Red Sea Max.... need reviews

[jorjef]

Was looking for first hand reviews from people that have a Red Max or reliable advise from anyone on the quality on these set ups. I know there are old school reefers out there that will frown upon these systems.
Mostly looking for comments on skimmer and lighting abilities.

[Doug]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/search.php?searchid=1247491

Besides the for sale threads, many in here may be of help.

[ponokareefer]

The skimmer is junk, so you'll need to budget to replace it. I've replaced it with a Tunze 9002 that works well. The lighting is decent for soft corals and LPS, but I wouldn't try it on SPS, or high light demand clams or anemones. With how much the system costs, and the fact you need to upgrade the skimmer and add extra circulation, I personally would have went with something different. It does give a nice finished look though, you just have to live with the limitations of the system.

[sitandwatch]

Skimmer - ran it for about 4 weeks then bought a 9002, don't know if the skimmer sucks I just jumped on the bandwagon

Lights - not great for sps, lps no problem for me. I also had a clam but he sat about 3/4 of the way up and was happy.

I like the look of it and the simplicity of it.

Good first tank for me.

[Chaloupa]

I have 2...and I really like them. I did the skimmer upgrade...but went back to the old skimmer as the stock one really isn't that bad. You're not able to stuff it full of fish anyways, so the stock one, for me works very well. I have 7 damsels, 1 Naked Clownfish and a Chalk Bass in mine, but I do water changes every 2 weeks. I have it full of LPS and softies and it's gorgeous. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it today. I really do love my RSMs.

[Borderjumper]

I love mine! I have a 130 with the tunze skimmer. I had it crammed full of Scollys and zoos and they did really well and the colors were good. I just took that tank down to upgrade with a 250. It's only been up a week so I don't have much in it yet except rock and a few chromis. So far I love it! The t5 lighting seems more than adequate for what I want which is LPS zoas and a few of the easier sps. I will add a picture later.

I really like the clean look of it wIth no exposed mechanicals. I think it's going to run warm tho. I'm going to put a fan over the smaller access panel and try that. So far the skimmer Is just overflowing a lot, but there's not much in it to skim.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y240/Carrida/IMG_0415.jpg

[Frozenocean]

I have had one for 3 years....just broke it down and moved everything over to a new 90 gallon

Opinion.....Well I sunk a whack of money into something I could have done cheaper and bigger

I retrofitted the lights and hood to a 150 MH,changed out the skimmer to a Tunze 9002 and then changed back to the stock. Added the overflow mod which didn't do much in my opinion. Had to run water level really high to get anything resembling good skimmate

It's a good starter tank however I found myself running out room to put things in like hosing for a chiller, top off, reactors etc. Flow isn't that great with the two returns so I added a Koralia 2

I ran softies and LPS...never got into the SPS until my 90. In terms of fish, never had more than 4 in there at an average size of 3-4 inches

Smaller tanks are more of a pain with any chemistry swings I found

I really did like the look of it however I had to remove the back part of the hood to house my top off and skimmer cup

Overall, for me, it was a good start getting into the reef hobby

My wife wants a sea horse tank in our room....may be a good fit as I added a gate valve to the return pumps. We'll see

[tinman]

well i've had mine running for a year now, my fish and coral have had no problems even my clam seems to like it. the skimmer seems to work well. i was kinda worried about that as i've read all the stories, once i got it adjusted it seemed fine. the tank seems to hang around the 80's and does evaporate alot of water being on the main floor. would i buy another yup