day/night Temp swings

so I tried to find how much PH changes if temp was to drop 10 degrees, its 0.01 !
here is a good calculator for equilibrium PH. keep all stable and change value of temp ...
http://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EquilibriumPh.php

I understand what you are trying to compute with the calculator but there is a direct correlation between temperature and pH. One of the keys to keeping a stable pH is having a stable temperature. Test you pH with the lights come on and also test it again with the lights go off. High temperature swings = High pH swings.
 
IMO, nothing good every happens fast in a reef tank. Although there maybe benefits to large temperature swings, it is though to get the best growth and colors with large temperature swings. It is true that a browned out acro is much more hardy than a delicate species like acropora echinata. If you are looking into keeping rarer species, keeping stable parameters is the only option.
 
. One of the keys to keeping a stable pH is having a stable temperature. Test you pH with the lights come on and also test it again with the lights go off. High temperature swings = High pH swings.

this daily ph swing you are speaking of has nothing to do with temperature, but everything to do with oxygen and co2
 
Wow 72 is chilly. My heat went out a back in December and I was not using a heater at the time. Tank went to 70 and I lost 2 sps. I got lucky only losing 2 and they where small unattached frags.

Ya nothing seems to mind really when I hit that. I'm running around 550w of heathers right now in a 65g.. It just gets really cold where I live. I'm about to switch out my 2 Stealth though with 3 ebo jagers (2x300, and 1x250) I'm hoping it will keep my temps a bit more stable even if the ambient house temperature drops alot.
 
Couldn't agree more with flyyyguy and sirreal63 I have read lots of threads that someones chiller failed and they lost their entire tank from a temp of 74 or 84 because their tank was used to 80 every hour of the day. As I stated our tank varies from 76-84 and we have great color and growth on corals. I would never attempt to control temp at a steady temperature you are just asking for trouble.
 
Stable parameters should be renamed stable chemistry. Alk, Calcium and Mag are the main three to keep stable. Fluctuating ph is of little concern, fluctuating temps are a good thing, feed heavy, export heavy, provide tons of varying flow and you will have stability. Trying to reach and hold a set of numbers is a recipe for disaster. Keep the main 3 stable and let your tank reach a stasis. Of course there are other ways to grow corals, but it makes sense to have some fault tolerance built into your livestock, they have this in nature and it is like an insurance policy for when the inevitable becomes evident. This has worked for me for 9 years and I have had my tanks hit the upper 80's for brief periods of time with no issues, but I plan for and allow a daily temp swing.

Do what works for you but trust in the fact there are other ways that work as well.
 
I guess you can learn something new every day then.....

I'm not going to say that a large temperature swing is going to crash a reef aquarium but neither do I believe that it is not beneficial to have a stable temperature.

Not trying to be rude here but I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page. How many of you reefers that have large temperature swing able to keep delicate species like echinatas, turaki, caroliniana? I've seen a lot of sps corals grown in different environments.
 
While I have never been much into keeping track of the names of my corals, their "lineage" or where they came from. My old 125 that I took down in 2007 was a perfect illustration of corals adaptability. I lived in St Louis, where it does get hot in the summer, in a building with no a/c. I did have an undersized chiller set to come on at about 84 I believe and the heaters set to not let the tank drop below 76. The tank was a mixed reef and I bought frags from all over the place,locally and a bunch from Reefer Madness,Live Aquaria and did not care about the names but the shapes and colors. I did everything against "conventional wisdom" at the time, I fed papone very heavily, emptied a half skimmer full of crap daily, grew cheato like a weed, used 150 watt 10K XDE bulbs with a single 160 watt VHO Actintic instead of 400 watters, let the temp swing from the mid 70's to the mid 80's and the tank flourished. (I did have a 250 watt bulb in the middle, but the corals grew better under the 150's). I ran ozone, carbon and GFO in a canister filter, added sugar, vodka and vinegar to the tank and everything flourished. I allowed some algae in the display tank. I am no expert on reef tanks, I learn more every day and I am thankful for this venue that openly shares information. I try to share my own observations and applaud everyone that does. There are no set ways of doing things, but I have seen many threads where people who have kept a constant temp in their tank have had catastrophic failure by not allowing some fault tolerance in temps.

I still don't care about coral names or lineage and never will.

This was it just before taking it down in 2007 and while it was not a showpiece, it was my proof to myself that conventional wisdom at the time had flaws in it. I am sorry I did not have time to let this tank grow a few more years but it was time to come home to Texas.
1257-15lsfts.jpg



Feel free to browse my photobucket page, you may find some of the coral varieties you ask about.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v362/sirreal63/125/

This topic has been beat to death so many times over the years that many people who know simply won't participate in the discussion any longer. Reefs in the ocean do not have this completely stable and harmonious existence, it is frequently harsh and violent with change in virtually everything but the big three remain fairly constant, alk, calc and mag.

{soapbox off} :-)
 
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I use the seasonal setpoints built into my Apex controller. The temp setpoint resets almost daily by 1/10th of a degree with the seasons. Min 75 in Winter to max 80 in summer. I keep my tank temp within 1 degree of daily setpoint using the Apex with a chiller and equip residual heat with backup heater. Everything looks fine and you do get the temp swings but they are 6 months in duration.
 
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