How Old Is Your LONGEST Standing Tank?

[Kindredspirit]

I was trippin on the fact that I am not home during the day after 22 years of working out of my home...and I often am worried that when I get home someone will have croaked or a tank will have cracked again...does anyone ever worry about that while you are driving home?

Hence, the reason for this thread ~ how long do tanks last? Will we ever have to replace them?

My longest standing tank I suppose is two years...? I wld have to research this:o What is yours?

So ~ give it up peeps http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_9_7.gif


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_15.gif

[traco]

My longest standing is my 65 and it's over 22 years old.

[Ryan]

My oldest 55 gallon is 14 years old. I've never resealed it or anything. It's looking pretty rough though so I'll be retiring it soon. My friend's going to use it for turtles.

Ryan

[brewmaster15]

Marie,
One of my 75 Gs is about 15 years old.

-al

[AmberC]

Well I got my 125 after we got here and that was a little over a yr ago. My 55 is used and I dont know how old that one is, but I've had that one running for probably about 6 months.

Amber

Edit to add: I forgot my 20 gallon which has been running for 3.5 yrs now

[Graham]

Both my tanks are homemade and the 40 is 27 years old and the 175 is 25.

They are showing thier age but work just fine

[Kindredspirit]

My longest standing is my 65 and it's over 22 years old.


Wow! I would have never figured on the number of years tanks have been up...interesting! Okay Barb....tell me ~ what tank have you had up and running for 22 years? What is in it?





My oldest 55 gallon is 14 years old. I've never resealed it or anything. It's looking pretty rough though so I'll be retiring it soon. My friend's going to use it for turtles.

Ryan



Ryan...how is it looking rough? How does a tank look worn and used? What has been in this tank for 14 years? This is very interesting ~




Marie,
One of my 75 Gs is about 15 years old.

-al


This tank has been up and running for 15 years? 15? So they do last and last....? lol! I could only imagine all the dif species you have had in this tank Al ~ care to share?:)





Well I got my 125 after we got here and that was a little over a yr ago. My 55 is used and I dont know how old that one is, but I've had that one running for probably about 6 months.

Amber


Yup! Now you can tell we are Noobs! Here I thought I was all that going on two years!:o






Both my tanks are homemade and the 40 is 27 years old and the 175 is 25.

They are showing thier age but work just fine


Okay ~ how are they showing their age Graham? The inside seals are peeling? 27 years old?? Wow! Impressive to say the least ~ what is in there now? What has been in there? Are all your tanks homemade? Aren't you the one with the little fish room out back that exploded or caught on fire? Did you rebuild? That was very nice:)


Thanks Everyone ~ very interesting!



Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_6_204.gif

[Graham]

Okay ~ how are they showing their age Graham? The inside seals are peeling? 27 years old?? Wow! Impressive to say the least ~ what is in there now? What has been in there? Are all your tanks homemade? Aren't you the one with the little fish room out back that exploded or caught on fire? Did you rebuild? That was very nice

They both gone from fresh to salt to reefs and back to fresh. They've got lots of chips, bangs and dings;) but the worse is the number of scratches that they have. Magnets are great things but get a spec of silica or crushed coral gravel in between them and you have a scratch.

The 60 was recently retired out to the koihouse to act a QT when needed...it was replaced with a 90

Yes my building where I house the koi for the winter months brunt down last Aug. The Insurance company replaced it :D. I'll update the pics in that thread

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?p=353306&highlight=koihouse#post353306

[Kindredspirit]

Thanks Graham! Ya know I want to see the inside of your Koi House ~ I think that little fish house is the neatest thing:)


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_6_204.gif

[Ryan]

My tank is mainly scratched. The silicone seals show some wear -- they're not peeling but they do have nicks in them from all the tank scrubbing over the years. It also has lots of gashes and dents in the trim around the lids because I've dropped things on it and used a razor blade to scrape build-up off of it.

[poconogal]

My 45 g is 14 years old and has been through 2 moves with me. What I have noticed, now, is that the silicone seems to be peeling off in the corners a bit which makes me wonder some, but so far the tank is fine. I have a 30 that is even older (I bought it used when I got my 45) which I'm using now for QT, that tank too is just fine. I've never worried about a tank failure. What I worry about is a canister starting to leak or losing power for any length of time, again because of the canister filter. My 10s are 16 years old, silicone is still totally intact in them too, and they hold water just fine.

I've actually wondered, with an older tank where the silicone might be starting to fail, or peel off, if the best thing to do, preventative wise, is to re-silicone the tank, and can I just do it, or are there people out there that can do it for a fee? For small tanks I don't think it would be cost effective, it would be cheaper to buy a new 10g tank, for instance. But for larger tanks, where the cost of replacement would be quite a bit higher than paying to have the tank re-siliconed, I think it would definitely be worth it.

[traco]

Marie, I got my 65 from a friend who probably had it running for a couple of years at least (not sure how many years for her though?). It is the same as Ryan's and Graham's, lots of nicks in the silicone, chips out of the glass, scratches which really show up in pictures.:p

It's been run as salt, fresh, salt and now fresh again.

[discusIA]

I have 2 or 3 tanks which are more than 20 years old. I would not worry about them cracking while away.

[roclement]

Hey anyone still have any old metal frame tanks? With that heavy slate bottom!? That would be impressive!

My oldest tank is about 7 years old, it's a 29gl.

Rod

[CliffsDiscus]

Hey anyone still have any old metal frame tanks? With that heavy slate bottom!? That would be impressive!

My oldest tank is about 7 years old, it's a 29gl.

Rod

I still got those Metaframes, still fill with fish after 37 years.

Cliff

[Ardan]

some of mine are over 30 yrs old. I bought them new:o :o I guess I am over 30 then. LOL

Ardan

[korbi_doc]

:D:D My 90gal is 33yrs old, still looks great, was fresh, then salt, then a hiatus for awhile, then fresh again.....have couple 20s over 30yrs old....& yes, I have one of those slate/metal frame tanks, 29gal, but it needs resealing, haven't gotten to that one yet, lol..... Dottie ;)

[Kindredspirit]

I still got those Metaframes, still fill with fish after 37 years.

Cliff


Cliff ~ post a picture of one Please?


Marie ~ :balloon:

[Kindredspirit]

:D:D My 90gal is 33yrs old, still looks great, was fresh, then salt, then a hiatus for awhile, then fresh again.....have couple 20s over 30yrs old....& yes, I have one of those slate/metal frame tanks, 29gal, but it needs resealing, haven't gotten to that one yet, lol..... Dottie ;)



33years Dottie? Wow!

[Marinemom]

My oldest tank is around eleven years old but it is just a ten gallon. Some of the others are six, seven and eight years old. The newest tank is 14 months old and that one is my saltwater reef.

Diane

[Kindredspirit]

Diane you have a saltwater reef? I would love to see a pic:)


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_6_9.gif

[Marinemom]

Yes, and believe it or not that one tank is more work then my discus tank. It is rather small being only sixty gallons. I will see if I can upload a recent picture of it later today. Or well yes I think maybe I can just take a picture of it with my new camera when I get home from work.

Diane

[Marinemom]

It seems that I have misplaced the charger and the usb for it so at the moment I cannot upload any pictures. I will try to find it soon so I can post a picture or two of my saltwater reef and of course my discus tank.

Diane

[chris025]

I had a 75 gal metal frame slate bottom tank I picked up for free had it a little while and sold it and I got a acrylic tank now.

[Marinemom]

Diane you have a saltwater reef? I would love to see a pic:)


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_6_9.gif

O.K so I finally found what I need to upload some pictures from my new camera. Sorry this took so long. It was a crazy week-end at work. Well, so here goes. I hope this works. The first pictures if I do this right is of my saltwater reef and the rest of the pictures are of my discus tank. I hope you enjoy them.

Marinemom

http://i16.tinypic.com/4ct43l5.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/2a9wm0o.jpg
http://i14.tinypic.com/30w33pc.jpg
http://i4.tinypic.com/34ypa4g.jpg
http://i6.tinypic.com/48xagrk.jpg

[Kindredspirit]

They are spectacular Diane! Thank You for all the trouble:)