What inspired to get into reefkeeping in the first place was a trip to the small Thai island of Racha. After this experience I wanted a part of this beautiful world in my living room. After doing some research, I found that Red Sea Max had all I wanted: an all-in-one solution with good lighting and skimming – and no less importantly, a very nice design. The consensus among my forum friends was that the MAX is the best way to start reefing. And when I showed my wife the video of the Red Sea Max on the website, she agreed too!
I have been running my MAX for about 5 months now. At first, I introduced 20 kg of live rock and left it there for 45 days with no lighting. (The key of this hobby is patience!) Then I began to gradually introduce a photoperiod regime. Now I have 8 hours of lighting and no algae problems, thought the clean-up crew and phosphate removal have also done their share. The only inhabitants that enjoy my hospitality are 10 turbo snails, 4 red leg hermits, two cleaner shrimps, two tubeworms, one clown fish, and finally some acropora frags from forum friends.
As you can see I don't like to rush things at all, I want to enjoy the procedure of adding a small thing every week. The next additions will be some soft corals like bubbles, heliofungia , brain etc; as for fishes, Pseudocheilinus hexataenia, Gobiosoma oceanops, Pseudochromis fridmani, Amblygobius phalaena and finally Zebrasoma flavescens. I have to admit that I like doing DIY modifications, though the compact dimensions of the MAX don't offer much modding scope. The only thing that I found that needed improvement was the moonlighting (I changed the LED resistors) and the circulation (added two pumps of 900 lph and 300 lph). I experienced the micro bubble problem for the first two weeks, but after cutting the black foam everything is okay. Over time as the tank matures, I would like to remove all the biological filtration as I'm a fan of natural systems.
Whenever I have needed support, I have found all the answers I need in the online FAQ guide, but mostly from my forum friends from around the world.
Now I’m thinking of making a refugium for chaeto macroalgae. I've already modified an old canister filter with a submersible light but I haven’t used it yet because I’m afraid of heating problems. I also installed a small computer fan at the back of the tank aid cooling. This fan and the heater are controlled by an Eliwell IC915 temperature controller. Next mods will be a sunset and sunrise system, a top-off with kalkwasser and a chiller. In Greece we have very hot summers and the use of a chiller is obligatory. I spent I lot of my free time with my wife in front of the MAX watching Rudolf, the clown fish. He enjoys our petting a lot.
The Red Sea MAX is the best gift I ever bought for myself!
