Max-S 400 500 series tanks

[nickng]

Hi, wanted to know if the redsea max-s 400 and 500 tanks are fully supported on the bottom panel and do not have any side glass panels that are floating unsupported? Ie all the front, back and side glass walls are resting on a flat surface on the cabinet?

Also are these tanks Euro-braced on top and are they also braced at the bottom?

Hoping that someone who owns one of these tanks can confirm. Example of the said tank in picture below

Thanks

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

It’s a 500, about 7-8 years old. Just put new doors and side panels on it. Newer style doesn’t fit perfectly to the older style that had the rail across the top.

I happen to just pull the lower front plastic off to reattach it, it wasn’t fully attached. There are a few long term design challenges to be aware of if you are going to get one. And I not talking about the seal if you are wondering about the front pane floating.

1) ALWAYS leave at least 6-7 inches from the wall behind the tank.
2) I made a draw out of the switches, they fail.
3) The rear ATO chamber is impossible to clean, you simply can’t do it. Plus, if you go to use that with say a Tunze, it will siphon out. I’ve abandoned it.
4) the rear return where the 3 pumps are which create the forward flow can double as an aipatasia farm if you don’t check it often.
5) you don’t need 3 pumps where they are, you can plumb 1 pump to feed the 3 lines. And use a dc driven pump to get the AC out of the tank.
6) The seal on the left and right sides of the euro brace and the front seal on the inside of the tank where it meets the euro brace has failed in places. If you allow the water to wick over the euro brace, it will wick up the pane and get salt creep on the front of the tank. Simply sealing it will fix it.
7) the sump in the stock configuration is horrible. What is worse is that the suggested modification to get the Reefmat 500 is even worse. I started with the 500, I gutted the interior of the sump and created one that made more sense, as you see the roller mat is on the right. I later moved the 500 to my reefer 250 and worked on getting the 1200 in this rank. World of difference getting the 1200 vs 500 in this rank.

 

[nickng]

Thanks. That's very insightful. Honestly I did think the rear of the tank ATO is was going to be hard to clean but sort of dismissed it as paranoia.
Now the part about the aptasia breeding in the circulation pump area, that's a very good point. Also goodness, if anything crawls in that space it will be a nightmare to get it out.

Pictures are great, I now see what the euro brace looks like. It's not a full euro-brace all way round the tank