[*Ci*]

I just started my own high tech tank. You're scaring me a little. Now I'm rethinking if I should have gone low tech.

BTW, I really like your dutch look before the rescape. I'm glad you found a middle ground you could be happy with.

@NanoNoodle, thanks for your kind words. I don’t regret starting with high tech. I learned a lot and enjoyed the process thoroughly. I may eventually start another tank with co2, maybe a smaller one iwagumi style and I am definitely hanging on to my equipment. Do give your high tech ideas a try - you may love it as much as so many here on TPT!

 

[*Ci*]

Here it is, two years after I started up the Osaka 260, when lo and behold, another Osaka was listed for sale right in my town! The owner called it a 70g and posted a stock photo plus some hard to see photos of the tank (covered in stuff, in storage). Needless to say, I bought the tank! It was not until I got it home that I realized it is the next size up Osaka 320 at 84.5g.
I could not believe my luck … tank and cabinet are both in good shape with the original t5ho light fixture, as well.
I painted the brushed aluminum trim to match my other tank, shored up the floor on the opposite wall and bought an Oase Biomaster Thermal 850, plus a Current Satellite Plus Pro led fixture.

I am enjoying my 260 so much that I will set up the new tank in much the same manner. Driftwood with anubias and java fern, potted swords, bulbs and crypts, and something I always wanted to try - a moss wall across the back. I’m using CaribSea Sunset gold sand so it will be a soft substrate for corydoras catfish.

Fish will be standard favourites, but bigger sizes than in my other tank, and no shrimp to worry about getting eaten. All fish will be either black or yellow, which is a theme that I originally wanted for the 260.

Possibilities are:
Black mollies
Black veil Angels
Gold Gouramis
Yellow long finned danios
Black Venezuelan cories
Gold Laser cories
Yellow plecos
Black Knight Rams

I already put a group of 6 black lyretail mollies in, along with some established media from my other filters to jumpstart the cycle. More plants are on the way and I will add fish slowly over the next few months while watching the parameters closely.

The Osaka 320:

The Osaka 260 on the opposite wall:

And last, but not least, I decided to set up my Vintage 2.5g Jewell cast iron and slate tank from the early 1900’s for a betta, with no filter, java fern, and bare root houseplants growing out the top and sucking up the excess nutrients.

Nothing like winter projects!

 

[minorhero]

Here it is, two years after I started up the Osaka 260, when lo and behold, another Osaka was listed for sale right in my town! The owner called it a 70g and posted a stock photo plus some hard to see photos of the tank (covered in stuff, in storage). Needless to say, I bought the tank! It was not until I got it home that I realized it is the next size up Osaka 360 at 84.5g.
I could not believe my luck … tank and cabinet are both in good shape with the original t5ho light fixture, as well.
I painted the brushed aluminum trim to match my other tank, shored up the floor on the opposite wall and bought an Oase Biomaster Thermal 850, plus a Current Satellite Plus Pro led fixture.

I am enjoying my 260 so much that I will set up the new tank in much the same manner. Driftwood with anubias and java fern, potted swords, bulbs and crypts, and something I always wanted to try - a moss wall across the back. I’m using CaribSea Sunset gold sand so it will be a soft substrate for corydoras catfish.

Fish will be standard favourites, but bigger sizes than in my other tank, and no shrimp to worry about getting eaten. All fish will be either black or yellow, which is a theme that I originally wanted for the 260.

Possibilities are:
Black mollies
Black veil Angels
Gold Gouramis
Yellow long finned danios
Black Venezuelan cories
Gold Laser cories
Yellow plecos
Black Knight Rams

I already put a group of 6 black lyretail mollies in, along with some established media from my other filters to jumpstart the cycle. More plants are on the way and I will add fish slowly over the next few months while watching the parameters closely.

The Osaka 360:

View attachment 1048625

The Osaka 260 on the opposite wall:

View attachment 1048626

And last, but not least, I decided to set up my Vintage 2.5g Jewell cast iron and slate tank from the early 1900’s for a betta, with no filter, java fern, and bare root houseplants growing out the top and sucking up the excess nutrients.

Nothing like winter projects!

View attachment 1048628

View attachment 1048629

You other tanks are cool but I am blown away about how cool that little 2.6 gallon tank is. I've never seen a tank like that before!

 

[*Ci*]

You other tanks are cool but I am blown away about how cool that little 2.6 gallon tank is. I've never seen a tank like that before!

Something has been nagging me, though. I took inside measurements and the antique tank is actually 4.5g. I don’t know why I always thought it was 2.5 … oh well, all the better for a betta!

 

[*Ci*]

Update on the 320:

Things were going fine - I added a few more fish and pieces of wood, my cories and plecos both spawned and the moss was filling in nicely. I decided not to do vases in this tank so I added more sand mixed with some of the fine gold/brown gravel from my other tank and planted the crypts and swords into it.

It was during this changeover that I discovered how my moss wall was trapping and killing fish! The mesh was suction cupped to the glass and I guess one of the black angels squeezed behind there during the re-planting disruption. I discovered it dead a day later. Then it happened to another for no apparent reason. When I removed a section of the wall to find it, out floated an old, fungus covered black molly! Yechhh!
Plus it was trapping a lot of debris behind it so out came the moss wall.
Since my plants are all so slow growing, I didn’t want to lose the mass that the moss was providing so I drove to all the local stores within a 2 hr radius and collected more mopani wood to tie all the moss on to. I soaked it for only a day, so there is still a yellow tint to the water (which I like!)
I collected a bunch of plants to add as well (not much selection available anywhere on Vancouver Island, but got what I could). Here’s the result so far:

 

[MatthewMeredith]

Do you still have the 260? Reason I ask is that I'm also on Vancouver Island, and I just found a "75 gallon" tank on Marketplace for $120 and jumped on it, not know what it is.... Turns out it's a Fluval Osaka 260!!! I can't believe my luck!

 

[*Ci*]

Do you still have the 260? Reason I ask is that I'm also on Vancouver Island, and I just found a "75 gallon" tank on Marketplace for $120 and jumped on it, not know what it is.... Turns out it's a Fluval Osaka 260!!! I can't believe my luck!

Hey! Was the tank in Nanaimo? If so, I looked at that one, too! The cabinet and tank trim were in rough shape but the glass and seals looked good. The curved glass corners are what really make them special.
I hope you start a thread on your build, would love to follow (put “Osaka” somewhere in the title!)

 

[MatthewMeredith]

Sure was! I didn't even bother looking at the stand lol... I'll build my own. And the trim I should be able to fix up easily enough. Very excited to get it up and running! Doing a leak test right now and it seems to be holding water fine.

 

[*Ci*]

Sure was! I didn't even bother looking at the stand lol... I'll build my own. And the trim I should be able to fix up easily enough. Very excited to get it up and running! Doing a leak test right now and it seems to be holding water fine.

The brushed aluminum trim is just a stick on feature that can be peeled off (I think it was a bit gouged in places on that tank). I tried to get my daughter in law to buy that 260, throw out the stand, peel off the trim and voilá, a gorgeous rimless tank!
Do live in Nanaimo?

 

[MatthewMeredith]

The brushed aluminum trim is just a stick on feature that can be peeled off (I think it was a bit gouged in places on that tank). I tried to get my daughter in law to buy that 260, throw out the stand, peel off the trim and voilá, a gorgeous rimless tank!
Do live in Nanaimo?

Oh fantastic, I was planning on doing exactly that!! My wife doesn't really like the trim, and it doesn't really fit with our house aesthetic. I'm out in the Yellow Point area, we just finished building our house and I have a perfect spot for this tank (I'm upgrading from a homemade 12 gallon).
Out of curiosity, do you know if this needs to sit on a self levelling mat? Like some neoprene? I can't really figure out if it's technically a "frameless" tank, but it sure seems like it.

 

[*Ci*]

It is frameless, but possibly less flexible than a standard tank since it is only 3 pieces of glass instead of 5. Both of my tanks came with the same piece of very thin foam mat, like 1/8” (or less), original from new, I’m sure. It does not seem like something that thin could help with levelling, but more of a protective cushion between tank and cabinet.
I would use something, but not sure how thick it really needs to be.
YellowPoint … nice. I have a sister-in-law out your way. I live near the Departure Bay ferry.

 

[MatthewMeredith]

It is frameless, but possibly less flexible than a standard tank since it is only 3 pieces of glass instead of 5. Both of my tanks came with the same piece of very thin foam mat, like 1/8” (or less), original from new, I’m sure. It does not seem like something that thin could help with levelling, but more of a protective cushion between tank and cabinet.
I would use something, but not sure how thick it really needs to be.
YellowPoint … nice. I have a sister-in-law out your way. I live near the Departure Bay ferry.

Cool, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Thank you!

 

[*Ci*]

I decided to rescape my original 260. Three reasons.

1) I can’t believe how much easier it is to plant into sand vs the ADA aquasoil I started out with in this tank. I have a mixture of Topfin fine gravel and CaribSea Sunset Gold in the 320 and I find that everything just stays in place on the first try. I usually had to weigh plant roots down with rocks in the aquasoil.

2) One day my husband said to me, “I forgot, why did you plant everything in pots, again?”, and I couldn’t really come up with a good answer, lol! Ease of maintenance was my main motivation, but I think that has more to do with the plant choices, rather than the fact that they were in pots. I had removed all the stem, carpet and co2 dependant plants, keeping only crypts, swords, and a lotus.

3) I just felt like it : ) I want the plants to spread and get jungle-y.

Without removing the fish, I added some richly coloured brown lava rock, collected in Arizona years ago, filled in the depth with carefully poured scoops of substrate (same gravel and sand combo as my other tank) and re-planted all my potted plants, spreading out the crypts a bit. It got a little cloudy, but cleared up within a few hours.

The Ozelot Sword really dominates the tank, but I love it and it stays. Happy with the final outcome;

I also really like the look of the mopani wood tannins in the 320, so I have gotten into the habit of adding a bit of powdered almond leaf to this tank to get a yellow tinge. I think it looks more natural, but not overly blackwater-ish. It’s probably healthy for the fish, though the small amount I add does not affect the ph at all.

 

[*Ci*]

Both Osaka tanks are doing well and filling in. I decided to add Co2 back in to both tanks, after a discussion with Karen Randall, author of “Sunken Gardens”. She advised that even a small amount of co2 on lower tech tanks is highly beneficial, and I have all the equipment sitting around anyway…
I have an extra manifold block on order for my Co2Arts regulator, to add the second Osaka to the same co2 cylinder, as well as two Dwyer flow meters, to get a more precise level dialed in.

Osaka 260:

Osaka 320:

View of my dining room, turned fish room!