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

avianman

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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.
 

mues

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I don't have one, but did consider when I set up my last tank. Just got to thinking that if they are known for something as serious as that, why spend that much money on it?

I do agree though, they look fantastic. Just wasn't worth the mental stress for me at the end of the day
 

apista

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I think if you need to go online and ask randoms to convince you to buy redsea that screams, do not buy! lol!
 
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ColoredRock

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ReefHunter006

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I think if you need to go online and ask randoms to convince you to buy redsea that screams, do not buy! lol!
This was my exact thought hahaha.

I definitely do this exact thing for all my purchases.
 

I never finish anythi

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Bro I went on YouTube and there are plenty of redsea tanks with videos failing. Just face it they had problems and they even admitted it . Don't get me wrong redsea make some fantastic products, but they had issues with some of there tanks! facts .
 

samuelkl

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Raptor72

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It’s not a myth. The stories are true. I can vouch first hand. This was mostly with the 1st versions. Stay away from those.

My front seam developed a 4” bubble after only 5 yrs. RS would not warranty it due to it being over the 3 yrs. I have pictures on my build thread.
 

Devaji

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i'll chime in.
I had the G1 RS 650P seam started to separate, got a new one under warranty sold it and went Innovative marine.
that said i do have a RS 300XL G2 set up..

my thoughts. no way in hell would I get a G1 not even free. well OK maybe free but would do a vivarium or the like.
I fell OK getting a G2 but that said. IM tanks and stand IMHO are better and prices cheaper too. so I would suggest going that way.

what size are you looking at?

that is a great deal on a 150 gal. I have there 200 peninsula love it.

check out there in up here:


anyway yes I have had a RS seam failure but yes I have a RS tank up and running. but would still suggest IM over RS.
 

Tired

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If you buy it, are you constantly going to be watching it, expecting it to fail? If so, don't. You don't need extra stress involved in things.
 
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avianman

avianman

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I think if you need to go online and ask randoms to convince you to buy redsea that screams, do not buy! lol!
I'm not asking "randoms" - I am asking those in the reef hobby, on the message board where the greatest number of people "know a guy" who has had problems, but a vast majority have had zero issues themselves.. I trust the reef community when it comes to first hand experiences. I'm trying to weed out first hand experiences from rumors.

Listening to rumors as fact is not a good way to go about life
 

Cell

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They have slowed down considerably lately but for awhile there was a new RS seam leak thread popping up on R2R weekly.
 
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avianman

avianman

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It’s not a myth. The stories are true. I can vouch first hand. This was mostly with the 1st versions. Stay away from those.

My front seam developed a 4” bubble after only 5 yrs. RS would not warranty it due to it being over the 3 yrs. I have pictures on my build thread.
Thank you - you are the only person to reply with a first hand account. This is what I am looking for.
 

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