Red sea or waterbox secondhand

[Jvesche20]

Hi,

I want to purchase either a red sea or waterbox tank. I was thinking just looking on facebook market place and seeing if I can find an entire setup. They get pretty expensive new. I've found a few large systems.

What are your thoughts on these tanks buying secondhand? I've bought used tanks before and had no issues, but not red sea or waterbox.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I would only trust and go with Waterbox especially used.

 

[Naekuh]

Between the two, waterbox... If your asking for other recommendations....

Innovative Marine also makes great tanks, Cade as well.

 

[SVTChili]

Why the hate on Red Sea? I bought a used 170, saved about $1000 and replaced the gaskets about a year after purchase for $10. No issues

 

[Jvesche20]

Why the hate on Red Sea? I bought a used 170, saved about $1000 and replaced the gaskets about a year after purchase for $10. No issues

I’ve personally heard a lot of Red Sea tanks bust a seal and leak. Seems to be more common than not. Haven’t heard much about waterbox but I’ve heard the G2 Red Sea are much better

 

[Jvesche20]

Between the two, waterbox... If your asking for other recommendations....

Innovative Marine also makes great tanks, Cade as well.

These tanks are rimless as well? I don’t specifically care about the brand just want a rimless tank. Hate dealing with the braces on the top

 

[Naekuh]

These tanks are rimless as well? I don’t specifically care about the brand just want a rimless tank. Hate dealing with the braces on the top

Both are rimless, meaning they do not have that plastic rim on top.
Cade is like the maybach of tanks.
No eurobrace, if thats what your talking about.

IM is on the same tier as waterbox, with alu stands.
The smaller ones do not have the eurobrace.
They start mostly on the 150g and up.

Most reefers actually prefer the eurobrace as it means less chances your tank will rip appart.

Why the hate on Red Sea? I bought a used 170, saved about $1000 and replaced the gaskets about a year after purchase for $10. No issues

Because although it maybe a small subset, but its still a large count of people especially on this forum which have had a Red Sea completely bust open.

You don't hear much about this issue with waterbox or IM.
And not too many people own a Cade, so id assume its even less, because im fairly sure if your going to pay as much for a tank like a Cade, you would make it public and known if your tank busted.

Hence why most of the people on this forum have a fear and dislike for red sea.

 

[Biokabe]

I’ve personally heard a lot of Red Sea tanks bust a seal and leak. Seems to be more common than not. Haven’t heard much about waterbox but I’ve heard the G2 Red Sea are much better

It's not "a lot" of tanks that bust a seal and leak. It's a small but not insignificant number of owners who have had a catastrophic tank failure. Most Red Sea tanks are just fine, but even a small number of tanks just failing at their one job (holding water) is concerning. And more importantly, the failure mode of the affected tanks is not a small drip - it's the seam completely failing and dropping the entire tank on the floor.

I have a Red Sea tank and have never had any problems with it (other than the usual ones, like, "Why on earth did they use a membrane instead of a gate valve for the downspout?"), but I would be very wary of picking one up secondhand, especially one of the larger ones.

All tanks can fail, but to have the number of failures that Red Sea has had, and to have most of them fail in the same way, is cause for concern.

 

[Jvesche20]

It's not "a lot" of tanks that bust a seal and leak. It's a small but not insignificant number of owners who have had a catastrophic tank failure. Most Red Sea tanks are just fine, but even a small number of tanks just failing at their one job (holding water) is concerning. And more importantly, the failure mode of the affected tanks is not a small drip - it's the seam completely failing and dropping the entire tank on the floor.

I have a Red Sea tank and have never had any problems with it (other than the usual ones, like, "Why on earth did they use a membrane instead of a gate valve for the downspout?"), but I would be very wary of picking one up secondhand, especially one of the larger ones.

All tanks can fail, but to have the number of failures that Red Sea has had, and to have most of them fail in the same way, is cause for concern.

Ah gotcha, I found one a guy has a 750xxl, live stock, corals, apex, 4 lights it comes with + 2 kessil 360, roller, skimmer, etc. hes asking for 3k for it all. I know the equipment and corals make this a great deal but he said the tank is 10 yrs old. hes 65 and so he cant take care of it anymore. i feel like 10 yrs old is pretty old for a tank. not sure what to do here? Any advice?

 

[Biokabe]

Ah gotcha, I found one a guy has a 750xxl, live stock, corals, apex, 4 lights it comes with + 2 kessil 360, roller, skimmer, etc. hes asking for 3k for it all. I know the equipment and corals make this a great deal but he said the tank is 10 yrs old. hes 65 and so he cant take care of it anymore. i feel like 10 yrs old is pretty old for a tank. not sure what to do here? Any advice?

I'm torn there.

That's a great price, but the 750XXL is the model that started bringing awareness to Red Sea's issues. There were a lot of 750 and 650 tanks that were spreading their contents all over living rooms - I've seen some of the videos. So on the one hand I'm wary of it, but on the other hand it's gone for 10 years without issue, so it probably doesn't have the issues that the failed tanks did. But also also, 10 years is a bit long for a tank, but also also also, there are some tanks that have lasted much longer even than that.

 

[Naekuh]

Ah gotcha, I found one a guy has a 750xxl, live stock, corals, apex, 4 lights it comes with + 2 kessil 360, roller, skimmer, etc. hes asking for 3k for it all. I know the equipment and corals make this a great deal but he said the tank is 10 yrs old. hes 65 and so he cant take care of it anymore. i feel like 10 yrs old is pretty old for a tank. not sure what to do here? Any advice?

i don't think i could trust a tank that old IMO.
I even have a hard time trusting ADA tanks that old, and ADA is a completely other ball park in the ultra premium freshwater tanks.

Also im willing to bet the tank has some scratches.
If im paying that much for a tank, i would want one without any sratches, because once you scratch a glass tank, its there forever.

But that is just me.

The price is good, but draining the tank... moving it over to the new location, resetting it up, will be an absolute nightmare.

You need to throughly rinse the sand or just use entirely new sand, make sure all that rock stays submerged. Keep your live stock in buckets with air stone, and make sure you transport them fast to new system.... just thinking about it on a tank that size gives me goosebumps.

There are reasons why most people just shut down a tank and start over, or just reuse the super rare stuff that they have in a smaller system as temp, when the move a tank more then 5 miles away.

 

[DED65]

I don’t know the longevity of a newer tank, but I have an old Island aquarium that has been working for 30 years.

 

[Jvesche20]

I'm torn there.

That's a great price, but the 750XXL is the model that started bringing awareness to Red Sea's issues. There were a lot of 750 and 650 tanks that were spreading their contents all over living rooms - I've seen some of the videos. So on the one hand I'm wary of it, but on the other hand it's gone for 10 years without issue, so it probably doesn't have the issues that the failed tanks did. But also also, 10 years is a bit long for a tank, but also also also, there are some tanks that have lasted much longer even than that.

I might just wait and get a new waterbox when the time is right. so what happens around the 10+ year mark for these tanks? Are you supposed to reseal them? If so how does this look without destroying the system?

 

[Jvesche20]

i don't think i could trust a tank that old IMO.
I even have a hard time trusting ADA tanks that old, and ADA is a completely other ball park in the ultra premium freshwater tanks.

Also im willing to bet the tank has some scratches.
If im paying that much for a tank, i would want one without any sratches, because once you scratch a glass tank, its there forever.

But that is just me.

The price is good, but draining the tank... moving it over to the new location, resetting it up, will be an absolute nightmare.

You need to throughly rinse the sand or just use entirely new sand, make sure all that rock stays submerged. Keep your live stock in buckets with air stone, and make sure you transport them fast to new system.... just thinking about it on a tank that size gives me goosebumps.

There are reasons why most people just shut down a tank and start over, or just reuse the super rare stuff that they have in a smaller system as temp, when the move a tank more then 5 miles away.

As soon as he said it was 10yrs old I started to think maybe I shouldnt go for this tank. So basically if I plan on moving in 3-5 yrs its not even worth starting a tank? Even if im moving 10 mins down the road?

 

[Naekuh]

As soon as he said it was 10yrs old I started to think maybe I shouldnt go for this tank. So basically if I plan on moving in 3-5 yrs its not even worth starting a tank? Even if im moving 10 mins down the road?

3-5 yrs is a long time.

Just make sure you plan and coordinate when you do the move.

Make sure you have a sump tub, or some brute containers to keep your fish in while your closing the tank.
Brute trashcans work good for storing any live rock.

Make sure you either use new sand, or wash it very thoughly in big tub of some sort... A LOT of bad stuff can happen if you recycle old sand without giving it a good rinse.
New sand will cloud water, so account for the day or two for water to clear before you put in live stock.

If you can't move everything and have everything setup within a few days, id consider rehoming everything, as i noticed if it takes more then a day, a lot of die off's can happen.

But you could also setup a bunch of 20g or a 40g, as a temp stock home while your transitioning, but that would totally depend on how much $$$ you invested in live stock, how rare they are, and how much your willing to use in disposable income to save them.... like once your done with the 20 and 40g there isn't much use for them, unless your gonna use them as a QT or stash them for another emergency.

 

[rc8t6353]

As soon as he said it was 10yrs old I started to think maybe I shouldnt go for this tank. So basically if I plan on moving in 3-5 yrs its not even worth starting a tank? Even if im moving 10 mins down the road?

Depending on the size of tank you're moving, a short move like that would be relatively easy with a little bit of pre planning.

 

[ErikVR]

My personal advise would be to never ever ever ever buy a second hand tank. You don't know how it was maintained and handled. For all you know it was stored in a shed at -10 degrees for a year, ruining the silicone.

If it develops a leak after a while, you'll seriously start to question your life choices

 

[Biokabe]

I might just wait and get a new waterbox when the time is right. so what happens around the 10+ year mark for these tanks? Are you supposed to reseal them? If so how does this look without destroying the system?

What happens at the 10 year mark is that you get fed up with the scratches on the glass and get a new system.

Honestly, nothing special about 10 years, except that 10 years is longer than 9 years. Silicone tends to get more brittle with age, so as tanks age they become more likely to leak. But it's more of a half-life kind of thing - just because some tanks start to fail at 10 years doesn't mean that every tank will fail at 10 years. Some people (someone in this thread, in fact) have had tanks last more than 30 years.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a 10-year-old tank secondhand, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea - just not something that falls within my risk comfort level.

 

[Dom]

Why the hate on Red Sea?

Search "Red Sea seam failures".

 

[ErikVR]

Why the hate on Red Sea? I bought a used 170, saved about $1000 and replaced the gaskets about a year after purchase for $10. No issues

Because they are the biggest and most successful brand globally and people tend to hate them because they think they are too expensive. A bit like people hating on expensive cars but secretly they drool over them.