Red Sea XXL 750 Fail / Red Sea Responded Quickly with a Fix

[Reeferbadness]

You read a lot about companies failing to stand behind their products but I wanted to post about my recent experience with
a dreaded Tank Fail. My Reefer XXL 750 G2 has been running for 3 years (38 months to be exact). On my way home the other night
I received a notification that the Apex and Reef Matt were not connected. Figured a fuse went out and didn't worry too much. When I got
home I immediately saw lots of water on the floor and knew this was serious. The water in the tank was down about 30% (it's 160g in the main tank) and i quickly found that the front panel seam was coming apart on the top right, about 6 inches down. I have 2 tanks and have never had to deal with this but it's definitely something that I knew was possible. I quickly put a plan in place, got 2 frag tanks from a friend, pulled out all coral and fish. Put some coral in my 2nd tank (180g mixed reef tank that had some extra space) as well as some large live rock with Zoa's on it. It was late so I didn't contact Red Sea until the AM.

I did google Red Sea XXL Fail and a bunch of other similar terms and read a lot of horror stories about tanks failing as well as poor customer service. I went to the website, left a Support Inquiry with a couple of photos of the fail and hoped for the best. A few hours later, Red Sea responded and asked for a bunch of info about the tank, dealer, serial number, invoice etc - which I then provided. Within the first day, even though I was a few months past their 3 year warranty, they agreed to send me a replacement which will be here in CA about 8 days after I reported it. While this situation has been stressful, I'd have to say that Red Sea customer service was amazing.

The new tank is arriving this Wednesday (3 days from today) and I'm actually pretty stoked reboot the tank. It still cost me a lot of time and some $ (paying some local reef experts to help with new tank set up) but all in all the experience was a positive one once Red Sea fully stood by their products and agreed to send a replacement.

A couple of photos of the tank before and the failure. Stil have some rock in the tank with a power head on it waiting for the new tank to arrive. Will recycle some sand to seed the new live sand with old bacteria. The last photo is of my other tank, which is not fully stocked. I may just keep some corals from the failed tank in their - kind of like the new look.

Has anyone else reading this had a seam failure on their tank and if so, how did you deal with it?

 

[brandon429]

So sorry this happened, thank you for posting, glad they responded this time. I imagine pressure is requiring them to step up responses

 

[brandon429]

Here are some other breaks

May we please discuss seam breaks in 2-3 yr tanks

I'm noticing an uptick in posts about seam breaks can we get input on the matter pls/ prevention or assistance details There are enough breaks logged, not acknowledged much other than web forums. Buyers have honed down a concern over a certain production lot so as to warn one another about...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[piranhaman00]

major edit.

Politely, why on earth would you set up another one after this happened?

 

[Cell]

This is the first time I've seen an out of warranty tank completely covered by Red Sea. It makes me wonder if they are starting to get nervous about a potential suit as these tanks continue to fail.

 

[nickng]

You read a lot about companies failing to stand behind their products but I wanted to post about my recent experience with
a dreaded Tank Fail. My Reefer XXL 750 G2 has been running for 3 years (38 months to be exact). On my way home the other night
I received a notification that the Apex and Reef Matt were not connected. Figured a fuse went out and didn't worry too much. When I got
home I immediately saw lots of water on the floor and knew this was serious. The water in the tank was down about 30% (it's 160g in the main tank) and i quickly found that the front panel seam was coming apart on the top right, about 6 inches down. I have 2 tanks and have never had to deal with this but it's definitely something that I knew was possible. I quickly put a plan in place, got 2 frag tanks from a friend, pulled out all coral and fish. Put some coral in my 2nd tank (180g mixed reef tank that had some extra space) as well as some large live rock with Zoa's on it. It was late so I didn't contact Red Sea until the AM.

I did google Red Sea XXL Fail and a bunch of other similar terms and read a lot of horror stories about tanks failing as well as poor customer service. I went to the website, left a Support Inquiry with a couple of photos of the fail and hoped for the best. A few hours later, Red Sea responded and asked for a bunch of info about the tank, dealer, serial number, invoice etc - which I then provided. Within the first day, even though I was a few months past their 3 year warranty, they agreed to send me a replacement which will be here in CA about 8 days after I reported it. While this situation has been stressful, I'd have to say that Red Sea customer service was amazing.

The new tank is arriving this Wednesday (3 days from today) and I'm actually pretty stoked reboot the tank. It still cost me a lot of time and some $ (paying some local reef experts to help with new tank set up) but all in all the experience was a positive one once Red Sea fully stood by their products and agreed to send a replacement.

A couple of photos of the tank before and the failure. Stil have some rock in the tank with a power head on it waiting for the new tank to arrive. Will recycle some sand to seed the new live sand with old bacteria. The last photo is of my other tank, which is not fully stocked. I may just keep some corals from the failed tank in their - kind of like the new look.

Has anyone else reading this had a seam failure on their tank and if so, how did you deal with it?

Does the tank have an aluminum edge supporting the front panel? Or is the front glass panel just floating?

 

[Reeferbadness]

major edit.

Politely, why on earth would you set up another one after this happened?

I'm fairly confident that 1) RS knows that this is/was an issue with some tanks and is taking/has taken actions to fix the issue 2) their Customer Service was very helpful and I am ok with getting a new tank/stand/sump that hopefully doesn not have this issue vs buying an entire new set up at a significant cost. My guess is that this issue effected a small % of tanks, which is still a huge problem for RS, but statistically speaking, and with improvements to the tanks since I bought mine 3 years ago, i am hoping that things should be ok. I'll also keep a very close eye on the seems and look for any bubbles or degradation to, in worst case scenario, catch it before it actually fails.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Bummed this happened, I don’t wish it on anyone but at the same time I’m happy that you were taken care of and that you seem content with the response you got. Best of luck with v2.0!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

were you surprised to see in the searchable threads on site we've collected about 150+ seam break issues, just in this year?

I deem that rampant, indicative of red sea ripping off the masses etc. because it wasn't proactively handled by them

they're not taking the reigns and emailing as a warning the throngs of buyers they have on file to save their homes before the g1 breaks/g2 breaks we're about to be seeing this year most likely.

these poor tank keepers have google/search out break examples to find us while red sea actively deletes any mention of breaks whatsoever on their facebook page and other media. they're trying to cover it up to save having to issue a recall and hurt the bottom line.


they haven't issued a recall, for example, dont think for one second they're being honorable in this. They are money grubbing in this.

But were there 150+, just this year, really? I mean aren’t you exaggerating that number just a tiny bit?

 

[GlassMunky]

You read a lot about companies failing to stand behind their products but I wanted to post about my recent experience with
a dreaded Tank Fail. My Reefer XXL 750 G2 has been running for 3 years (38 months to be exact). On my way home the other night
I received a notification that the Apex and Reef Matt were not connected. Figured a fuse went out and didn't worry too much. When I got
home I immediately saw lots of water on the floor and knew this was serious. The water in the tank was down about 30% (it's 160g in the main tank) and i quickly found that the front panel seam was coming apart on the top right, about 6 inches down. I have 2 tanks and have never had to deal with this but it's definitely something that I knew was possible. I quickly put a plan in place, got 2 frag tanks from a friend, pulled out all coral and fish. Put some coral in my 2nd tank (180g mixed reef tank that had some extra space) as well as some large live rock with Zoa's on it. It was late so I didn't contact Red Sea until the AM.

I did google Red Sea XXL Fail and a bunch of other similar terms and read a lot of horror stories about tanks failing as well as poor customer service. I went to the website, left a Support Inquiry with a couple of photos of the fail and hoped for the best. A few hours later, Red Sea responded and asked for a bunch of info about the tank, dealer, serial number, invoice etc - which I then provided. Within the first day, even though I was a few months past their 3 year warranty, they agreed to send me a replacement which will be here in CA about 8 days after I reported it. While this situation has been stressful, I'd have to say that Red Sea customer service was amazing.

The new tank is arriving this Wednesday (3 days from today) and I'm actually pretty stoked reboot the tank. It still cost me a lot of time and some $ (paying some local reef experts to help with new tank set up) but all in all the experience was a positive one once Red Sea fully stood by their products and agreed to send a replacement.

A couple of photos of the tank before and the failure. Stil have some rock in the tank with a power head on it waiting for the new tank to arrive. Will recycle some sand to seed the new live sand with old bacteria. The last photo is of my other tank, which is not fully stocked. I may just keep some corals from the failed tank in their - kind of like the new look.

Has anyone else reading this had a seam failure on their tank and if so, how did you deal with it?

major edit.

Politely, why on earth would you set up another one after this happened?

was gonna say the same thing.... It boggles my mind that people who have had this happen are just ok with setting up another tank from them and trust that it wont happen again.

 

[GlassMunky]

This is the first time I've seen an out of warranty tank completely covered by Red Sea. It makes me wonder if they are starting to get nervous about a potential suit as these tanks continue to fail.

im really surprised people havnt already put a class action against them at this point....

 

[kriskool123]

Is this for g2 or xxl model? I thought the G2 just came out 1.5 years ago and has reinforced silicon edges.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I think you are correct - it's the original XXL 750 V-3 (not G2) - they are replacing it with a G2. Thanks for pointing that out.

Is this for g2 or xxl model? I thought the G2 just came out 1.5 years ago and has reinforced silicon edges.

 

[crazyk972]

I had the same thing happen to me, but I was told that my upgrade from Xl 525 to a Reefer - S 850 was almost $4k. They offered another xl 525 tank but decided not to go down that path again.

 

[brandon429]

Thank you for posting for sure, we need all new inputs for pattern collecting

 

[Real McCoy]

Sounds no different then these automotive manufacturers.Been down that road had to sue. Where does Red Sea do there builds ?

 

[LPS Bum]

Sorry this happened to you, but I have a quick question.

You wrote that this is a Gen 2 Reefer, but I see the plumbing in the sump is black. I have a Gen 2 625 XXL, and the plumbing is red. In fact, ALL the Gen 2 Reefers that I have seen have red plumbing. I only bring this up because I have seen a bunch of Gen 1 Reefers bust seams, but (to date) never a Gen 2.

 

[SpyC]

Sorry this happened to you, but I have a quick question.

You wrote that this is a Gen 2 Reefer, but I see the plumbing in the sump is black. I have a Gen 2 625 XXL, and the plumbing is red. In fact, ALL the Gen 2 Reefers that I have seen have red plumbing. I only bring this up because I have seen a bunch of Gen 1 Reefers bust seams, but (to date) never a Gen 2.

The larger thread of red sea failures has a number of g2 failures in it.

 

[LPS Bum]

The larger thread of red sea failures has a number of g2 failures in it.

News to me. Fortunately I haven't had any problems with mine since I set it up a year ago.

 

[piranhaman00]

Why would “reenforced seems” help? Sounds like Red Sea is claiming these are all failing due to magnet scraper blades damaging seams which is ridiculous