Here is the hood that is about 2 inches too long
Hmmm that logo looks vaguely familiar
I cleaned and scrubbed and scraped glass and slate and got the tank clean. Then I thought about my hood/light length delimma. I noticed that the end pieces on the hood were fastened with a rivet on each of the 3 surfaces. I used my Dremel tool to grind out the 3 rivets from one end piece to get it loose.
Then I used my Dremel to cut the hood down to length, about 2 inches shorter. I also cut off the hinges to cut away the little hinged part of the hood. It wouldn't have come out right trying to shorten that portion because the hinges and lift knob would have no longer been centeres
I then drilled a hole in each surface of the hood and each of the tabs on the end piece and screwed it together with stainless steel machine screws and lock nuts. I also drilled corresponding holes on the opposite end of the hood and added screws just too keep the look symetrical
I plan to drill the center of the top of the hood and add one of these to hold to CFL bulbs
After doing some reading about re-sealing the tank, it appeared I had 2 options. 1 use Dow Corning 795 to seal it because it will adhere to slate, whereas regular silicon has difficulty working with slate, or 2 get a piece of glass cut to fit the bottom, set in in on top of the slate and seal it to all of the glass sides. Initially I was going to use the DC 795, however I couldn't find it locally, and I was able to get a piece of glass cut and a tube of GE silicone 1 for less than it would have cost me to order the 795, and most importantly, I was able to get it without having to wait on shipping.
Post I've read about this type of restoration suggested laying down a bit of silicon on top of the slate before putting in the glass to offer a little protection to the glass
I got the false bottom in and sealed all seams on the tank. I've never sealed a tank before so it's not the neatest job ever, but once it cures I'll trim and clean it up a little.
Here's how she looks right now
I've ordered the twin light socket to put in it, once it comes in I'll get it wired up. I'll probably paint the back black. I've got and AquaClear 30 that I'll slow down with a 20 impeller to hang on the back of it, and I'm going to make a 2 liter bottle yeast CO2 reactor.
If anyone has any suggestions on plants, or any good general advice on a planted tank, I'm all ears. I'll update when there is more to show.
I've decided that I want to to a densely planted Nano tank with a few small fish and shrimp for my office at work. Here's what I've done so far. Unfortunately my work in progress pictures are kind of sparse. I get pretty focused when I'm working and don't think to stop and take pictures.
The tank after I had started cleaning and scraping on it a bit.
Here is the hood that is about 2 inches too long
Hmmm that logo looks vaguely familiar
I cleaned and scrubbed and scraped glass and slate and got the tank clean. Then I thought about my hood/light length delimma. I noticed that the end pieces on the hood were fastened with a rivet on each of the 3 surfaces. I used my Dremel tool to grind out the 3 rivets from one end piece to get it loose.
Then I used my Dremel to cut the hood down to length, about 2 inches shorter. I also cut off the hinges to cut away the little hinged part of the hood. It wouldn't have come out right trying to shorten that portion because the hinges and lift knob would have no longer been centeres
I then drilled a hole in each surface of the hood and each of the tabs on the end piece and screwed it together with stainless steel machine screws and lock nuts. I also drilled corresponding holes on the opposite end of the hood and added screws just too keep the look symetrical
I plan to drill the center of the top of the hood and add one of these to hold to CFL bulbs
After doing some reading about re-sealing the tank, it appeared I had 2 options. 1 use Dow Corning 795 to seal it because it will adhere to slate, whereas regular silicon has difficulty working with slate, or 2 get a piece of glass cut to fit the bottom, set in in on top of the slate and seal it to all of the glass sides. Initially I was going to use the DC 795, however I couldn't find it locally, and I was able to get a piece of glass cut and a tube of GE silicone 1 for less than it would have cost me to order the 795, and most importantly, I was able to get it without having to wait on shipping.
Post I've read about this type of restoration suggested laying down a bit of silicon on top of the slate before putting in the glass to offer a little protection to the glass
I got the false bottom in and sealed all seams on the tank. I've never sealed a tank before so it's not the neatest job ever, but once it cures I'll trim and clean it up a little.
Here's how she looks right now
I've ordered the twin light socket to put in it, once it comes in I'll get it wired up. I'll probably paint the back black. I've got and AquaClear 30 that I'll slow down with a 20 impeller to hang on the back of it, and I'm going to make a 2 liter bottle yeast CO2 reactor.
If anyone has any suggestions on plants, or any good general advice on a planted tank, I'm all ears. I'll update when there is more to show.
