Red Sea Max

[bowtie65]

http://www.redseafish.com/main.asp
Does anyone in this forum have one of these Tank's and if so how do they like it and what did they change if they changed anything ? Thank You in advance

 

[dplantz]

I have been doing a far bit of research and in my opinion, for the cost the Red Sea Max isn't the greatest. I have look at it and for 750$ or so it is, it is not cost effective either. I would go for the new JBJ 28g Nano Cube HQI aquarium for onlt 500$ or so because it has MH lighting that can sustain ANYTHING. If you don't want a MH system, then I would recommend the JBJ 24g Deluxe (240$) or the Aquapod (180$-340$), but I heard the Aquapods have had lighting problems. The Red Sea max is also misleading. It quotes 34 gallons, but thats because they include filter space so the tanks accually only 29 gallons. Anyway, thats my 2 cents, hope I helped. Also if you order off of www.**************.com, you get a free stand, thou shippin probabley bites. I hope I helped

 

[deepsix]

I have a Max and love it. I wanted a plug and play and did quite a bit of research myself, but wanted something a little bigger than the 29's, etc.
The T5 lighting is very good with a built in covered timer and seperate switch for the moon ligts on the hood. The control panel on the side with seperate on/off switches for each of the two pumps, the skimmer, the heater and another switch for the lighting on the side is very clean. The whole set-up is very clean looking with one power cord running from the control panel. Mine came with a small auxillary fan that mounts in a spot on the back for additional evaporative cooling. The lights have their own fan. Another nice feature is the hood that flips the front half back for feeding/testing, etc. or the whole thing props up for more access or you can pull the hood pins and stand the whole thing up and out of your way on the hinge legs for major maintenance/access.
My only mods: Although the two pumps create decent flow I added a Koralia #1 to the top right and a Koralia Nano to the bottom right that's pointed behind my live rock. I also added a Hydor Flo deflector to the output of one of the pumps. All of which gives me some pretty good flow.
I put about 25 lbs of live rock and two 20lb bags of sand in which put my water volumn right at 26 gallons. I've left the biological filtration that it came with in so far but may remove it in the future if I ever get a blip on my NO3 but its been zero for several months now.
I recommend you shop around and compare the different plug and play cubes to see what you like, they're all pretty nice... but I got my Max and stand for $649 at a local store (no shipping).
Good luck!

 

[bowtie65]

Thank You both my LFS has one set up He wants $850
I seen it online for a lot cheaper I liked that everything was on one plug no hanging wires or anything else . But what happens when something goes wrong ? is it a nightmare in disguise to replace any of the components ?I will do some more research and decide price or ease of setup . I want to put a few clams in the tank the MH lighting on the JBJ would be better for them than the T-5 ?
Again Thank You

 

[deepsix]

I'd shop around, my tank and stand were in boxes but I assembled them in a couple hours, no big deal. I don't see any major equipment nightmares with this unit over any other tank/system beyond maybe a possible issue with the hood that might cause you to deal direct with Red Sea for parts. Pumps, heater all have their own cords and run through a covered channel between tank and sump and plug into the control panel. Those could all be replaced with aftermarket from anywhere.
The lighting is 110w T5 Compact 10,000k Actinic so you should be able to determin what you can keep in there. One of my local LFS has one for display that is really loaded with mixed coral, just about everything including a few frags of SPS up high that they're experimenting with. They've also got 3 or 4 clams, rose bubble tip, fans, and other things all doing nicely under the stock lighting.
Good luck.