OK People with Red Sea Reefer Failures... Convince me not to....

[filter]

a lot of these tanks look great. modern sleek like a ferrari. maybe thats bad tho. maybe all of these are gonna fail. im seriously considering acrylic for future builds. Who wants to lose thousands in livestock?

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Don't do it bro red sea is trash! I know more people with tank failures from them!

 

[BeanAnimal]

Please ignore the Salt Creep, I have not vacuumed the top of my tank for a couple of weeks again, it's dirty.

You vacuum salt creep? That has to be had on the vacuum my friend... and kinda nasty with all of the damp stuff in the bag.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Don't do it bro red sea is trash! I know more people with tank failures from them, then joe biden supporters!

So you know of no one with a tank failure?

 

[VintageReefer]

 

[Bruttall]

You vacuum salt creep? That has to be had on the vacuum my friend... and kinda nasty with all of the damp stuff in the bag.

I have a small wet/dry ShopVac I use. The good vacuum I prefer to wear out on all the cat fur!!

 

[dmsc2fs]

I think you should buy any RedSea tank. Worry less, stare at coral more.

 

[nickng]

maybe get the S-500,S-800 max or the MAX-S400 tanks. those are Eurobraced and haven't heard of any failures on those. Also comes with aluminum stands and the tanks are fully supported at the bottom. Redsea designed in a aluminum/metal plate that supports the front pane of the glass in those tanks.

 

[rlwilson]

So I've read the myriad of threads here about Red Sea Reefers failing and ruining the world. I currently have an old school 90 gallon reef tank that has the overflow (this was from WAY before people drilled their tanks) that has caused issues to the point where I fear the stand's integrity is in question. Time to upgrade to a new tank. I love the look of the Red Sea Reefers (who doesn't?) and begin looking for a tank.

The new one's seem overpriced. I check the used ones and come across the threads here. Uh Oh! Red Sea Reefer tanks fail and destroy the earth, one apartment at a time. Some say it is the seam from the factory...others blame indiscriminate tank cleaning...still others claim their tank wasn't level or that the stand itself was bowed... all interesting claims from people who have never actually seen the tanks in question...

But the biggest commonality in the threads is that everyone "knows a guy" who had a Red Sea Reefer catastrophic failure. I spent an hour reading through and came across 4 legitimate, verifiable, stories of people with FIRST HAND experiences, and two of those were catastrophic, and only one had a photo.

Meanwhile, others refer to "hundreds of instances" but I don't really see hundreds of instances. There are thousands of reports of people seeing the Loch Ness Monster, after all. (Pictures or it didn't happen!) Since the next part of the story is a complaint on how Red Sea won't honor their warranty, I assume these people got photos, because no one is honoring any claims without photos.

I've been in the hobby for 30 years, with 20 of those at the pro-level. I've seen tank failures. If Red Sea is that bad, I would think that reputable dealers like BRS would drop them (Isn't BRS all about standing behind their hobbyists?)

Long story short - I want to hear your first hand accounts of buying a Red Sea Reefer that had a catastrophic failure. Not a tank with a bubble in the seam, or a story about a friend of a friend or a guy who was deleted on FB. Let's see these compiled into one thread. Please don't reply with your opinions on why you wouldn't buy one, or why you shouldn't get a used tank, or your opinion on whatever.

Let's show that Red Sea Failure footage!

Convince me, through your own first hand account, why I shouldn't buy one.

Red Sea P650, 6 1/2 year old tank failure started Monday 8/12/24. Tank safely emptied 8/14/24. Red Sea told us to empty tank asap. No longer under warranty so we’ll give you $1000 to one of our own tanks but once bitten….. Don’t know how to add pics but I have them! Mary Ann Wilson

 

[sbeason]

Glad you got it emptied before it emptied itself. This is what scares me about it all. We cannot be home all the time. I had a sump break a seam years ago and 20 gallons is alot of water on the floor.

 

[brandon429]

@rlwilson

sorry for that event, it's terrible, the company knows about these problems for sure.

How serious do you view the risk of seam breaks in Red Sea tanks/G2 included/new trend developing

2 just went up for sale today too here where I live including 1 person who says “$1000 needs to be resealed but easy job. Retails for $5100”. Dawg that ain’t an easy job and there’s no way in hell I’m paying $1000 for the privilege of doing it. I’d love to know if someone is foolish enough to...

humble.fish

look how many breaks we collected there as well. Red sea is simply trying to avoid accountability.



NO sites should be selling for them, or running drawings to win red sea tanks, while this goes on


any site that is doing so is in it for your dollars only, they don't care about quality or companies that harm customers six years later due to the quality of their work. I wanted you to see a clear, yearslong standout pattern from red sea, and them ignoring it all the way until they can't.

I bet there's eighty threads just like this one above on the web, they know.


they've been actively deleting people that mention breaks from their facebook and social media accounts, so they can hide and keep selling to us.

 

[Kjames]

I got the same out-of-warranty offer on my Red Sea 425 - $1000 credit that I can spend on the equivalent (or larger) system in their store.

Sitting with a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank in my office, I can't see buying another one of their systems. Defective products should be recalled.

 

[Rybki]

Hi
Unfortunately I have mine 3XL 900 taken down after 3 years of running, huge split on front right panel. It occurred within day or two I noticed when I cleaned glass,
Took proactive measures and took everything down to tubs, it is such a shame, so far no response from Red Sea.
I am considering give up hobby after 8 years. Everything is In living room, I am not sure how long I can support life in tubs. I got wavemaker skimmers, air and light going. It happened on august 1 2024.
I have beautiful grown fish so far I lost Hawaii yellow tang. Still have gem tang, convict tang , sailfin Pair of Japanese swallowtail, wantanabei angel, pair of pyramids butterfly, elegance fox face,
And lots of smaller fishes, corals colonies worth thousands. Difficult time for me and my family, kids are devastated. I wouldn’t buy Red Sea !

Hi
Unfortunately I have mine 3XL 900 taken down after 3 years of running, huge split on front right panel. It occurred within day or two I noticed when I cleaned glass,
Took proactive measures and took everything down to tubs, it is such a shame, so far no response from Red Sea.
I am considering give up hobby after 8 years. Everything is In living room, I am not sure how long I can support life in tubs. I got wavemaker skimmers, air and light going. It happened on august 1 2024.
I have beautiful grown fish so far I lost Hawaii yellow tang. Still have gem tang, convict tang , sailfin Pair of Japanese swallowtail, wantanabei angel, pair of pyramids butterfly, elegance fox face,
And lots of smaller fishes, corals colonies worth thousands. Difficult time for me and my family, kids are devastated. I wouldn’t buy Red Sea !

Update on Red Sea
after contacting Red Sea they offered to send me new 850 G+ for free or pay difference and get G2+ 1000 since they didn’t have have 900 in stock. I went with higher option. Aquarium comes with full 5 years warranty and it is improved over previous version. Euro brace on top and bottom, but no cross brace. I decided to set it up, however after a month in a tub my fish developed ick and I lost all of my bigger fishes which I had for 4-5 years and continue to lose smaller. I have ick in tank now, it will take long time effort and money to get back where I was month ago. I its unfortunate but since I save most of corals I will continue in the hobby. Definitely this is worst thing that can happen to aquarists.
This is how it used to look

 

[reneeL]

Thank you - you are the only person to reply with a first hand account. This is what I am looking for.

Hi, not sure how old this is... My RS XL 425 is showing signs of scary weakness. It is suppose to be only just 2 years old. I had a tank before from 1996 to upgrade 2010 and 2010 to 2017 gave up because Harvey the hurricane. Waited, waited and saved got a the RS so pretty. I questioned how the front glass has no support. We put it up in March. Reef is going great. However I had noticed bubbles. Now the algae has moved into the seams. I am concerned. We are going to try and fix the the tank. It is only a matter of time because the water is in the seams. SCARY. I am looking also for another tank but as you know RS makes their stands for their tanks.

Does anyone know if another brand will fit on the RS stand?

 

[reneeL]

I got the same out-of-warranty offer on my Red Sea 425 - $1000 credit that I can spend on the equivalent (or larger) system in their store.

Sitting with a 150-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank in my office, I can't see buying another one of their systems. Defective products should be recalled.

Did you find another tank to fit on the RS cabinet?

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

Did you find another tank to fit on the RS cabinet?

I don’t know any that would fit perfectly, or even close on the stand. Red Sea does a weird thing where those tanks are 47” long, instead of a standard 48”. The next standard size down is 36”. The only way is to look into a custom build, unless you’re ok with a smaller tank on the stand.

 

[reneeL]

Thank you. We are going to try and repair or modify the stand.

 

[Peanut]

I don’t know any that would fit perfectly, or even close on the stand. Red Sea does a weird thing where those tanks are 47” long, instead of a standard 48”. The next standard size down is 36”. The only way is to look into a custom build, unless you’re ok with a smaller tank on the stand.

I have a Red Sea REEFER 300 XL I bought in 2021. At the time, I also purchased an additional XL300 Black Cabinet. I also purchased a Fiji Cube 57 Gallon Shallow tank. The Fiji Cube fits perfectly. Stands are side by side and I plumbed the Fiji Cube into the RedSea 300's sump....

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

I have a Red Sea REEFER 300 XL I bought in 2021. At the time, I also purchased an additional XL300 Black Cabinet. I also purchased a Fiji Cube 57 Gallon Shallow tank. The Fiji Cube fits perfectly. Stands are side by side and I plumbed the Fiji Cube into the RedSea 300's sump....

That’s cool! I didn’t know any other manufactures made the same weird dimensions. I thought Red Sea did it to avoid things like that

 

[Peanut]

That’s cool! I didn’t know any other manufactures made the same weird dimensions. I thought Red Sea did it to avoid things like that

It wasn't easy. some redsea vendors wouldn't sell me just a stand even though I was buying a tank as well. I called several till I found one that would.