Probably another red sea max question

jmstreithorst · 04/21/2008, 07:00 PM

Ok, this is my very first post, so....aham....where do I start?

My last aquarium was a fresh water one about 20 years ago (jesh, am I that old?!) and not a very sucssesfull one, i must add. Anyway, as I was window shopping with my very pregnant wife I saw a beatifull coral aquarium (350 gal aprox.) and fell in love with it. Not only its beauty, but the razor sharp equilibrium that is embebded in it.

All of the sudden I am making plans for a "moby dick fits in the corner" aquarium. The salesman sees dollar signs floating around until my wife remembers me that I WILL have to pay for our soon to be born child's college. ("But honey, imagine his love for biology if he has it at home. I am actually thinking about his future")

I decide to go home and do some research on the best (and more sensible) way to get my feet wet on this hobby.

That is when I find out about the Red Sea MAX. It seems as a nice way to start. First the pros:

1 - It is plug'n'play, so it should quickly provide some good basic lessons while keeping the frustration level relatively low.

2 - If I get in ove with the hobby, it can become a nice (although expensive) quaretine aquarium in the future

Now the cons (at least it seems that way);

1 - It is plug'n'play. Putting together a moderate size aquarium seems fun and it should teach a lot of the important stuff (which the Max would not).

2 - From all that I read so far (which is not much), it seems wrong in about every thing:

- It is too deep
- It is too small and, therefore, unforgiving
- The lighting will not allow for some hard corals
- The DSB might not work, as it is (once again) too small

3 - do not know if the overall specs are any good - e.g. the pumps, skimmer and etc are good.

So, I would like to know the general opnion on this product. I would like to add that I tried to search for other posts on this piece of equipment, but the search engine does not seem to like me all that much.

Jokes aside, I will thank you guys on your thoughts about this "starter system".

Many thanks

jmstreithorst · 04/21/2008, 09:37 PM

Ok, less jokes and more questions: does any one has an opinion on the red sea MAX?

Many thanks

sage_commander · 04/22/2008, 07:09 AM

Well it came out after my tank was set up. And I think it looks nice and tidy, so I probably would have considered it. However, like you say, it's too small. If you only wanted to keep one or two small fish and a bunch of soft corals it might be the way to go. But consider that my setup, a 46g bowfront, plus about 75 pounds of live rock and about 60 pounds of sand, and all the equipment, came out to about $1k. You'll be out $700 for the tank and equipment, but then you'll need to stock it.

Just my two cents. If you can go bigger, you should do it.

doubleduece · 04/22/2008, 07:45 AM

I have had a rsm set up for about 9 months now, with now major problems. I do weekly water changes and check my parameters 3 time a week, all of my inhabitants have doubled in size. As far as inhabitants go I have 2 acros, 1 monti, hammer coral, trachy geffori(miss spelled), numerous rics. and zoas.

There are some aftermarket mods you can make to help with the performance of certain items like the skimmer, I added two 10k current led strips, inlet get skimmer pump. Check out the thread in the nano tank subforum "rsm owners club". It is a huge thread with a lot of info ..

good luck

kzooreefer · 04/22/2008, 08:47 AM

I also seriously thought of buying one of these. It finally came down to the pc lighting which turned me off, if they offered T5HO or MH I would have bought one. I built my own 29-gallon which cost me about the same money as the RSM. So you don't save any money building your own but you do get to choose what parts to buy. In some instances I feel I have better quality parts, like the lights and the skimmer, as compared to the RSM. But I would have liked to have the rear sump like teh RSM to hide every thing. So there are pros and cons to going either way.

04/21/2008, 07:00 PM	#1
jmstreithorst Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Brazil Posts: 23	Probably another red sea max question Ok, this is my very first post, so....aham....where do I start? My last aquarium was a fresh water one about 20 years ago (jesh, am I that old?!) and not a very sucssesfull one, i must add. Anyway, as I was window shopping with my very pregnant wife I saw a beatifull coral aquarium (350 gal aprox.) and fell in love with it. Not only its beauty, but the razor sharp equilibrium that is embebded in it. All of the sudden I am making plans for a "moby dick fits in the corner" aquarium. The salesman sees dollar signs floating around until my wife remembers me that I WILL have to pay for our soon to be born child's college. ("But honey, imagine his love for biology if he has it at home. I am actually thinking about his future") I decide to go home and do some research on the best (and more sensible) way to get my feet wet on this hobby. That is when I find out about the Red Sea MAX. It seems as a nice way to start. First the pros: 1 - It is plug'n'play, so it should quickly provide some good basic lessons while keeping the frustration level relatively low. 2 - If I get in ove with the hobby, it can become a nice (although expensive) quaretine aquarium in the future Now the cons (at least it seems that way); 1 - It is plug'n'play. Putting together a moderate size aquarium seems fun and it should teach a lot of the important stuff (which the Max would not). 2 - From all that I read so far (which is not much), it seems wrong in about every thing: - It is too deep - It is too small and, therefore, unforgiving - The lighting will not allow for some hard corals - The DSB might not work, as it is (once again) too small 3 - do not know if the overall specs are any good - e.g. the pumps, skimmer and etc are good. So, I would like to know the general opnion on this product. I would like to add that I tried to search for other posts on this piece of equipment, but the search engine does not seem to like me all that much. Jokes aside, I will thank you guys on your thoughts about this "starter system". Many thanks

04/21/2008, 09:37 PM	#2
jmstreithorst Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Brazil Posts: 23	Ok, less jokes and more questions: does any one has an opinion on the red sea MAX? Many thanks

04/22/2008, 07:09 AM	#3
sage_commander Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Poulsbo WA Posts: 646	Well it came out after my tank was set up. And I think it looks nice and tidy, so I probably would have considered it. However, like you say, it's too small. If you only wanted to keep one or two small fish and a bunch of soft corals it might be the way to go. But consider that my setup, a 46g bowfront, plus about 75 pounds of live rock and about 60 pounds of sand, and all the equipment, came out to about $1k. You'll be out $700 for the tank and equipment, but then you'll need to stock it. Just my two cents. If you can go bigger, you should do it.

04/22/2008, 07:45 AM	#4
doubleduece Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: virginia beach, VA Posts: 214	I have had a rsm set up for about 9 months now, with now major problems. I do weekly water changes and check my parameters 3 time a week, all of my inhabitants have doubled in size. As far as inhabitants go I have 2 acros, 1 monti, hammer coral, trachy geffori(miss spelled), numerous rics. and zoas. There are some aftermarket mods you can make to help with the performance of certain items like the skimmer, I added two 10k current led strips, inlet get skimmer pump. Check out the thread in the nano tank subforum "rsm owners club". It is a huge thread with a lot of info .. good luck

04/22/2008, 08:47 AM	#5
kzooreefer Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Michigan Posts: 453	I also seriously thought of buying one of these. It finally came down to the pc lighting which turned me off, if they offered T5HO or MH I would have bought one. I built my own 29-gallon which cost me about the same money as the RSM. So you don't save any money building your own but you do get to choose what parts to buy. In some instances I feel I have better quality parts, like the lights and the skimmer, as compared to the RSM. But I would have liked to have the rear sump like teh RSM to hide every thing. So there are pros and cons to going either way.