Red Sea Tank Fails, AGAIN! Any Recommendations?

[Sanya]

It happed two weeks ago at 4 am!
6 years old redsea 525

 

[brandon429]

Hey FP can you post pics of your setup in hospital holding let’s design a solid skip cycle transfer into a new system

the removal of prior dilution factors + any detritus waste transferred via adherence on moved materials makes your current hospital holding system a fast breather too, several crucial aspects of biolfilter care are in effect

if readers can see how you take steps to preserve the animals, that’s making a big helpful contribution at least to others to be able to see your tank cpr live time

 

[hart24601]

I have had a couple custom tanks, WB and now IM. All nice tanks. Whatever you go with I would suggest a model with aluminum stands like IM uses and a few others have started using now since the whole Red Sea fiasco was at least initially from their stands aluminum is my preference now just as extra safety although one can of course build a cheap aluminum stand and have it fail - adding that point so people don’t feel compelled to point that out.

 

[mosreef]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. My IM tank is brand new, so no input on longevity, but I have to say I love it and also very happy with the aluminum stand. Everything is really well built and I highly recommend IM

 

[EricR]

Two tanks in a row would have me questioning the stand rigidity and flatness of top plane.
I'll defer to post #23

*no experience with Red Sea seam fails so will stay out of that discussion

 

[MnFish1]

@BigRick

thats an excellent perspective. We need the article writers to quickly divulge that out to fifteen million readers- something to help, predictively


we don’t need this swept under the rug, which is sopping wet

for the love of Pete I don’t understand the silence from red sea and the blogs

oh wait, I do.

No - IMHO you don't. They sell thousands of tanks. If 3 break their seams - thats ok. And if per chance the stand is not leveled/put together correctly thats something else. I have 2 redsea that are 5+ years old - with no problem.

 

[fpizart]

@brandon429 here is the best part! I was booked to go to Key West, FL Friday. So I had to put all the fish in the sump last minute!

I have lots of bio-filtration there tho. I also removed a good amount of sand and a few rocks from the tank and added it to the sump. Equipment there:

- Skimmer
- 1 powerhead
- 1 re-purposed return pump

so I have the water circulate using a return pump and added filter floss. I got back home Tuesday, but I’m keeping everything controlled using the Apex.

Look at this madness

 

[fpizart]

No - IMHO you don't. They sell thousands of tanks. If 3 break their seams - thats ok. And if per chance the stand is not leveled/put together correctly thats something else. I have 2 redsea that are 5+ years old - with no problem.

I can assure you that the stand is assembled correctly and leveled. I have been in the hobby for over 15 years and this has never happened to me. I agree with Brandon, this is a trend they is just not common in the hobby. Now I am not an expert, but there are some design issues here

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone! I have an emergency and cannot really believe this is happening to me again. Back in 2019 I purchased what I thought was a wonderful tank! Everything was going great with my Red Sea 525 XL until it started leaking from one of the sides in 2020. Of course, I lost livestock and suffered some damages caused by the water. After reaching out, Red Sea agreed to change my tank and sent me a “new one“ under the limited warranty. Fast forward to last Friday 4/21/23 at 4:00 AM and my tank was leaking AGAIN! This time, the leak was from the bottom and the tank dumped all the water out in less than 2 minutes. I was able to save all my fish and transfer them to the sump. The corals I had were then placed in a small Waterbox tank. This is the second time in less thank 5 years that my tank fails on me. I do not scrape the edge, I do not go crazy cleaning, my stand and tank are perfectly leveled, etc. My questions are:

Is this a common issue with this tanks? I see tons of posts and a local guy told me the brand is prone to issues with the side and bottom silicone.

What brand do you guys recommend? I am between Innovative Marine and WaterBox, but I am open to suggestions.

Thank you!

Well - I thought this was resolved and Apparently not and comes to. . . . NOW WHAT ?
Very similar is waterbox and Ive not heard one bad story with them !
IF you choose to repair this tank, I can give you some insight.

 

[Lavey29]

No - IMHO you don't. They sell thousands of tanks. If 3 break their seams - thats ok. And if per chance the stand is not leveled/put together correctly thats something else. I have 2 redsea that are 5+ years old - with no problem.

Yes, the failure rate is less the 1% in my opinion with the tens of thousands of units out there over the years so other issues may contribute as you indicated.

 

[fpizart]

Yes, the failure rate is less the 1% in my opinion with the tens of thousands of units out there over the years so other issues may contribute as you indicated.

The real question here is not the overall percentage! How many of the big models are sold and how many have failed. That is the real question. I have a smaller RS that serves as a QT tank and I’ve never had any issues! Knock on wood but the larger models appear to be having issues.

 

[dschuffert]

I am so sorry to hear this happened to you again. I have been fortunate so far with my Red Sea tank. I also like Cade and Aquaforest tanks. There are many good ones out there.

 

[Cell]

Yes, the failure rate is less the 1% in my opinion with the tens of thousands of units out there over the years so other issues may contribute as you indicated.

Consider not all tank fails are reported here on R2R.

 

[fpizart]

Well - I thought this was resolved and Apparently not and comes to. . . . NOW WHAT ?
Very similar is waterbox and Ive not heard one bad story with them !
IF you choose to repair this tank, I can give you some insight.

The first tank was collected by a friend when I was trying to make it disappear. RS told me to do whatever I wanted with it but it was no longer their problem. Long story short, the guy had the tank fished by an expert and guess what! I leaked AGAIN about 3 weeks ago. My local store said the new 525 has a thicker front glass and is much heavier. I’m telling you, they know there was an issue and tried to correct it with the G2 models.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The first tank was collected by a friend when I was trying to make it disappear. RS told me to do whatever I wanted with it but it was no longer their problem. Long story short, the guy had the tank fished by an expert and guess what! I leaked AGAIN about 3 weeks ago. My local store said the new 525 has a thicker front glass and is much heavier. I’m telling you, they know there was an issue and tried to correct it with the G2 models.

They did and that was an alternative and not solution

 

[fpizart]

They did and that was an alternative and not solution

I’m just terrified of this happening again and need something that will last! Marine ecosystems need time to mature, life expectancy for a fish tank should not be that short. Not to mention the thousands of dollars worth of fish and equipment! I literally just ordered a clear view lid for that tank too.

 

[Lavey29]

The real question here is not the overall percentage! How many of the big models are sold and how many have failed. That is the real question. I have a smaller RS that serves as a QT tank and I’ve never had any issues! Knock on wood but the larger models appear to be having issues.

I think any failure is one to many across the entire spectrum but I am not sure there is anyway to ever guarantee non failure due to factors beyond red sea controls. I totally think it sucks that you have experienced this twice now but again perhaps one or more of those other factors contributed to your problems beyond red sea quality controls. As I mentioned having an MP40s at high intensity slamming side walls tells me this could be a contributing factor along with a host of other things which we all could speculate about. I am 100% in support of you though and hope you get an appropriate resolution.

 

[Lavey29]

Consider not all tank fails are reported here on R2R.

True, nor other manufacturers failings either but I wonder who sells the most units?

 

[Lavey29]

The first tank was collected by a friend when I was trying to make it disappear. RS told me to do whatever I wanted with it but it was no longer their problem. Long story short, the guy had the tank fished by an expert and guess what! I leaked AGAIN about 3 weeks ago. My local store said the new 525 has a thicker front glass and is much heavier. I’m telling you, they know there was an issue and tried to correct it with the G2 models.

So you acquired a broken tank that was allegedly repaired properly? Then you acquired a brand new gen 2 after the initial failure?

 

[fpizart]

So you acquired a broken tank that was allegedly repaired properly? Then you acquired a brand new gen 2 after the initial failure?

No, a friend picked up my first failed tank back in 2020 after I got the replacement. RS told me to dump it somewhere after I destroyed the serial sticker. My friend then took that failed tank to a place to be repaired. The guy that repaired the tank told him that the brand was prone to failure in the front panel, never the back. That original tank that was fixed broke again a few weeks ago. I heard this from my friend. The guy mentioned the front glass being too thin adding extra stress to the silicone. IDK, this sounds like a design issue that they are attempting to correct with he G2 tanks. Having MP40s should not be an issue for a reef tank.