Red Sea Max V Aqua Medic Chromis

[Jingles]

Hi all

I'm looking into purchasing a second smaller tank..

The two that have been of most interest are the aqua medic chromis, and the red sea max.

Both look pretty good. The chromis comes with halides etc. The only concern I have with the red sea max is the skimmer. Is this the same skimmer as the red sea prism skimmer? I have had heard bad things of it. The red sea max look a lovely system although not available in the uk yet.

What would you chaps go for. Are there better complete tank set ups I'm missing.

Thanks in advance

[TeeJay77]

I have a chromis - excellent tank and equipment included

[hammerswinger]

I would go with the aqua medic tank. The max has a prizm which is a piece of junk. I had one and threw it out. I think the aqua medic tank also has a built in refugium if i read right?

[Fishy149]

I have a Chromis, bought it second hand on Aquarist Classified (worth looking as they come up reasonably regularly). I stripped down the filtration and power head but it was still very noisy. In the end I ditched the stock filters and replaced it with a fluval 305 (Filter floss, Carbon and Phosphate remover only) and a Deltec MCE300. The result works very well for me. The 150W MH is fine and I have added a T5 unit replacing the little cover at the back of the tank. The finished tank looks very smart and has reasonable flow (thanks to the Fluval). I have a TUnze Nano Stream on order to complete the set-up.

[Fishy149]

Double post

[Jingles]

Thanks for that

Fishy149 do you meam the turbo flotor was very noisey?

Im still leaning towards the red sea max, just a bit worried about that skimmer. They both retail at around £700 in the uk. Thats a lot of dollars.

Has anyone out there got a red sea max???

[Fishy149]

Yes the turbo flotor was noisy and I was not really impressed with the sponge wheel idea. When I bought the system the sponge had a lot a algae remains on it. I think the wheel works in much the same way as a trickle filter and in the long term would be a problem for nitrates - just my opinion.

Another solution might be just to get a similar sized tank and stand custom made and add the lights etc that you want. I think this would be similar in overall price and allow you to specify the best/latest equipment.

[smklaw]

Does anybody know where to buy the Chromis in the US?

[Fishdave]

If you look at the stats on the Max tank, the skimmer is their bigger prizm pro, not a regular prizm. Still a prizm, yes, but at least it is the bigger one that is box rated for 300 gal that is running the 34 gal Max tank. IMO, that sounds pretty good.

Does anybody know how thick the glass is on the Chromis?

[Fishy149]

Just measured the glass on my Chromis. Its 7mm (about 9/32" ?). The build quality of the tank and the stand on the Chromis is very good (no cheap plastics here). No real comparison to the Red Sea but they are different concepts. The Chromis is a conventional tank with a good quality pendant MH light and HOB skimmer/filter. The Red Sea has the built in filtration system and fuge but is less flexible in modding.

[celron]

I think the aqua medic tank also has a built in refugium if i read right? [/B]

The Red Sea has the built in filtration system and fuge but is less flexible in modding


I'm not sure where these refugium ideas are comming from for these two tanks. I'm pretty sure neither has a fuge.....

:confused:

[smklaw]

Anybody? All this discussion and I can't even find one to buy.

[Fishy149]

Sorry perhaps I confused things here. Don't know much about the Red Sea I assumed from an earlier post that it had a fuge but I stand corrected. The Chromis does NOT have a fuge it comes with a powerhead and a second internal pump that powers a HOB skimmer and filter arrangement.

[GSMguy]

for the money you are better off buyin a seperate tank light and skimmer and getting something quality

[celron]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8744497#post8744497 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
for the money you are better off buyin a seperate tank light and skimmer and getting something quality

I would never say that Red Sea make anything but quaility products IMO.

There is a market for these tanks and I dont think that performance plays much of a part. Yes you will get the same results and perhaps pay a little less money if you set a tank up yourself. What you're paying for here is a good system, sleek design and (hopefully) a huge following with lots of spare parts.

I think that this may be the beginning of a new generation. You may be able to pop out and grab a new pump for this tank as easily as you would some new filter wool. I believe that this is a fantastic place to start if you want a new tank of this size. It compares favourably to other tanks in it's class ONLY after they have had mods done to them. Everyone needs to remember that this tank comes straight out of the box. It can only go up and up from the impressive stats that it initially boasts....

[celron]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8726839#post8726839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hammerswinger
I would go with the aqua medic tank. The max has a prizm which is a piece of junk. I had one and threw it out. I think the aqua medic tank also has a built in refugium if i read right?

The aqua medic does NOT have a fuge so I think we can dismiss this vote?!

Surely you have to have knowledge of both systems to make a fair judgement? Please, people are making decisions that cost them money based on posts here....