HELP! Red Sea max s400-led or a Red Sea REEFER 250

Richard 2018

New Member
Good evening fellow hobbies

My wife and I are looking at getting back into the hobby after failing 8 years ago after some bad advice from my then LFS.

The space we have has led us too the 2 tanks at the top of this post (we just can’t go wider)

We would like to eventually have a nice reef with fish and inverts.(my wife would love a mandarin in a year or so if poss)

We know the money is a lot different but wanted to check that if we got the Max that in a years time we will need to be upgrading shimmers or gutted we don’t have more space in the sump. As with the reefer it’s is cheaper if things turn bad (again). And once we’ve got all the bits needed.

Any advice we could get we would love to here
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If I were picking the system only on the technical specs, the max s400 led system would be by far the better choice. However it costs about 3 times the price of the reefer 250. You would also need to add some sort of good lighting to the reefer 250. To get similar lighting to the max s400 led system, you'd spend about $800, but if you could be content with something not quite as fancy this could be a lot less.

Before you spend any money, think very carefully about what you are trying to do with the system. What fish and other livestock do you want to keep? How much time do you want to devote to the tank? Lastly, how much money are you willing to spend? You need no plan everything down to the last detail, but you do need to consider these factors. For example if you want to keep a tang, a reefer 250 is far too small a tank.

Also consider why you failed the first time. Often the best investment is a few books on the subject.

As for needing to upgrade, this comes down to how much you want to keep pushing the system. Many people make massive upgrades to a system, and often they get better results. One you have made some major upgrades you reach the point where anything additional is only marginally better.

Either system would work for you. It's more a question of which one your more comfortable with. For example, if you need to tear the tank down and set it up again, the larger tank is going to be a lot more work.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
There is no comparison and the Max S Systems are the top of the Red Sea range.

You don’t ‘need’ to change anything in them. Many change the skimmer, as we search for ‘better’ but the C Skim works fine

Also there are no wires showing so it’s a beautiful piece of furniture in your home.

Unfortunately you get what you pay for.........

PS make space for an S 650 because once your addicted you’ll wish you had !lol
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
The Max system will be outstanding from day one, neat, beautiful and easy but you have to pay for it.

The Reefer is good, not as neat but still good and easier to sell by piece in case you decide to leave the hobby.

From my point of view, go for the S-400, it is much better and will give you also less headaches therefore you will enjoy the hobby the most (and its cost will make sure you put all the efforts to make it work!) LOL

Honestly go for the Max system.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: SPR
Top