Back at it after a 13 year hiatus.

[Thatwindguy]

Hi all, I’m finally getting back into the hobby after a 13 year break. I previously had a 90 gallon cube reef tank and I loved it. Unfortunately after the loss of a child and a paralyzing depression that lasted for almost 2 years I fell out of the hobby and then life took over. I’m finally back in a really good place and want to get back into it.

I’m going to be buying a RedSea Reefer Max S-1000 G2+ at the next big sale of the year. I primarily want to use live sand/rock, LPS, some softies and as many fish as 260 gallons will accommodate. Is the RedSea Max a good option? I like that it’s a complete system and plug and play in a sense. Thanks for any advice and I am really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

 

[griss]

Welcome back, I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. I’m glad to hear you’ve been able to finally move forward.

While I have never had a Red Sea tank, there have been many reports of issues with them springing leaks. So many, the I personally would never buy one.

I would look to Glass Cages, Planet Aquarium (former Oceanic employees) or Seapora who all have good reputations.

For live rock, we can’t get real Fiji, Tonga, Marshall Island etc anymore as those locations have banned the collection of wild live rock.

That said, Walt Smith aquacultures rock in Fiji but, IMO, it has no life compared to the wild rock we used to get.

Also, there are a couple US aquaculture companies that provide very nice live rock.

Tampa Bay Saltwater and Gulf Live Rock offer Gulf of Mexico live rock and both have a great reputation. I have never purchased either just what I’ve heard about these two companies for years.

KP Aquatics offers Caribbean live rock. I have their premium live rock in my tank and it’s some of the best I’ve seen in years.

Australian live rock had made its way into the hobby but is pricy at around $25/lb.

 

[Reefing102]

Welcome back! Griss gave some good advice. Some other full set up brands are innovative marine, Cade and Waterbox. Haven’t seen many if any issues with those brands compared to Red Sea.

That said, I haven’t heard of many issues with Red Sea equipment (outside of the tanks). So their lighting, filter rollers, dosing pumps, etc should be good to go.


Also be prepared for a sticker shock on corals (especially many LPS).

 

[Thatwindguy]

Well that puts me back to the drawing board. I definitely don’t want to deal with leaks from a tank set up that costs 13k. I appreciate the advice.