RedSea Reefer seam failure

[Jason Scalise]

Hello,
Woke up this morning to a failed seam between front wall and side wall at the top of the tank.
RedSea Reefer 425 XL
Purchased June 2018.
went to bed at midninght and all was fine. woke up at 6am and was leaking out. No other issues so far.
Disaster as I dont think it is recoverable.
I assume it just worsens and fails worse.
I assume NOBODY feels this is safely salvageable? Should it be tried?
Any thoughts?

 

[loui]

I think your assumption are correct, contact redsea see what they say, start making preparations for a temp tank and go from there. Maybe a good chance to upgrade to something bigger?

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Sorry to see this! Complete break down to disassemble glass and re-seal the aquarium. I might suggest a quick trip to Tenecor for a replacement that would never do that! This is one reason I stopped building glass and selling glass tanks back in the early 80's. Had only one tank fail in acrylic again way back in the 80's due to material and bond failure. Wish you well no matter what you choose.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Here we go again.

*Unleashes all the Red Sea fanboys coming to the defence.. *

How many CADE tank failures have we had on the board in the last week? Marineland? Heck Vizio...

RedSea: 2

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Here we go again.

*Unleashes all the Red Sea fanboys coming to the defence.. *

How many CADE tank failures have we had on the board in the last week? Marineland? Heck Vizio...

RedSea: 2

Red Sea might be using "local" silicone instead of the German silicone favored by most of the glass tank builder. Who knows?

 

[RedoubtReef]

Man that sucks. Any farm/garden supply stores nearby that stock the rubbermaid tubs?

 

[Jason Scalise]

thanks.
because the seam rupture stopped (for now) at about 4" below the waterline...it is not actively leaking now.
It would be one thing if I did something wrong (many of those incidences, btw) and caused a failure of some sort....but just adhesive failure is ....frustrating.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

thanks.
because the seam rupture stopped (for now) at about 4" below the waterline...it is not actively leaking now.
It would be one thing if I did something wrong (many of those incidences, btw) and caused a failure of some sort....but just adhesive failure is ....frustrating.

Can you put a padded bar clamp to help support it in the short term?

 

[Jason Scalise]

will be doing one better....will be draining all the water and scrapping it today.
just waiting for someone to take my livestock...which hopefully will be today. I told the local reef club folks (separate post) that anyone can have the livestock today for free if they can come get it.

Should have just stayed in bed this morning.....

 

[ColoredRock]

ugh.... I feel your pain..mine lost all the water... it stopped "for now"

 

[Kellie in CA]

Oh, man. I’m so sorry.

This happens way too often.

 

[Jason Scalise]

thanks for all of the support.
My kids said this morning, "Dad, the tank is leaking."
I thought, "What now?" and then saw the amount of water and then saw the seal failure....and within 0.0004 seconds knew, "Well, that's it. Toast. Unrecoverable."

This guarantees I win the Powerball tonight, however.
So, there's that.

 

[TheReefDiary]

thanks for all of the support.
My kids said this morning, "Dad, the tank is leaking."
I thought, "What now?" and then saw the amount of water and then saw the seal failure....and within 0.0004 seconds knew, "Well, that's it. Toast. Unrecoverable."

This guarantees I win the Powerball tonight, however.
So, there's that.

Wow wow wow, I'm winning the Powerball tonight sorry there buddy.

But on a serious note, sorry this happened. Definitely sucks. Are you going to recoup quickly and then get another tank or you going to take a bit of time getting another?

 

[Jason Scalise]

I dont need to go quickly, per se. So, will look to see what system makes most sense.

This was my first ever tank (2018) and did all the plumbing and whatnot myself. So, that means I have learned a lot (whats critical and what's less critical, etc) and made lots of mistakes. I even salvaged a nasty couple of dino battles without breaking it down. removed all of the sand and beat it and everything survived and thrived.

But cant beat lack of silicone bonding strength. Thats a mortal wound.

Will be surfing the "what tank should I get" sites once I put the wet/dry shop vac away.

 

[92Miata]

Oh, man. I’m so sorry.

This happens way too often.

Yes, because people keep buying tanks from Red Sea.


We have an enormous problem in this hobby with vendor capture, paid marketing, and "fanboying" - and it makes it almost impossible for people to get decent information.

There's literally a thread going on today on this forum with a guy saying that he "doesn't know if he can continue recommending the Tunze ATO to everyone" after his 4th one has failed. He's had multiple fail in a short time and he's still out there evangelizing and telling people its reliable and people should buy it.


Red Sea either makes really low quality tanks, or they make really low quality stands that are causing their tanks to fail - and that won't change until people stop buying the things.

 

[Tamberav]

Hello,
Woke up this morning to a failed seam between front wall and side wall at the top of the tank.
RedSea Reefer 425 XL
Purchased June 2018.
went to bed at midninght and all was fine. woke up at 6am and was leaking out. No other issues so far.
Disaster as I dont think it is recoverable.
I assume it just worsens and fails worse.
I assume NOBODY feels this is safely salvageable? Should it be tried?
Any thoughts?

View attachment 2890996 View attachment 2890998

If you want to salvage it, I would re-do all silicone and eurobrace top and bottom.

 

[HBtank]

Yeah, I don’t ever see getting any rimless tank (not to group them all together with Redsea, but still) greater than 50 gallons. I want a tank I don’t have to side eye all the time.

Give me a ton of extra bracing TYVM.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Their reputation has went down hill forever … hopefully 1 day they come back . Time will tell

 

[Janet Belanger]

I'm sad to hear this, I'm on my 3rd RSR, the first two set up for multiple years each and no problems beyond a simple plumbing gasket.