What do you think about Red Sea Max 130D

[sumant19]

Hi

I am planning to start with a reef aquarium after maintaining freshwater aquariums for years. I am pretty excited about it.

I was looking at Red Sea Max 130D and think its a good package. I want to take opinions from more advanced reef keepers about it.

What do you think about RSM 130D (equipments/lights that come along with kit and the startup package of salt, test kits etc)? Also are there any other such saltwater aquarium start up kits?

Thanks!
Sumant

 

[LAMEDUCK]

Just remember that you need to change out 10% of water every week 130 Gals means you must make up 13 gals of salt and change it out every week. That gets very expensive and time consuming. When first starting I suggest smaller is better ie. 14 Biocube or even a 29Gal. It is very easy to get burnt out and much more work than a fresh water tank. Just my two cents.

 

[Cjtabares]

I don’t think the water volume is 130 gal more like 30 gals I think. I think that would be a good size for a beginner, can’t say anything about the system never had one.

 

[Turbosnail]

+1 it is only a 34g system

 

[sumant19]

Thanks guys for taking time to reply! Yes its 34gallon system and comes with almost everything to start a new saltwater aquarium (except livestock). http://www.redseamax.com/redseamax/250Temp/redseamax/Red_Sea_MAX_HP_130D.html

Its on higher price range ($850) and I am not sure about the quality of instruments. Trying to get more bang for my buck!

 

[lisa foster]

I don't know much about these all in one systems but I would venture to guess you could put together a really great probably a better system for less money buying the equiptment seperately especially since you are looking to do a 30 or so gallon tank. That way you would have extra cash for corals and livestock

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

You can save yourself some money and buy it used from iandawson. I think he even upgraded the lights with leds. Here is the link. http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...y-Nice-Nano-Systems-for-Sale-Reef-Garage-Sale

I love the all-in-one tanks. This is what I think: The compact fluorescent tanks like the BioCubes, Aquapods and JBJ's are great for most softies. The Red Sea Max is a step up from those because it uses T5's for lights and gives you even more variety within the softies and some of the less demanding sps corals. After the RSM you have the BioCubes and JBJ's that are HQI or metal halide. These are good for sps, but often require chillers to keep the temperature down because they are closed systems as opposed to hanging pendant lamps. Let me know if you want more detail because I actually have a couple BioCubes, a RSM 130 and a JBJ HQI. I currently am not running my RSM or JBJ, but I know most of the pros and cons of each system.

Regardless of which system you choose, keep in mind that the smaller tanks are less forgiving when it comes to water quality. There is very little room for error so you have to be serious about checking your parameters until you get it right. Hope I helped.

 

[Kman2010]

I have setup a few of the 60 gallon systems in peoples homes and have to say that they dont require that much maintenance. They come with 3 stage media filtration system. Protein Skimmer, the lights are amazing a look great. The one problem would of course be the price!

 

[Turbosnail]

I have seen this setup http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...y-Nice-Nano-Systems-for-Sale-Reef-Garage-Sale it even comes with a nice led light you should take a look.

 

[sagecx]

I own a red sea 130(the version before the D). I really like the system but there are some limitations. If you plan on doing anything beside softies the stock lighting is pretty limited. You can of course upgrade the lights but that usually involves losing the hood. The skimmer is ok although most Red Sea owners replace it with a tunze 9002(less room and more effective) but some people do have decent success with the stock skimmer. For what its worth the skimmer on the 130d is probably the best built in skimmer that comes with any nano right now. Another thing is that because of the location of the return pumps(practicaly at the top) when the tank needs a top off it will fill the tank with micro bubble. Get an ATO and that problem is solved though.

Its a good tank overall and if you can get it used its a great value especiialy if the previous owner has done any of the recommend upgrades to it already.

 

[sumant19]

Thanks guys for your feedback! Really appreciate enthusiasm of this forum.

 

[Skeeter7424]

Yea that one that was for sale in Ian's thread isn't anymore. It may or may not (it is) in hiding in my spare room right now waiting to be cleaned and cycled and take place of my 26 gallon bow front. From the research I did on it it is a very nice system. Most people replace the skimmer with the Tunze 9002, I have the CPR bakpak system. I know when Ian had the system running it was skimming nicely. They are nice systems, they just need a little tweaking to be great. I agree though that for the money you can build your own DT/fuge/sump system that would be much nicer. I, however, couldn't turn the deal down that I got on the RSM system. Again the stock lighting is underpowered for much other than softies. But the LED light that I bought with mine may be up for grabs in the coming months...we'll see. Any other questions feel free to ask, I am new to the system, but I have done a ton of research
Cheers
...Skeeter...

 

[bossreef]

I had the original Red Sea Max and ran that for a couple of years. I really liked the tank. The tank and stand looked really nice and it worked well for softies. I really liked the RSM cable management/switch system.

RSM Lights:
A LFS employee told me that the new Red Sea Max has HO T5's. My tank had the low output T5's. With the new HO T5's, you might be able to get away with SPS higher up in the tank.

Skimmer:
The stock skimmer wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't bad; probably average. I recall the stock skimmer was really loud, but at least it worked fairly decent (and still worked after 2 years). That statement isn't something I can say about my Solana's (34 gal) stock skimmer. The Solana stock skimmer just doesn't work. It did work, poorly, for about 4 weeks, but after that it was worthless. I spent $180 on a different skimmer to replace it.

Other All in ones:
A few other AIO's in that size range include the 29 gal Biocube HQI ($570 includes stand & light), the 34 gal Solana ($250 for tank, $250 for stand, or $850 including stand and T5HO fixture - also avail with HQI instead of T5HO), the 25 gal Solana ($770 includes stand & 150W HQI pendant & hanging kit), and the 25 gal Ecoxotic (Same tank as the 25 gal Solana w/ different stand). There is also a 29gal JBJ, but I have no experience with any JBJ tanks.

I think the RSM is a nice AIO kit. I like the Biocubes well enough (haven't had the 29, but have had the 14gal and 8gal). I also like the Solana, with the exception of the skimmer and the really thin, glass top. I actually like the Solana the best so far, but that's probably because I just don't like the curved glass on the Biocubes (or the curved corners on the RSM).

That RSM with the LEDs that was for sale would have probably been pretty damn nice and comparable to my current Solana setup. The curved corners on the RSM aren't bad. At least with the RSM, the glass is nice and straight until you hit the corners.

Just to clarify, even though I like the Solana the best at the moment, I think that all of the AIO's are all probably about the same. They are all the same in that they all have the same setup and therefore the same limitations. They all have the same back-of-the-tank filter chamber setup and they all don't have the plumbing for sumps or refugiums. In the end, the real question that you should ask is, do you ever want to have a sump or refugium?

 

[Skeeter7424]

That RSM with the LEDs that was for sale would have probably been pretty damn nice and comparable to my current Solana setup. The curved corners on the RSM aren't bad. At least with the RSM, the glass is nice and straight until you hit the corners.

Just to clarify, even though I like the Solana the best at the moment, I think that all of the AIO's are all probably about the same. They are all the same in that they all have the same setup and therefore the same limitations. They all have the same back-of-the-tank filter chamber setup and they all don't have the plumbing for sumps or refugiums. In the end, the real question that you should ask is, do you ever want to have a sump or refugium?

hehe...that setup will be cycled and ready to go in 3-4 weeks. I cannot wait to get rid of my 26 gallon bowfront. Guess who won't ever own a curved glass tank again...this guy. I got a headache staring at my scoly the other day. Also, just to clarify, CPR makes a HOB refuge for any one of the AIO tanks. As a matter of fact, one may have come with that setup that you spoke about before as well The full RSM setup writeup will be coming soon enough.

cheers
...Skeeter...