Another Red Sea Reefer Failure

[Bruttall]

The anger, anguish and frustration in the OP's words are heartbreaking. So much that I made a post tagging admins asking for some help, in a public forum which was against TOS I guess, sorry guys. My Bad.

But I can't help but think something needs to be done, to warn people about the potential problems Red Sea has with some of their products. But then I realized in a Capitalist environment that is the norm, it is on the consumers shoulders to do their due diligence before purchase. Which got me thinking how could we make it easier to find this information if someone was researching into Red Sea tanks. So I did a simple search.



I absolutely love that Reef2reefs Peer Review is top of the search list, which means WE are getting the word out, just by doing what we are doing.

 

[Bruttall]

Keep in mind, any tank can fail do to set up errors or seam damage caused by the owners.

I am going to disagree. Have you ever seen how the old Large Oceanic tanks are constructed? the bottom panel on mine is 96 x 24 x3/4 inch thick, the sides are 5/8ths thick. They just do not Overbuild like that any more and in all tempered glass tanks you are 100% correct. That thinner material has a lot more flex in it so it has a lot more stress on the seams due to glass flex.

I honestly think the worst thing to ever happen to tank manufacturing was tempered glass. I get there is a use for tempered, but tanks built without using tempered glass are always built heavier, with thicker glass. I have a 75g oceanic in my shop, been dry for 12 maybe 15 years. top rim is gone, the glass is like 3/8th inch thick. Easily double the thickness of the Aqueon 75g I use for NSW reservior.

 

[SavvyCane]

I am going to disagree. Have you ever seen how the old Large Oceanic tanks are constructed? the bottom panel on mine is 96 x 24 x3/4 inch thick, the sides are 5/8ths thick. They just do not Overbuild like that any more and in all tempered glass tanks you are 100% correct. That thinner material has a lot more flex in it so it has a lot more stress on the seams due to glass flex.

I honestly think the worst thing to ever happen to tank manufacturing was tempered glass. I get there is a use for tempered, but tanks built without using tempered glass are always built heavier, with thicker glass. I have a 75g oceanic in my shop, been dry for 12 maybe 15 years. top rim is gone, the glass is like 3/8th inch thick. Easily double the thickness of the Aqueon 75g I use for NSW reservior.

Oceanic tanks were on another level. The Oceanic Tech tank is still one of my favorite rimmed tank designs. At the same time, Glass Cages was selling many tanks in that era, and they were at the top of the complaint list.

 

[BeanAnimal]

so of course, you will hear more about a $5k tank rupture vs a $200 tank picked up at PetSmart. ALL OTHER brands weren't building true rimless tanks in the size range of the Reefer tank over the last 25+ years. Most tanks with a rimless look were euro-braced.

I agree with most of your thoughts except this part. The context being that a failure is a failure of a system this size, rimless or not, age or not.

All things considered, members of this hobby are going to report failures of any brand in the same manner.

In any case, I have no desire to hash this out any further, I just don't care and will never own one of their systems.

Oceanic tanks were on another level. The Oceanic Tech tank is still one of my favorite rimmed tank designs. At the same time, Glass Cages was selling many tanks in that era, and they were at the top of the complaint list.

I do want to note that the the Glass Cages of that era and the current Glass Cages are entirely different companies in context to ownership, attention to detail, customer service, etc. The only commonality is the business name and location.

 

[SavvyCane]

I do want to note that the the Glass Cages of that era and the current Glass Cages are entirely different companies in context to ownership, attention to detail, customer service, etc. The only commonality is the business name and location.

That is correct. Thanks for calling that out.

 

[Largeangels]

Go acrylic and sleep well every night. Just make sure it is uses a full bonded on top with cut out access openings.

This! Plus larger tanks weigh less. Now, you will need to be more carefull cleaning the tank. But well worth it IMO. I never went back to glass after acrylic.

Just not worth taking the risk from what I'm reading.

 

[TheDuude]

I have a G1 525 that is 5 years old. What should I be keeping an eye on? Will I see bubbles in the seem before failure?

 

[Tamberav]

I have a G1 525 that is 5 years old. What should I be keeping an eye on? Will I see bubbles in the seem before failure?

Maybe, or maybe it will all just blow onto the floor.

There isn't a guarentee of any warning.

You can't know if it will empty all the contents onto the floor in 2 min at 3am when you are asleep or an afternoon when you are working or when you are walking or dog... or just trying to use the bathroom... you can't be there 24/7 unblinking.

Lucky ones have a slow leak that they catch in time, unlucky find all contents on the floor.

I would just change tanks, excuse for an upgrade. Not worth the cost of the damage to your home or rental and the loss of your livestock. The loss and damage is FAR greater cost than a new tank.

 

[Nep2n]

I agree with most of your thoughts except this part. The context being that a failure is a failure of a system this size, rimless or not, age or not.

All things considered, members of this hobby are going to report failures of any brand in the same manner.

In any case, I have no desire to hash this out any further, I just don't care and will never own one of their systems.

I do want to note that the the Glass Cages of that era and the current Glass Cages are entirely different companies in context to ownership, attention to detail, customer service, etc. The only commonality is the business name and location.

In reference to the Glass Cages of days gone by, I have one of the old tanks 48"x36"x31" w/Euro bracing that's 25 +/- years old. Built like a tank but butt ugly. Never had any issues with leaks.
Fast forward to last week, drove to Tennessee and picked up my NEW Glass Cages tank, 48"x30"x24" Rimless. BEAUTIFUL tank, can't wait to get my build going. Had the privilege to chat with Joe and Tod and tour the facility. Very impressed. Thrilled at having gone back to these guys.
When I started researching who to get my latest tank from, Red Sea fell by the wayside quickly thanks to posts just like this. Heartbroken for the OPs loss, but thanks for getting the information out.

 

[BryanM]

Man... I was there was a consolidated post about recommendations.

near as I can tell, Waterbox looks like a good path forward, but I'd be all ears on other recommendations. 72x24x24, prefer glass, if I scratch the acrylic I wont be able to live with myself.

 

[Troylee]

Go acrylic and sleep well every night. Just make sure it is uses a full bonded on top with cut out access openings.

Funny you mention that! I just saw a tank on YouTube the other day of some high end collector with 10 of thousands of dollars in high end corals… it was a large acrylic tank and the euro was pieced together on top! I was like ooooh boy!

 

[Troylee]

Man... I was there was a consolidated post about recommendations.

near as I can tell, Waterbox looks like a good path forward, but I'd be all ears on other recommendations. 72x24x24, prefer glass, if I scratch the acrylic I wont be able to live with myself.

FWIW low iron glass scratches just as easy as acrylic! Acrylic is a easy repair where glass you gotta live with it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

FWIW the low iron glass scratching is a myth passed along in the hobby.

Low iron glass has the same basic surface hardness of standard float glass. It all depends DSB on the vendor and formulation. PPGs starfire and their regular soda lime glass were both 470 knoop hardness last time I looked. St Gobian’s soda lime and low iron were 520 or something.

Ask the tank manufacturer who’s glass they are using and look it up… that is the only way to tell.

 

[Troylee]

FWIW low iron glass scratches just as easy as acrylic!

FWIW the low iron glass scratching is a myth passed along in the hobby.

Low iron glass has the same basic surface hardness of standard float glass.

Then they both scratch way too easy lol! I have a glass tank just cause I got a smoking deal on it and couldn’t buy the acrylic for the price I paid for this setup… I hate it cause the tank came with a few scratches and it really irritates me I can’t do nothing about it lol..

 

[Tamberav]

My Red Sea seemed to scratch so easy but my cheaper deep blue seemed impossible to scratch.

I now have acrylic and just figure I will have to learn how to buff the scratches out. I’m sure they will happen at some point.

 

[gmavrom]

Helped me decide not to by the G2 350 and go with WB 110 instead. Hope they don't fail.

 

[gmavrom]

Unfortunately, RSdealrs are telling new refers that the G2 tank fixed the problem

 

[reneeL]

Well my tank was listed as a G2, it did not make it.