I'm not sure you are being completely fair with pricing. The RSM 250 is something like $1750 to $1800 before taxes. Now if you go buy a 60 or 65 gallon reef ready tank with stand I think you will pay around $600. You could probably save $200 by drilling it yourself (some risk of cracking) and putting in your own overflow but to compare apples to apples let's go reef ready. Then add a sump too at extra cost, let's say $200 if you want to buy a ready to go one. A Nova Extreme Pro with 6 x 39 watts lighting would be another $450 so you are up over $1200 already. Now add some a return pump, heater, a powerhead or two, timers for lights and a skimmer and I think you will be pretty close to the RSM price.
I think if you want to buy a ready to go system the premium for the RSM is maybe $100 to $150 at most and for that you get a nice clean integrated system. You could probably save a few hundred more going DIY for some of that, and yes, your system may be more versatile, but many people would like an out of the box, ready to go system and this one really isn't all that expensive for what you get (IMHO).
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