Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 catastrophic failure

[Reginald Reefer III]

The German forums have found issue with the silicone but I can’t understand them

I find that interesting because of the delamination of the seams and not failure/crumbling of the silicone. Could be wrong though. Aquarium safe silicone is pretty straight forward as far as chemical composition goes and the chemical reaction that takes place to bond the glass. The actual bonding is more mechanical though as the Si-O bond is very strong.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

I find that interesting because of the delamination of the seams and not failure/crumbling of the silicone. Could be wrong though. Aquarium safe silicone is pretty straight forward as far as chemical composition goes and the chemical reaction that takes place to bond the glass. The actual bonding is more mechanical though as the Si-O bond is very strong.

Quoting myself - I really think it's due to crappy Chinese made glass with high impurities which causes molecular flaws along the seams. It's the same reason we didn't use Chinese Steel when I was an engineer in O&G when molecular makeup as it relates to mechanical properties becomes insanely important.

 

[Kmst80]

The German forums have found issue with the silicone but I can’t understand them

Shoot me the link, I am German born, I can translate

 

[redseasteve]

Yikes sorry you're going through this

I was literally going to buy a new 250 G2 from BRS tonight or tomorrow... guess will keep looking. The whole "floating" front is the dumbest idea ever. Beyond stupid on RS part.

The aquarium shown is definitely not a G2. It is one of the older models.

 

[redseasteve]

This is not a G2. It is a far older model.

 

[SeeSnek]

Sorry man. That's rough. All Red Sea needs to do is make a few adjustments to their stand and the tank should be fine. I have no idea why they are still selling tanks bound to fail in just a few short years.

Do you have any suggestions about how I could reinforce the stand on my 350 to prevent this from happening?

 

[nickng]

Hey! Do you mind uploading a pic of the Serial Number label? Or Pm me? We’re discussing Gen 2 seam fails in a local club with an LFS owner who has contact with a Red Sea rep. Apparently the Red Sea rep says there is no documented seam fails for G2 tanks, which I feel isn’t true due to all the posts I’ve seen.

That's untrue, there are a couple of reports of G2 and even G2+ failures on the "uncensored Redsea" facebook page. But no reported failures that I have seen of the G2+ MAX-S premium line or the MAX-S older premium lin

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

That's untrue, there are a couple of reports of G2 and even G2+ failures on the "uncensored Redsea" facebook page. But no reported failures that I have seen of the G2+ MAX-S premium line or the MAX-S older premium lin

I know, but so far I haven’t found someone willing to show proof that it’s a G2. That’s what I’m looking for

 

[victoria casella]

Red Sea has left us hanging. Their only and final offer was a discount to purchase a new aquarium system from them. I’m out thousands for the aquarium to say nothing of having to rip up my oak floors and subfloors for complete replacement. This has been a nightmare.

I also want to call out their business partner, Bulk Reef Supply, who I bought this tank through. I asked for their help in navigating this with Red Sea because surely they’ve had other customers with this problem and they are better able to get attention there than I am. They had a polite form letter declining to get involved.

I feel your pain I took the discount on a new 750 and a month later it’s leaking…. They sent me a replacement, but I’m afraid to set it up…

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Do you have any suggestions about how I could reinforce the stand on my 350 to prevent this from happening?

Sorry, but unfortuantly no. I'm not very knowledgeable in this subject and I would hate to give wrong advice. #reefsqaud?

 

[VintageReefer]

Shoot me the link, I am German born, I can translate

Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 catastrophic failure

Sorry to hear this. I purchased a reefer 425 G2+ in Nov 2023, the ATO that came with the tank malfunctioned less than a year. Contacted red sea support, and they insisted on their weird "warranty policy", can't deilver the replacement parts directly to me. Instead they could only deilver the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[merkmerk73]

This is not a G2. It is a far older model.

Thanks for clarifying this

I've been seeing multiple reports of people claiming their "G2 failed" but it never ends up actually being a G2

I'm not making excuses for Red Sea but it's hard for those of us trying to decide whether we should get a G2 which supposedly fixes the issues of others G1 tanks and comes with a 5 year warranty

 

[Kmst80]

Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 catastrophic failure

Sorry to hear this. I purchased a reefer 425 G2+ in Nov 2023, the ATO that came with the tank malfunctioned less than a year. Contacted red sea support, and they insisted on their weird "warranty policy", can't deilver the replacement parts directly to me. Instead they could only deilver the...

www.reef2reef.com

So they are talking in this forum about the silicone being the problem. They say that red sea is using a 2k silicone that is fast curing, hence you have a faster production. They also talk about other companies using 1k silicone that forms an acetic net. But that takes 1day per mm to dry, so a tank with 15 mm glass takes 14 days before it can be moved.
They compare the big all in one producers like red sea, waterbox, aqueon, etc. that have only 2/3 years warranty to smaller german companies like brilliant, diamant that have 10 to 15 years warranty on leaking. And the difference is the silicone used.
They also mention there must be contributing factors for red sea tanks leaking much more often than tanks of the other big manufacturers.
By the way they claim that it affects G2 tanks as well.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

So they are talking in this forum about the silicone being the problem. They say that red sea is using a 2k silicone that is fast curing, hence you have a faster production. They also talk about other companies using 1k silicone that forms an acetic net. But that takes 1day per mm to dry, so a tank with 15 mm glass takes 14 days before it can be moved.
They compare the big all in one producers like red sea, waterbox, aqueon, etc. that have only 2/3 years warranty to smaller german companies like brilliant, diamant that have 10 to 15 years warranty on leaking. And the difference is the silicone used.
They also mention there must be contributing factors for red sea tanks leaking much more often than tanks of the other big manufacturers.
By the way they claim that it affects G2 tanks as well.

Interesting. Faster cure = faster out the door maybe? Even if you cure faster, it's still going to sit for at least a month or more prior to seeing water. Doesn't seem like the best choice for something as insanely critical as the only thing keeping potentially hundreds of gallons of saltwater off your hardwood floors.

 

[Dom]

I believe Waterbox has the same design. It allows the doors when closed to align with the aquarium front.

If that is the case, the should design the stand so that the whole tank sits on top and the doors shorter to close flush UNDER the top.

 

[Kmst80]

Interesting. Faster cure = faster out the door maybe? Even if you cure faster, it's still going to sit for at least a month or more prior to seeing water. Doesn't seem like the best choice for something as insanely critical as the only thing keeping potentially hundreds of gallons of saltwater off your hardwood floors.

It's funny coz back in the days we used to build a steel frames tank and the glass was embedded in putty. My first tank was like that and that was a hand down from my dad, that thing would have been 20 years running no problem.

 

[VintageReefer]

If that is the case, the should design the stand so that the whole tank sits on top and the doors shorter to close flush UNDER the top.

It doesn’t matter because the issue is 2 part

1) the stand isn’t properly braced allowing bottom panel to deflect / bow

2) the front pane has very little downwards pressure…It’s outwards pressure. Having the front panel on a surface doesn’t do anything to alleviate the outwards pressure.

If the tank + stand are properly designed, the bottom will be properly supported and not have any bowing long term, and the seams will be strong enough to handle outwards pressure for a lifetime

If the seams aren’t the best, and the bottoms flexes due to improper supported stand, too thin of glass, whatever, then those seams are going to bust

 

[Tamberav]

Interesting. Faster cure = faster out the door maybe? Even if you cure faster, it's still going to sit for at least a month or more prior to seeing water. Doesn't seem like the best choice for something as insanely critical as the only thing keeping potentially hundreds of gallons of saltwater off your hardwood floors.

I took it as a faster cure means you can physically move it and being able to pump more out increases profit.

Maybe being the most popular brand means cutting corners to meet demand.

 

[Amphibious Wallet]

IMO it's the chemical makeup of the glass they use and the silicone that they use to bond it with. Silicone is supposed to create a chemical/mechanical bond with glass and if the glass is not correct, the silicone will not correctly bond.

I feel like some of the threads we've seen with the side-seals show that the burst isn't from silicone de-laminating from the glass itself, but the silicone itself rupturing as you can see silicone still adhered to both surfaces.

 

[Dom]

It doesn’t matter because the issue is 2 part

1) the stand isn’t properly braced allowing bottom panel to deflect / bow

2) the front pane has very little downwards pressure…It’s outwards pressure. Having the front panel on a surface doesn’t do anything to alleviate the outwards pressure.

If the tank + stand are properly designed, the bottom will be properly supported and not have any bowing long term, and the seams will be strong enough to handle outwards pressure for a lifetime

If the seams aren’t the best, and the bottoms flexes due to improper supported stand, too thin of glass, whatever, then those seams are going to bust

I can understand this...

- I hadn't considered bowing due to the thickness and rigidity of the bottom.

- I would think that the downward pressure on the front pain (due to not being supported) would be a contributing factor.