Brand recognition on the reef: Do you focus on the name-brand of the aquarium when selecting your tank?

[Alexraptor]

It doesn't even factor into my decision. I simply look at dimensions, glass thickness, bracing and price, and that's about it.

That said, I'd probably be hesitant to buy a Red Sea tank, considering all the problems people been having with them.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

POV: You put a Red Sea G1 in your house

 

[GARRIGA]

Positive history goes a long way regardless what I'm buying. Going cheap often ends up costing more in the end. Such as replacing floors from a flood event. Glass that was placed wrong side in and now oxidized. That flood might go beyond a leak and result on everything that was inside now being on that floor needed to be fixed. Get what you pay for and the box the most important component in my stress free enjoyment for years to come.

 

[shakacuz]

definitely helps with decision. prefer consistent positive reviews/quality over "name brand". no point in having a tank with all the bells and whistles only to spring a leak within the first year..

 

[Aquarist76]

Big fan of Planet Aquariums and Red Sea tanks. I know any tank I get from them will be well built and great quality.

 

[ninjamyst]

POV: You put a Red Sea G1 in your house

LoL. My red sea 350 was 8 years old when I sold it. It survived a cross country move by shady moving company. Afaik it's still running today. The witch hunt for red sea gets old....

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

LoL. My red sea 350 was 8 years old when I sold it. It survived a cross country move by shady moving company. Afaik it's still running today. The witch hunt for red sea gets old....

The rate of having these issues that I've found is about 2 -4%. Not super high, hence why your tank is still around, but high enough to dissuade me.

 

[Joe462]

Brand isn’t important to me with the one exception: as long as it isn’t Red Sea

 

[PhishMonger84]

Value for my money, glass, framed. Not rimless and thick enough glass for the water contained. If I have a choice black silicon.

I get the appeal of the complete systems but the sumps feel claustrophobic. I do not like the look of open top tanks and I think the white stands have got to be the tackiest thing going- may as well put painted substrate and glofish in a tank on a white stand

 

[62518161]

Brand recognition on the reef: Do you focus on the name-brand of the aquarium when selecting your tank?

The are many options and approaches to take when selecting an aquarium. To some people a tank is just a glass box to put all the important stuff into, but to others the aquarium is the key foundational piece to house the reef. Some reef keepers make their aquarium selections based on the manufacturer’s reputation and reputation. Others take a thorough look at the construction and features of the tank. Additionally, while some hobbyists will choose to go with a custom-made tank, others will go with a commodity tank because of availability or cost-savings. Whatever your reason, please tell us how you go about selecting an aquarium. Whether it was for the decision on your current tank or possibly for a future tank, do you focus on the name-brand of the aquarium when selecting your tank?

Photo by @Wen


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.tckcorals.com

Bring on the red sea bashing. You know it’s going to go that way.

 

[steveschuerger]

When looking at tanks to upgrade from my little 16 gal Biocube , I needed an all in one due to space constraints. IM happened to have a sale and went with the 30 long. About 7 months later I went with the SR60 , partly cause knew the quality of what I was getting and of course space not allowing for a sump. This past couple of months ago I went with the FijiCube 22 gal based on reviews and it had the right size and capacity for what I was getting.

 

[buruskeee]

The rate of having these issues that I've found is about 2 -4%. Not super high, hence why your tank is still around, but high enough to dissuade me.

I avoided reefing for about a decade because I didn’t want to hassle with custom building a stand with a custom built low iron glass tank and I didn’t want to deal with warranty issues with lots of brand names (as much as I like water box build quality I hear horrors about warranty issues). Elos would be my go to but they aren’t accessible easily for the past few years.

I avoided Red Sea because of G1 problems but just today I pulled the trigger on a 625 G2. From what I’ve been reading/watching, it seems the updates should be pretty solid. Can’t beat having a stand/sump/overflow configuration that’s maximized for the space already and it’s easy to get parts for.

I’ll let everyone know about how it goes with build quality issues - just built the stand today and it’s rock solid with the metal support.

I avoided other rival brands which weren’t that much cheaper, whos warranty HQ also wasn’t in the USA. Being in the USA is big for me. Their 3 year warranty extendable to 5 also gave me some confidence with the new G2.

 

[vlangel]

I checked 'other' even though every tank I have ever bought was the same brand, All Glass Aquarium which later became Aqueon.
I am old school and prefer rimmed tanks. I have not changed tanks very often and I choose them by their dimensions because of the space I want to fit them in. I have never had a problem with any of my tanks leaking and I still have a 20L that is probably 30 years old.

 

[brandon429]

This guy didn’t think the Red Sea breaks were a witch hunt

That’s his first post on our forum

what Red Sea did to its gen one owners is unforgivable, they’re still avoiding them at all costs. Yes, if I was shopping for a full size reef brand name would matter 100% it would be anything but these guys.

gen 1 buyers had the same trust and resolve that gen 3 buyers have. We’ve collected about fifty or more break posts that people themselves sought to post, we didn’t elicit them.

Being willing to overlook this as buyers is 1000% of the problem, in fact it's the entire problem. There's only one thing that will make red sea listen and account.

at the current rate it's being swept under the rug pretty good though, if we can just get these pesky break owners to stop searching the internet, finding other break collation threads, and posting.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

My Innovative Marine 50 AIO one year anniversary was yesterday and so far no complaints. I did upgrade the filtration media baskets in the rear to intank at the beginning because the stock items looked flimsy.

 

[buruskeee]

This guy didn’t think the Red Sea breaks were a witch hunt

That’s his first post on our forum

what Red Sea did to its gen one owners is unforgivable, they’re still avoiding them at all costs. Yes, if I was shopping for a full size reef brand name would matter 100% it would be anything but these guys.

gen 1 buyers had the same trust and resolve that gen 3 buyers have. We’ve collected about fifty or more break posts that people themselves sought to post, we didn’t elicit them.

Being willing to overlook this as buyers is 1000% of the problem, in fact it's the entire problem. There's only one thing that will make red sea listen and account.

at the current rate it's being swept under the rug pretty good though, if we can just get these pesky break owners to stop searching the internet, finding other break collation threads, and posting.

With little research, it’s pretty obvious the bigger G1s would be something to avoid. The G2s have armored seams, metal lip under the front that used to overhang, thicker glass, and metal brace supports in the stand.

I’m not sure of any manufacturer that would warranty second hand stuff, so and as a buyer I wouldn’t risk something with known history of issues.

Why should someone still be concerned with G2 if they corrected and upgraded mainly failure points? Is it just personal Red Sea hate for you? I don’t have any brand allegiance so I only care about actual warranties of my own purchases and issues with the model I’m purchasing (I also own BMWs but only buy the reliable inline 6 engines and never the V8s as an example).

 

[brandon429]

What we should avoid is the customer service surrounding g1 breaks, it's bad + unacceptable. A few are given replacements, a low %, many are asked to pay towards the upgrade.

What will never happen, because the service is bad: red sea checks it's volumous email logs for purchasers of g1s/ known certain guaranteed bad stock

Reaches out to them preemptively for free replacements, paid shipping, before the break. That will never happen because the barest possible response rate protects profits the best

All justification comes from non broken tank owners who are nearly always red sea owners with their whole investment tied up in it

I know we don't want this to become a sole red sea pro or con thread

Caveat emptor bigtime is how I'd leave the matter for sure

 

[buruskeee]

What we should avoid is the customer service surrounding g1 breaks, it's bad + unacceptable. A few are given replacements, a low %, many are asked to pay towards the upgrade.

What will never happen, because the service is bad: red sea checks it's volumous email logs for purchasers of g1s/ known certain guaranteed bad stock

Reaches out to them preemptively for free replacements, paid shipping, before the break. That will never happen because the barest possible response rate protects profits the best

All justification comes from non broken tank owners who are nearly always red sea owners with their whole investment tied up in it

I know we don't want this to become a sole red sea pro or con thread

Caveat emptor bigtime is how I'd leave the matter for sure

If it’s a leak from the front glass (for any “floating glass” model), I agree, RS should be covering all costs for their design flaw - I see replacements happening only for blow outs, but definitely RS should cover costs for upgrading to get to acceptable spec.

They should also consider an upgrade program for the stand. Although the armored seams help, the big issue is the “floating glass” in bigger tanks. They should allow customers to either buy an upgrade kit that can retrofit existing stands, or a new stand at a heavy discount (break even for RS).

With all that said, I don’t think buyers should be scared off from folks posting not to buy a G2 because of G1 problems.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I've seen one or two G2 leaks so far. That's about the same as WaterBox in the same time frame, so at least for now, I'm going to say that the G2 is better. However, the 3 year mark is when problems often start with the G1, so I'll hold off on buying the newer version until that mark has been reached with no increase in the rate of leaks.

 

[buruskeee]

I've seen one or two G2 leaks so far. That's about the same as WaterBox in the same time frame, so at least for now, I'm going to say that the G2 is better. However, the 3 year mark is when problems often start with the G1, so I'll hold off on buying the newer version until that mark has been reached with no increase in the rate of leaks.

I went with a 625 G2 after debating if I should wait and see for the past year. The metal support under the “floating glass” front, the new seams, thicker glass, and better quality stand with bracing was enough to have confidence in assuming a minimal failure rate. I guess in that time I could have just did everything custom like I did 15 years ago, but it was such a hassle and frustrating task (although very rewarding after).