Red Sea Aquarium Failure Incident Tracker

[brandon429]

from today above, a replacement fail of a repl of a repl x3

 

[Fishels]

Can someone pls advise me. I ordered a g2 500 in person at my lfs last Friday at 5 pm. The salesman said not to buy a water box because the seams bust and the stand is bad. I paid via Mastercard. Over the weekend I researched if anyone setup the same aquarium and came across these leak threads. I have been out of the hobby since Covid. I called Sunday to cancel and was advised the tank hasn’t shipped but I had to sign a release form anyways I think for shipping and I needed to speak to the manager who wasn’t there. Monday morning the manager called and said his in store g500 is seven years old and no problems and if he called Red Sea there is only a 1% chance I could cancel. I read that Red Sea ships from Texas on Friday so the tank hasn’t even shipped yet. What can I do. I want to cancel.

May I ask did you successfully get it canceled?

 

[SmugglersReef]

Nope. The tank is up and running but I have to admit the tank is pretty cool, we like the height and the roller mat. Only time will tell I check the seams carefully every time I clean the glass and we registered for the 5 year warranty. Thanks for asking. If we have any issues we will report it here. I hope I panicked for no reason, like a dork LOL.

 

[Drao05]

Is there a class action lawsuit against Red Sea yet?!

My 425XL decided to give out as so many other Red Sea tanks have and started leaking from the seam.

For anyone unfortunate enough to experience a leak, Flex Tape worked wonders in slowing the leak down to a trickle. My dad had the bright idea of using ratchet tie-down straps on the tank which stopped the leak completely and saved us from a complete disaster.

These two items are a MUST for everyone to have on hand, *just incase*

 

[brandon429]

I'm so sorry my gosh

 

[Ziggy17]

Yep, that sucks. I am a Red Sea seam failure survivor myself. Ha. The closer you live to Houston, the faster you will get the replacement, if it’s still under warranty. Mine shipped out in less than a week from me submitting a claim. It just took forever to get to Canada via the shipping process…..

 

[BeanAnimal]

Yep, that sucks. I am a Red Sea seam failure survivor myself. Ha. The closer you live to Houston, the faster you will get the replacement, if it’s still under warranty. Mine shipped out in less than a week from me submitting a claim. It just took forever to get to Canada via the shipping process…..

I honestly can’t fathom why anybody would fill a second one after the first failed. I personally would move on. I would not give them another penny, and if the replacement was free, I would give it away or sell it, likely to a critter keeper…

 

[Ziggy17]

I honestly can’t fathom why anybody would fill a second one after the first failed. I personally would move on. I would not give them another penny, and if the replacement was free, I would give it away or sell it, likely to a critter keeper…

It would appear that they fixed the issue. I’m not seeing a higher than usual fail rate on the G2 systems. So the new silicone and thicker panes seem to have been the remedies.

If this new one suffers the same fate, then yes, I’ll sell it and move on.

 

[BeanAnimal]

It would appear that they fixed the issue. I’m not seeing a higher than usual fail rate on the G2 systems. So the new silicone and thicker panes seem to have been the remedies.

If this new one suffers the same fate, then yes, I’ll sell it and move on.

I personally wouldn’t take then chance, especially if it meant giving them another penny, especially given the circumstances.

 

[Ziggy17]

I personally wouldn’t take then chance, especially if it meant giving them another penny, especially given the circumstances.

That’s fair. I bought my tank used for $1000 with 2 lights and skimmer and return pump. Seams were fine for about a year, then failed. Tank was just under the 3 yr mark. RS replaced it for free and provided me with a 5 yr warranty. In my particular situation, they did a great job.
I won’t dismiss their negligence by not being proactive with a recall. I think it was a bad run that affected the builds, as not all their G1 tanks have seam failures.

If I had to guess, they ran the math and decided it’s less expensive to replace the ones that fail under warranty than to recall and replace all, to include out of warranty tanks. And most of that G1 line are either out of warranty, or soon to be…. It’s not ideal for consumers, but it’s a common practice.

 

[exnisstech]

It would appear that they fixed the issue. I’m not seeing a higher than usual fail rate on the G2 systems. So the new silicone and thicker panes seem to have been the remedies.

If this new one suffers the same fate, then yes, I’ll sell it and move on.

Not sure that they fixed anything. I was inspecting the seams on my G2 reefer 300 xl this morning and this is what I found. Tank has been running for just over 2 years, Its beginning to fail pretty much the same as my gen1 170 did.

 

[BeanAnimal]

If I had to guess, they ran the math and decided it’s less expensive to replace the ones that fail under warranty than to recall and replace all, to include out of warranty tanks. And most of that G1 line are either out of warranty, or soon to be…. It’s not ideal for consumers, but it’s a common practice.

Far less expensive and a recall is an admission and may open the door to litigation, witch is even more costly.

The issues appear to me to be far more than just bad batch of tanks. But, we will likely never know. We can run the math on the general design, but without seam thickness samples and silicone analysis for numerous tanks, both failed and those that have maintained seam integrity — it is all postulation.

 

[BetterJake]

My 16th month old Reefer 240 G2 sprung a pine hole leak in the back right bottom silicon.

Red Sea shipped a replacement and received in 9 days, had to perform a tank transfer with the help of my LFS.

 

[Ziggy17]

Not sure that they fixed anything. I was inspecting the seams on my G2 reefer 300 xl this morning and this is what I found. Tank has been running for just over 2 years, Its beginning to fail pretty much the same as my gen1 170 did.

I don’t think that’s a seam failure the same as we see that spring a leak. I think that’s the seam guard or whatever they instal to protect the seam from scrapers and things we use to clean the glass. Likely from running the scraper into that area with a little momentum.

I’m not an expert, but that’s what it looks like.

 

[exnisstech]

I don’t think that’s a seam failure the same as we see that spring a leak. I think that’s the seam guard or whatever they instal to protect the seam from scrapers and things we use to clean the glass. Likely from running the scraper into that area with a little momentum.

I’m not an expert, but that’s what it looks like.

EDIT: Just want to revise. Not saying this is how all failures start. Some just blow out with no warning, or the signs aren't noticed. Others are just a gradual deterioration of the silicone.
That's how it starts. You can see algae on the edge in the above image because i only scrape vertically.
This is my 170

This is how it ends

 

[buruskeee]

Not sure that they fixed anything. I was inspecting the seams on my G2 reefer 300 xl this morning and this is what I found. Tank has been running for just over 2 years, Its beginning to fail pretty much the same as my gen1 170 did.

That’s the armor guard and not the actual seam. If the algae starts penetrating the actual seam I’d start to worry. If you shine a flashlight directly at it you can see the subtle different in color. The armor guards are siliconed into the actual seams.

 

[exnisstech]

That’s the armor guard and not the actual seam. If the algae starts penetrating the actual seam I’d start to worry. If you shine a flashlight directly at it you can see the subtle different in color. The armor guards are siliconed into the actual seams.

Thanks. I probably shouldn't have posted here since it's not an actual failure yet.
I understand its the guard but the algae is already starting to penetrate the silicone so I figure it's a just a matter of time. Its exactly the same way my 170 failed only it didn't have the guards so it didn't take as long as this one will having to work its way through the guard silicon before it penetrates the seam. Once algae starts to eat away at the silicone it does not stop. It just becomes a waiting game. JMO

 

[buruskeee]

Thanks. I probably shouldn't have posted here since it's not an actual failure yet.
I understand its the guard but the algae is already starting to penetrate the silicone so I figure it's a just a matter of time. Its exactly the same way my 170 failed only it didn't have the guards so it didn't take as long as this one will having to work its way through the guard silicon before it penetrates the seam. Once algae starts to eat away at the silicone it does not stop. It just becomes a waiting game. JMO

Definitely create a ticket and send the pics to RedSea. So this is a G2 and not the V3 that added armor seams?

These two spots look like it’s about to have algae penetrate the actual seam.

Here you can see the silicon for the armor vs the silicon that makeup the actual seam.

 

[UncommonSense]

So much talk of Red Sea tanks leaking on a weekly basis on forums, Facebook groups, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.... so I thought I'd collect some data out of curiosity. I will share the results with sensitive info removed on 12/31/2024.

If you unfortunately had a Red Sea tank leak on you I'd appreciate if you can answer these 10 questions. Please feel free to share this survey if you know anyone that has been affected. Thank you!

https://forms.gle/muCW5ZVmuxWgcgMs5

Hello,

I actually got a reefer 450 for free recently and now I see why! It hasn’t leaked yet, because I haven’t filled it with water… but, it does have two seals delaminating!

Attached are photos, I may try to save it with a reseal and glass bars siliconed into the interior of each seal, but I’m skeptical…

I don’t see the Reefer 450 on the list of models… is that an oversight? Or is it not one of the tanks with known issues?

Thank you for your time,
Jack

 

[IceNein]

That looks like a terrarium to me. Sorry. Reptiles and amphibians are fun too, if you would like to use if for that.