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That One Guy
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There's a lot of youngsters on this forum but there's a lot of us old fossils too. Just curious if any of my fellow 60genarians remember using filter floss in box filters that was made out of fiberglass ? You ever get that stuff knifing into your tender young fingers ? I think Hartz Mountain made it.
 
All of my filters ran off air and where the corner type. I was in the 70's so we had dacron by then. Do you remember those diatomaceous earth filters, which were just horrible to start?
 
I got into the hobby in the late 1970s. Personally I hated the look of those corner box filters so I started with an underground filter but there were times I needed to set up quarantine tank and the boxes were the best way to go without carbon. I do not remember the fiberglass white fluff but I do remember the synthetic fluff. Being a crafter, I immediately realized it was the same stuff you could buy at the fabric store in many different ways. I ended up buying a stuffed pillow and opened a small hole to pull the stuffing out as need, meanwhile I would roll up the opening with a safety pin and it worked great! BTW the guy who sold me fish and supplies finally got the hint to ask me out. I was 19 and he was 20 when we were married and we are still going strong over 38 years! And no, we are nolonger in the pet industry. We needed big time jobs so we would have benefits. Oh how reality bites!
 
Corner box filters were the thing back in the 70s. I didn’t get serious till the 80s where I learned about cycling setting up marine tanks with under gravel filters, which btw worked like a champ. Eventually gave up on saltwater fish for many reasons one of them $$$. Went back to fresh water in the 90s and still going strong. incredible amount of knowledge gathered by trial and error!
 
What in tarnation are you young whippersnappers talking about? As a killie guy, I run box filters very successfully, but not with that painful fiberglass. Pillow batting works now. We've become soft, you know.

I have some high tech equipment here, and some homemade stuff my grandfather would have used. Forget the marketing - if it works, and ideally if it works at a lower cost up front and long term, do it. My 'new' LED lights save a lot on the energy bill, and my 'old' air driven system is actually greener than a bunch of power filters would be, with similar results. You can move forward by looking back, sometimes. Plants as filtration support, air systems, box and sponge filters (a wide pored sponge in a box filter works and is cheap), cultivated live food, planned energy efficient set ups - these are all ideas people long gone played with and that we can now use.

I managed to move a 120 off its stand and into a truck alone, then unload it and get it onto a new stand after my move a few weeks ago, still working alone. I know that in 5 or 10 years, if I'm still around, that ain't gonna happen again. You age and your body changes. But the ideas, and techniques we use - our technology, doesn't have to be high tech. I used cavemen leverage tricks I learned as a fishkeeping steelworker in the late 70s to move that tank, and the equipment I use to run it isn't that far off in principle from what I would have used back then either.
 
Welcome to Jurassic park
:rofl:
I’d love to know what the common fish were in the 70s because a lot of fish commonly sold now didn’t really reach the hobby till then
Was it more cold water dominated ?
 
For my 5th birthday, my sister (godmother) bought me a 5G tank, clown puke gravel, and whatever fish we could find at KMart

It had one of those corner filters, with carbon on the bottom and fiberglass floss at the top (Hartz Mountain, yes)....she cleaned the tank every Saturday, and changed the carbon/fiberglass religiously...put the fish in the bathroom sink(!) during the cleaning

I wonder why my fish never lived for very long?
 
I managed to move a 120 off its stand and into a truck alone, then unload it and get it onto a new stand after my move a few weeks ago, still working alone. I know that in 5 or 10 years, if I'm still around, that ain't gonna happen again. You age and your body changes. But the ideas, and techniques we use - our technology, doesn't have to be high tech. I used cavemen leverage tricks I learned as a fishkeeping steelworker in the late 70s to move that tank, and the equipment I use to run it isn't that far off in principle from what I would have used back then either.
How did you manage to do this alone?! I get the cavemen technics, I also used to work with metal and some heavy stuff but you still had to take it down from a stand and up or down some steps I'm sure. I'm in my 60's very healthy and fit (brag) and I've been downsizing tanks, I figured if I can't handle it on my own, I don't want it. I just went from a 55g to 40g breeder and the 40g carrying it from car, into the house and down to the basement left me sore for two days!
 
Welcome to Jurassic park
:rofl:
I’d love to know what the common fish were in the 70s because a lot of fish commonly sold now didn’t really reach the hobby till then
Was it more cold water dominated ?
When I first started the hobby in the 70's and 80's my fascination were Arowanas, they were easy to get then, about 1" to 2" could be had for about $10 or under. I eventually had to rehome these fish to someone with huge tanks and that eventually made me realize these fish were not for me. Back then I don't remember it being too much different than today other than certain fish being more available, discus being one of them (not the hybrids) bigger green swordtails available. I don't remember too many colder water fish as available, colored fish or hybrids, maybe it had to do with where I went for the fish. No chain stores that I can remember, all mom and pop.
 
When I first started the hobby in the 70's and 80's my fascination were Arowanas, they were easy to get then, about 1" to 2" could be had for about $10 or under. I eventually had to rehome these fish to someone with huge tanks and that eventually made me realize these fish were not for me. Back then I don't remember it being too much different than today other than certain fish being more available, discus being one of them (not the hybrids) bigger green swordtails available. I don't remember too many colder water fish as available, colored fish or hybrids, maybe it had to do with where I went for the fish. No chain stores that I can remember, all mom and pop.
It’s strange as the two main species of fish I keep currently was even available to buy . Colombian tetra being not available till 90s then electric blue acara 2000s
 
@itiwhetu I used to see the ad for those diatomaceous earth filters in the back of TFH. The ad really made it sound like the greatest thing ever. In my then young mind I imagined it as able to filter out every impurity imaginable. But , alas , the price was pretty steep and I knew not to even bring it up to my old man.
On the low end of the spectrum I used to have an outside filter that hung on the side and it worked entirely on air and suction. It was really tricky to make it work. Everything had to be just right. The water level in the tank was critical and the air had to be perfect and if the filter floss got even remotely clogged it stopped. I didn't bother with it for long. It was just too fickle but I sure felt like a genius when I got it to work.
And that fiberglass filter floss ? They called it glass wool and I was thrilled when Dacron finally came along.
 
Welcome to Jurassic park
:rofl:
I’d love to know what the common fish were in the 70s because a lot of fish commonly sold now didn’t really reach the hobby till then
Was it more cold water dominated ?

What fish? The exciting new thing then, like now, was an influx of new tetras.
We didn't see Mbuna yet, and the east African Cichlid craze was still in the future. But because pet shops were independent and the chains weren't in control, I'll wager that where I lived, there was a greater diversity of species offering then than there are now.
We saw more African fish in stores - lots of neat stuff. A number of to me desirable species have vanished from the everyday trade. I had fish from one of the first imports of ember tetras, celestial danios, Danio kiyathit, and a few others that are now not uncommon. I remember the excitement as a teenager when I first saw black neons (in a psychedelic black lit mall store) , and there was a gaggle of adults all abuzz standing around the tank.
There were no test tube/petrie dish fish - no electric blue, no glo, no bloody parrots or flowerhorns. Balloon mutations were a cause of pity for the afflicted fish, and not a marketing opportunity. But really, other than the frankenfish and a few livebearer fancy varieties, a store then was like what I see in a visit to a petco in the US now. The exciting to see newly found stuff never appears in chain stores.
To get the cool water tolerant era, you'd have to set the time machine back to the 50s/60s or earlier.
How did you manage to do this alone?! I get the cavemen technics, I also used to work with metal and some heavy stuff but you still had to take it down from a stand and up or down some steps I'm sure. I'm in my 60's very healthy and fit (brag) and I've been downsizing tanks, I figured if I can't handle it on my own, I don't want it. I just went from a 55g to 40g breeder and the 40g carrying it from car, into the house and down to the basement left me sore for two days!
Luck plays a part - I have very useful ape arms and wide shoulders, as well as height. You drain the tank, put the substrate away, and then if you have a large body frame, use it. My lower back is a wreck, but the upper legs and shoulders, along with a dolly, can do a lot. If I drop something on the floor, I have to be strategic about bending to get it, but lifting a tank is somehow easy...
 
Luck plays a part - I have very useful ape arms and wide shoulders, as well as height. You drain the tank, put the substrate away, and then if you have a large body frame, use it. My lower back is a wreck, but the upper legs and shoulders, along with a dolly, can do a lot. If I drop something on the floor, I have to be strategic about bending to get it, but lifting a tank is somehow easy...
I’m also tall 6’2 and long arms, I still can’t get my head around someone managing a 120g alone. You have some left over strength there old man, I would have paid to see that! God bless you.
 
On the marine side, lion fish was popular along with the bat fish (pinnatus) both of these were a beauty and super hardy. Had them for a few years.
 

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