Red Sea MAX 250 - packaged system

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

I personally have a natural aversion to "packaged" systems - however having seen one of these tanks today (dry) it looks really smart.

Does anyone have an experience or opinion on this (the 65 gallon version)?
It comes complete with a skimmer and lighting. The lighting sounds ok - 6 no. T5 tubes, but the skimmer looks like its a prism skimmer (240gph water / 80 gph air).

Any, I'd apprecaite thoughts etc.

Cheers,

Matt

[drcarr]

i have had one running for 6 months now. as far as all in one systems go it has been great. the skimmer on the newer ones seems to work pretty well. i empty about 2 cups of skimmate per week. the skimmer goes nuts when i change something in the water column like epoxying a coral down. i usually turn it off for an hour and the fire it back up.
the lights seem to be plenty to keep sps, lps, and softies in my tank. i have been dealing with a little cyano outbreak on the sand tho. i just started running GFO and carbon for the first time to see if that helps.
all in all its a pretty well thought out system... go for it!

[mule31]

Same as above. But we had issues with temp because the fans stopped working. Just watch your temp.

[chumm]

so the t5 lighting causes temp issues??? i thought that they ran alot cooler than mh...

[tkeracer619]

I have worked with one in the past and would recommend setting up a tank with equipment you want rather then the all in one unit.

I had problems with.
-Skimmer (guess they changed that), The one this tank had was garbage.
-Pumps, They had a hard time restarting
-Heat, Little evaporation in a complete closed system
-Condensation in the hood and electronics
-No timer for the fans, you only have switches for on or off.

IME its one of the nicer all-in-one setups but like I said I would set up a tank with individual components.

[drcarr]

not to nitpick but to respond from experience with my 1.5 year old RSM 250...
1. skimmer can be finicky after putting something in the water column.
2. pumps have always started perfectly for me.
3. no problem with heat/evap until virginia summer hit! installed a chiller and no issues. i top off maybe 1/4-1/2 gallon daily?
4. no issues with condensation for me.
5. timer works perfectly. mine goes on at 1pm and goes off at 11pm. only complaint is that there is only one timer... no actinic only period! i think i may try and add some LED's!!!

[mattsilvester]

Well thanks for all your replies - apparently alot of the issues outline have been addressed and improved.

It seems reasoanbly good value - nice smart looking tank / hood / cabinet, and generally well kitted out, so it would seem..... and all put together in a nice neat little package.

I'm gonna do a bit of investigating and see what else I could get, for the same money.

Rather foolishly, I forgot to measure the actual "usable" tank dimensions - could anyone enlighten me please

[mattsilvester]

One more critical question - is this system noisy? In the past I have had several "packaged" gadgets of one form or another ..... for example I had a Deltec Turbo skimmer, and all the parts within it used to vibrate where they were not 100% firm and snug fitting. 10 small rattles turned out to be quite an irritating hum.

So, is there any fear of this with the RSM250..... 3 pumps and all those little conenctions it...... does is rattle and vidrate and hum..... and how would you rate it, overall, for noise?

Thanks,

Matt

[Chris27]

In a nice streamlined contemporary house those things are pretty darn cool looking, but if you have an older house with a good deal of wood (furniture & flooring) you may want to look at a normal tank with a nice wood stand and canopy so that it doesn't clash too much. After all, most of us set these things up to be looked at....

[LaOtIn]

they are not loud at all. its a nice system if you dont want to bother gathering your own components for a new system.

[lj1064a]

My girlfriend has had hers for almost 2 years and it is a very nice set up. The orginal skimmer could hv been a little better (we added a copupe of vent holes to the skimmer lid, which seemed to help a little). The t5s are very good and she gets good growth frm her bubble & monti cap. And their cust serv is the BEST!

You will be very happy with that tank.

[mule31]

There were no major temp issues until the fans stopped working in back for ventilation. Caught it later on. Just watch to make sure the fans stay working. We had no heat issues until the summer.

[mattsilvester]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the replies.

Having seen this, I am sold on the idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RahiN...eature=related

This guy has a "ferplast skimmer"..... whatever that means.

For a standard RSM250 with say a chiller and maybe some extra flow, is there anything (popular) that I couldn't keep - reef wise?

[AquaReeferMan]

Ive been running once since December. Very nice all in one system if you ask me. If the room you are putting it in stays cool a chiller shouldnt be needed. Ive never had any issues with the pumps restarting or any issues with the fans or electronics. I did replace the skimmer though. Only thing I dont like is all 6 T5s come on and shut off at the same time. Other than that I love it.

[mattsilvester]

Originally Posted by AquaReeferMan

Ive been running once since December. Very nice all in one system if you ask me. If the room you are putting it in stays cool a chiller shouldnt be needed. Ive never had any issues with the pumps restarting or any issues with the fans or electronics. I did replace the skimmer though. Only thing I dont like is all 6 T5s come on and shut off at the same time. Other than that I love it.

Thanks for the reply.

Well, I'm living in Bangkok, Thailand..... so its gets pretty hot..... but that being said, as soon as it becomes mildly uncomfortable, we turn the air con on..... and the mrs is at home all day. Its cooler at night which coincides with "lights off" in the tank.... so hopefully it hsould balance out.

I'll keep a close eye on the temperatures during the maturation stage and see how it goes, before adding a chiller..... but a 200-300 litre chiller is quite cheap out here.

[mattsilvester]

Between starting this thread and now, I have not set up a system..... between one thing and another, I have been having different ideas, and generally haven't gotten around to it.

I've done some more searches on it, and a theme that keeps coming up is that one could set up an equally well equipmed, but bigger system, if one were to buy all the components seperately.

What would the forum's thoughts on that be?

Thanks.

[nuclearheli]

I think you may be asking the wrong questions, I know I did. I also had a RSM250 and had similar problems.

- Fans stopped working
- Skimmer was poor (I also understand they fixed that)
- Actually more difficult to maintain the display tank than I thought, hated the curved glass edges, made it crazy to clean.
- Once the tank became very mature and full the built in filtration and skimming just was not enough.
- Needed an external chiller in the summer.

However knowing what I know now about the hobby those are not the reasons why I would not buy one. Look down the road, I wish I had. It's very difficult to resell this tank, IMO and my experience. Unless your willing to almost give it away. It's very hard to get someone to drop serious cash on one of these systems used.

I finally did get rid of mine but took a huge hit. I have a 90 up and running now and I am building a 210. Never looked back on the RSM.

[mattsilvester]

Originally Posted by nuclearheli

I think you may be asking the wrong questions, I know I did. I also had a RSM250 and had similar problems.

- Fans stopped working
- Skimmer was poor (I also understand they fixed that)
- Actually more difficult to maintain the display tank than I thought, hated the curved glass edges, made it crazy to clean.
- Once the tank became very mature and full the built in filtration and skimming just was not enough.
- Needed an external chiller in the summer.

However knowing what I know now about the hobby those are not the reasons why I would not buy one. Look down the road, I wish I had. It's very difficult to resell this tank, IMO and my experience. Unless your willing to almost give it away. It's very hard to get someone to drop serious cash on one of these systems used.

I finally did get rid of mine but took a huge hit. I have a 90 up and running now and I am building a 210. Never looked back on the RSM.

Thanks for your reply nuclearheli.

I will be honest and say that I have my reservations about packaged systems - as per my comments at the start of this thread. My first ever fish tank was a "tropiquarium".... about 20 or so years ago..... it was a small 20" long tank with a built in filter and heater and light - I very quickly wished I had a 24" glass tank and later found it to be totally inadeqaute for my growing passion. The great thing about buying all the components seperately is that you can swap parts in and out easily, upgrade lighting, or decide to go skimmerless, etc. and you are not paying a premium for the "packaged" concept.

I was however quite taken with the quality of the one I say at a store a few months back, and visually it is very impressive. Also, having stepped down from a 240, this little system seems to have it all and will be hassle free...... just plug and play as the marketing says...... which has its advantages.

But, I cannot help think to myself that for the same money I could probably set up a bigger tank with stand and equipment, and have a bigger tank which is fully upgradeable. Here in Thailand, the max250 costs about 50,000 THB (about $1666 USD) where as a 48"x18X24" with a custom wooden cabinet and hood, plus sump and plumbing costs 25,000 THB ($833 USD), and equipment from China is cheap (such as reef octopus skimmers, MH lamps, chillers, pumps).