Red Sea Max 500

[RedSeaKev]

Coral Pro Salt brochure

I've just heard coralculture.co.uk is taking pre-orders for the new Coral Pro Salt for £59.99 inc. delivery for 22kg bucket.

Seachem have been too slow to launch 'salinity' in the uk. I think I will try new Coral Pro and compare it to KZ reefers best

Hi Folks,Just to clarify, it's the new 22kg Red Sea salt that is available from the 9th of July, this salt is perfect for fish and invertebrate system it would also be perfect for low nutrient systems.

The new Red Sea Coral Pro is hoping to land early next month I'll keep you updated

 

[Buldog]

Looks very nice, but they will probably put a 3000.00 price tag on it!

Damn right!! it's too over priced!! :-(

 

[tnwillia]

BulDog, Actually the 3K price tag would not be bad for what you get. Others are talking about it coming out closer to 4500. I'm guessing it's still being built so no one really knows till Kev gives up the goods. Have fun!

 

[torero500]

I've thought about my earlier post and think I should revise it some. It will be true that you will be able to buy and assemble a system yourself comparable to the 500, but using superior, more quiet equipment, pumps, controllers, etc., than the estimated 500 price tag. And probably by a magnitude of a couple thousand dollars.

But a huge factor that is going to drive sales is the fact that the 500 will be, for the most part, already put together and ready to fill. Forums like these will generate a list of parts to replace before plugging it in, order those and save yourself a bunch of time at the start.

The saltwater aquarium industry and hobbyists generally underestimate the value of people's time. To build your own saltwater system that looks, runs, and sounds decent takes an huge amount of time in terms of research, buying equipment, assembling, trouble shooting, and going back to the hardware store a seemingly endless amount of times for this plumbing part and that plumbing part.

The 500 will address those people who either don't know how to build a system, or want to do it...but want a big darn saltwater aquarium. Figure the 500 comes in at $4,000 US shipped, and figure another $500 minimum for part upgrades to either quiet it down or improve performance. For about half that you can have a giant pile of aquarium parts, pieces, and EQ on your own, but at the cost of about 100 man hours doing all the work to truly build a decent quiet system.

In the end, I think the 500 will be a decent hit despite its price, and glad to see Red Sea introducing another unique product to the market that doesn't have anything really like it out there. Even the 250 largely has no competition for its size already put together.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

and one HUGE plus to all RSM AIO tanks... is the RSM Club & the support you get here... a HUGE time saver... tips & support from other owners, that just can not be replicated.

 

[Nowellsy SNR]

All quiet on the 500?

Any more news?

 

[lethal]

You're pretty keen aren't you buddy? I'm thinking you are going to be the first in the UK to purchase one

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Folks trust me as soon as I have any thing new on the Max S500 you'll know! very busy at the moment getting ready for the launch of the Reef Care Program which is our new range of test kits and additives to complement the new Red Sea salt formulations.

More to follow on this very soon

Red Sea Kev

 

[tnwillia]

Hey Kev, still waiting on US release dates for the new salts, any news?

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hey Kev, still waiting on US release dates for the new salts, any news?

Hi tnwillia,

I do have news on the new salt for the States market but unfortunately its not good, based on current stock levels in the USA it will be October before you see it shipped into the States, I will try and keep the forum up to date regards stock levels and release dates.

I am also trying to get an update on the new Reef Care program as well this will have some great new products including a new range of test kits and additives.

Red Sea Kev

 

[tnwillia]

OK thanks for that, getting ready too by a couple of buckets and now I know I'll go through them by the time it gets here. Thanks for the info!

 

[proenca]

Honestly, what are they thinking ?

I think RS got it all wrong with this 500...

Price too steep, sub par internals, nothing fancy about it.

For 3000 I can much better tank, even from other AIO companies...

540w of T5 power is ok for low maintanance SPS... c'mon... you going to spend 4000 euros on a tank and it still limits your coral that you can put on '

please...

I can understand that in 130 ( I have one and love it ) and the concept of the 130 is brilliant : lovely design, unusual rounded corners, good aio, good pricing.

250 starts to loose a bit on the inovations but still a decent tank.

for the 500 to become attractive they would have to, in my opinion :

- use rounded front glass. now THAT would be something completly different
- use LED lights as primary and only source of light
- use light computer with phases ( step by step dawn and dusk, ranging from 2 hour sunsets and sunrise etc )
- ph probe + salinity measuring system
- temperature measuring system
- LCD in the hood that nicely displays the PH, salinity and temperature and other thingies

now with that you can even throw another 500 or so euros at the project price and people would buy it because :

would be a stylish aquarium
well equipped
different from the norm
easy

all these attributes were exactly what made the 130 and 130D a sucess.

the way the 500 is at the moment, is just a expensive boring aquarium that you can do MUCH better with tons of LESSER money...

my opinion

 

[Reefmack]

Very good points Gonçalo!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Price too steep

I am one who thinks as no one knows the price yet & that it's going to be priced at a point that will sell thousands, like all the other RSM tanks...

I may be in the minority opinion here, but it make no economic since to me to price it at a point that won't sell, Red Sea has always priced thier tanks at the point that they sell huge quantities.

Lets hope...

 

[Reefmack]

Also a good point Glenn. I still think a better setup could be put together than the 500, at equal or most likely lower cost. I see nothing really special about the 500 - it doesn't even look like what we've come to think of as the "RSM look". I'm not in the market for a bigger tank, but I'd never buy another AIO till the bugs have been revealed.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

All Red Sea has to do... is make the same profit margin as they do all their other tanks - buy, build & sell in quantities.

I think it will come in at around $3,200 US / 2480 Euros and be a great AIO tank.

If it's over $4,000 US / 3100 Euros - we can start the debate on what we could build one for ourselves...

Here hoping, I just don't see it being much more than twice the price of a RSM 250 !

 

[steveh]

Prenca, Thanks for your comments and opinions, and of course for being a much appreciated Max owner.
I was fortunate enough to attend the Interzoo trade show where the Max S-500 was shown for the first time. The over-whelming response from retailers, distributors and experienced reef-keepers who actually saw the system suggests that Red Sea may have produced a system which will meet the demands of many, if not all hobbyists.

We welcome the diversity of opinions into the aesthetics of an aquarium, and of course value for money is always subjective. However to ensure people leave forums with accurate information we should clear up some of the inaccurate comments in order to properly reflect the scientific reality behind the product.

Regarding the lighting, five years of research into coral physiology and the requirements of coral species in a reef aquarium, carried out by our team of scientists enables us to be completely confident that we have exactly the lighting system required for even the most demanding sps corals. As for the benefits (or otherwise) of LED lighting, we will reserve our comments for another time. Suffice to say that we have not simply assembled an aquarium and offered it for sale without very extensive testing into its suitability.
As to the "sub par internals", the entire system has been designed around the goal of enabling hobbyists of any level of experience to enjoy the beauty of a coral reef aquarium. I can speak from experience when I say that I know it performs brilliantly, and once you compare properly the specification it is unlikely that you will come close to achieving the same goal within a similar budget.
However, the aquarium isn’t even available to the public yet so perhaps we should reserve judgement until we see one.
In the meantime I will enjoy being fortunate enough to be able to see for myself the sps corals continuing to flourish in the prototype Max S-500's which have been running for many months, and which Red Sea continues to test on a long term basis. Happy reefkeeping to one and all.

 

[RedSeaKev]

I really enjoy reading the posts on this forum which I have to say a lot of the time are very encouraging, Red Sea as a company really take on board what you our customers think, I have noted a few concerns and comments about cost and specification and have asked Red Sea Steve to comment as I'm sure he will.

Again I thank you all for your input and comments on what I believe will be a first class product and after 35 years as an aquarist and 15 years of working in the aquatic trade I think I'm reasonably placed to make an unbiased opinion.

Red Sea Kev

PS to late he already has!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Thanks for the post Steve and Kevin !

I can speak from experience when I say that I know it performs brilliantly, and once you compare properly the specification it is unlikely that you will come close to achieving the same goal within a similar budget.

What more could I ask ! My price guess might be off... but if the above statement is true, Red Sea will have another winner !!!

 

[Reefmack]

Good sales pitch (as expected), but I'll be a believer in the 500 after it's been on the market for 3-6 months, and been proven to be problem free. After suffering through the "growing pains" of the 130 model, and seeing the same occur with problems with the 250, I'll reserve judgment for now.