After several years of living into condos and apartments, last month I moved into a house suitable for an aquarium. It has been over ten years since I got out of the hobby due to a heater failure, and I was so excited to get back in the hobby with a beautiful show tank. This time I wasn't going to cut corners- a low-maintenance, high-redundancy setup with quality equipment. The Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 was seemed to fit those goals- how wrong I was....
The kit arrived in early December. Installing this aquarium was a major undertaking- most of all due to the significant weights we are dealing with. The skid weighs ~1200lbs, according to the shipping manifest. The contents seemed to have a rough ride in shipping (the plumbing parts were loose and the aquarium seemed to have shifted a bit) but a thorough inspection of all the visible glass didn't turn anything up.
Wanting to do things properly, and considering the weights involved (the tank weighs 350lbs), I wanted it professionally moved into place. This is complicated further by the fact that part of the stand is shipped underneath the aquarium, so the movers needed to come twice. Unfortunately, due to an error by the shipper the tank arrived a day late, so I had to reschedule both appointments, slowing the process significantly. Nonetheless I finally got the tank in place the week before Christmas:
Unfortunately, we had run up against the Christmas travel season, and I was away for the following ten days. When I returned, it was time to work on some structural upgrades to make sure the tank was well supported- I decided to add a jack post under each joist supporting the tank on a concrete slab (the sump will reside in the basement as well, and a significant amount of plumbing work was required). Additionally, I ran two dedicated circuits for the tank at this time.
Nonetheless, last weekend, I was finally ready to start hooking the plumbing up to the tank. I was so excited! Until, it is, I saw this:
Can't see it? That's because it is VERY difficult to see. What about from above?
Nope, completely obscured by the plastic cover plate. That's why I never noticed it either, until I had my head fully under the stand, with extra lighting, about to test fit the plumbing:
Yes, hidden up behind the stand was a crack between one of the bulkheads and the back glass. The silicon is 'loose' in that area- there is no way it is going to hold water.
Of course, coming from a 'quality' manufacturer like Red Sea, I thought the only issue was the time it was going to take to get a new tank. While I identified the issue on Dec 29th, with my LFS being closed, it wasn't until January 2 that I was able to get in contact to understand the warranty process. I submitted photos and information on Wednesday.
By Friday late morning, I hadn't heard anything, so I called. I was told verbally that Red Sea was not going to honour the warranty on the tank, because the damage was not identified during shipping. Of course, this is absurd for this issue since it was only noticeable from underneath the tank, with the stand assembled, and with auxiliary lighting, and was assured I would get a final response from Red Sea by the end of the day. And so it came, at 5:02pm on Friday (after Red Sea had stopped picking up its phones):
Of course, since Red Sea took over 48 hours to provide its response and did so after 5PM, the distributor was closed and I won't be able to find out exactly what this "discounted replacement" is going to cost me until Monday. Freight alone, I'm sure, will be prohibitive. Talk about a terrible way to spend the weekend.
I am absolutely floored that Red Sea is not honouring its warranty, of even the basic principles of customer service. I have never, ever, seen such terrible customer experience, and feel that Red Sea is completely wrong for treating me this way. Installing this aquarium is a massive undertaking, yet somehow they expected me to have everything fully assembled within 24 hours of delivery. And I guess, if this crack were to have shown up later on, there wouldn't be a warranty either...
I will update this thread when I receive the quote to replace this defective tank. In the mean time I am beside myself, and really questioning whether it is worth it to keep going.
Can anyone think of a way to persuade Red Sea to do the right thing here?
The kit arrived in early December. Installing this aquarium was a major undertaking- most of all due to the significant weights we are dealing with. The skid weighs ~1200lbs, according to the shipping manifest. The contents seemed to have a rough ride in shipping (the plumbing parts were loose and the aquarium seemed to have shifted a bit) but a thorough inspection of all the visible glass didn't turn anything up.
Wanting to do things properly, and considering the weights involved (the tank weighs 350lbs), I wanted it professionally moved into place. This is complicated further by the fact that part of the stand is shipped underneath the aquarium, so the movers needed to come twice. Unfortunately, due to an error by the shipper the tank arrived a day late, so I had to reschedule both appointments, slowing the process significantly. Nonetheless I finally got the tank in place the week before Christmas:
Unfortunately, we had run up against the Christmas travel season, and I was away for the following ten days. When I returned, it was time to work on some structural upgrades to make sure the tank was well supported- I decided to add a jack post under each joist supporting the tank on a concrete slab (the sump will reside in the basement as well, and a significant amount of plumbing work was required). Additionally, I ran two dedicated circuits for the tank at this time.
Nonetheless, last weekend, I was finally ready to start hooking the plumbing up to the tank. I was so excited! Until, it is, I saw this:
Can't see it? That's because it is VERY difficult to see. What about from above?
Nope, completely obscured by the plastic cover plate. That's why I never noticed it either, until I had my head fully under the stand, with extra lighting, about to test fit the plumbing:
Yes, hidden up behind the stand was a crack between one of the bulkheads and the back glass. The silicon is 'loose' in that area- there is no way it is going to hold water.
Of course, coming from a 'quality' manufacturer like Red Sea, I thought the only issue was the time it was going to take to get a new tank. While I identified the issue on Dec 29th, with my LFS being closed, it wasn't until January 2 that I was able to get in contact to understand the warranty process. I submitted photos and information on Wednesday.
By Friday late morning, I hadn't heard anything, so I called. I was told verbally that Red Sea was not going to honour the warranty on the tank, because the damage was not identified during shipping. Of course, this is absurd for this issue since it was only noticeable from underneath the tank, with the stand assembled, and with auxiliary lighting, and was assured I would get a final response from Red Sea by the end of the day. And so it came, at 5:02pm on Friday (after Red Sea had stopped picking up its phones):
Of course, since Red Sea took over 48 hours to provide its response and did so after 5PM, the distributor was closed and I won't be able to find out exactly what this "discounted replacement" is going to cost me until Monday. Freight alone, I'm sure, will be prohibitive. Talk about a terrible way to spend the weekend.
I am absolutely floored that Red Sea is not honouring its warranty, of even the basic principles of customer service. I have never, ever, seen such terrible customer experience, and feel that Red Sea is completely wrong for treating me this way. Installing this aquarium is a massive undertaking, yet somehow they expected me to have everything fully assembled within 24 hours of delivery. And I guess, if this crack were to have shown up later on, there wouldn't be a warranty either...
I will update this thread when I receive the quote to replace this defective tank. In the mean time I am beside myself, and really questioning whether it is worth it to keep going.
Can anyone think of a way to persuade Red Sea to do the right thing here?
Last edited:
