RedSea Seam Failure

[QuitterJr]

I ignored all of the posts on RedSea seam failures as a low likelihood that was being disproportionately flagged online. Well, I was either wrong or very unlucky.

After about 3.5 years, my RedSea Reefer had a front seam failure while I was on vacation. After having saltwater all over the floor and exorbitant emergency service fees to remove the livestock and not let them die on my floor while I was gone, I can confirm that the RedSea seam concerns are very real.

I am outside my warranty and extremely frustrated. I am paying for someone to host the livestock while I figure out a replacement tank. I would appreciate any alternative recommendations, assuming that RedSea will not admit their seam was unacceptable and replace my tank out of warranty. I am not holding out hope.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

all i can say is that im really sorry

 

[Alexander1312]

Very sorry to read this. Worst case scenario for a reef tank. Which reefer was it?

 

[UNCFAN]

Sorry to hear that and good luck rebuilding your tank.

 

[code4]

@QuitterJr I am very sorry to hear this. And truly hope for the best outcome for your livestock. You are very fortunate that someone was able to come in and rescue them. Amazing. Keep us posted on what you decide going forward.

 

[CaPow]

My RedSea 250 had a seal failure in the front at the 3.5 year mark too. RedSea offered me $700 in store credit. No thank you.
The one saving grace was I had bought it with a Capital One credit card which gave me 1 year of additional warranty and eventually I was able to get my purchase price back. But I lost a ton of corals in the process of moving the tank over.
I ended up getting an AquaForest Ocean Guard tank as a replacement.

 

[QuitterJr]

Thank you all for the responses! They are all encouraging to keep going. I am also extremely grateful to have had someone around to help pick up the livestock.

It was a Reefer 170. I am thinking about going much larger to a Waterbox 150.4 or 190.5. I just need to confirm what my floor can hold. It is in a sun room over a garage, and the original floor had concrete boards, so I am hopeful.

 

[Mebbid]

I am outside my warranty and extremely frustrated. I am paying for someone to host the livestock while I figure out a replacement tank. I would appreciate any alternative recommendations, assuming that RedSea will not admit their seam was unacceptable and replace my tank out of warranty. I am not holding out hope.

Sheisty practices like that are exactly why I will never buy a red sea product ever again. Even threw away my test kits, and I had a lot of them.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Talk to @Joe Glass Cages

 

[JumboShrimp]

Talk to Joe!!

 

[Quietman]

Sorry that happened to you. I can only imagine coming back to that mess and expense. My 170 appears fine but think I'm going to be moving up my upgrade a bit.

Think that's going to do it for me with Red Sea until they come out with something stating what the problem was, what the fix is and how they're going to try and make it right. I was trying hard to be objective on the data, but now we're having 170's with seam failures?!? 35 gallons?

Likely going to stay away from rimless all together. Next tank is last and want to last 15-20 years and just not sure the rimless are built for the really long term. Guess we'll find out since it's been about 10-12 since they've really become popular probably 8-10 in high volume.

I may go with customaquariums.com or heck even an Aqueon or other mass produced tank and save some money. Just not into the whole euro bracing look at all.

 

[Acrononomus]

I just looked at a used Red Sea 425xl, u could see where the seam may fail soon on front. Bubble or separation on front seams. The silicone felt extremely hard if that’s what they used. I don’t think it is silicone though. Sorry for your losses