Red Sea Max- Should I?

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Twicksisted

Feeder Fish
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Jul 13, 2007
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As some of you might know, I have a 55G setup fresh water in my basement at the moment. Ive just had a birthday and thought that I need to buy myself a present :)

Anyways, I have always wanted to try my hand at tropical marine and did a lot of reading into nano tanks, and eventually got to the "Red Sea Max" nano tank. This to me makes the most sense due to its size (bigger than the smaller nanos so a better biotope). By the looks of it, it has everything needed for a small reef setup of corals, ananomes and a few inverts and fish.

Heres a few questions that hopefully some of you can help with:

1.) If I were to buy this Red Sea Max kit, would I need to buy any other equipment to get setup?

2.)I notice that the cabinet has space for a chiller... what is a chiller and what function does it have in marine setups? is this to keep the water at a constant due to the heat generated by the lighting and pumps? would I need one?

3.)Any mods that I should do to the tank before setting it up to make it function better? such as replace pumps with stronger ones, or use different lighting / protein skimmer (I see loads of people do mods with smaller nanos to make them work properly.)

4.)What are the water change requirements for a small setup like this..? weelky / daily / fortnightly etc...? how much water would I be replacing each change as I would probably buy a large container and store it for changes.
 
S

sweeTang21

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Mar 10, 2007
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I believe you have the option of choosing certain lighting, between halide or compact. I don't think they started offering t-5 yet but i would do the compact. The reason why is because you have actinic and white. I think the halide setup has just the halide, give you a loss of actinic for enhanced color. would also create less heat

Yes a chiller is a device for keeping water cool, when the lights are on. Small tanks can increase in temp much faster then a larger tank would but both applications are prone to this. I dont want to say you need one right off hand, but you will want to run some tests with the lights on and off to see the average temp gets at.

water changes will be decreased with using skimmers and good filtration, but should still have at least 10% a week. thats just my opinion though.
 
T

Twicksisted

Feeder Fish
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Jul 13, 2007
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I was looking over the idea of a Red Sea Max last night with my partner, and she reckons maybe we should start with a Nano cube first as they are a third of the price, then if it works out well, upgrade to a Red Sea Max... instead of forking out a lot of money only to find that a nano cube would have been cheaper and just as good ;)

I have been keeping fresh water for the last 20 years or so (on and off) and have never had any deaths due to bad filtration or water quality (once heaters stuck, but thats no fault of mine)... Im pretty sure that I would have a thriving reef setup and do the neccessary homework where needed.

Are those nano cubes capable of working effectively with all the kit included, or are they just the beginning of no end as far as having to mod them out and constantly clean them to sustain life? Would the Red Sea Max just be loads better and a Nano cube would just be a waste of time and money?
 
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onepiece

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Apr 4, 2008
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1) Probably a chiller since red sea uses halide which can make the water very warm quickly

2) Chiller keeps water from overheating

3) You can add an overflow, sump, and top-off

4) Ideally everyday is best but weekly water chanes are adequate
 
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sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
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Mar 10, 2007
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I would get the largest tank allowed in all honesty. Its been said a million times that larger is better in this case due to stability. Making a mistake is not uncommon in life and they are bound to happen. larger tanks allow for more wiggle room so if one does happen the chances of getting it fixed and taken care of are more likely.

That system should already have an overflow integrated into it, with almost no friendly way of adding a sump. It should be referred to as a RR kit, or Reef Ready. A skimmer is also included into the back of the kit as well. there is also a compartment that you would place the chiller pump, meaning theres a special chiller made for this system, which in my best guess would cost an arm and leg.

Standard lighting for the system is 2 50/50 pc bulbs which will have some heat issues, but not much. Still being such an enclosed system with a complete hood, i would say that your going to have some increase in heat when the lights are on and then a decrease when off. This up and down difference will not be great for livestock.
 
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