How hot is too hot?

[wickedfish]

My display is 78-7-80.1 in the morning, and 80-81.9 in the afternoons and evening. I kind of got lost on what is Ideal for sps temperature wise? I guess consistency is what I gather from the posts. And if I didn't have a temp probe or a controller I would freak out, Sana your a brave, brave person.

 

[sanababit]

My display is 78-7-80.1 in the morning, and 80-81.9 in the afternoons and evening. I kind of got lost on what is Ideal for sps temperature wise? I guess consistency is what I gather from the posts. And if I didn't have a temp probe or a controller I would freak out, Sana your a brave, brave person.

Well i am brave enough to have this tank without a chiller for a little more than 3 years now

IMHO, it's not about beign brave, it's just common sense, i just cant believe that the ocean has a constant temp, there are currents and tides that bring cold or hot water in to the shore, which ever is the case.... i understand that stability in a tank is good, BUT what happens when that stability is taken away, electricity goes down, chiller broke, things might get stressed and die, so my tank is what i call the chaos tank, i have temp swings, no water changes (well sometimes, maybe a couple a year), used chemiclean, flatworm exit, interceptor, algaefix marine, basically the only param that i really TRY to keep in range is ALK (7-10 dkh) and salinity, and i try to keep my hands out too, but its hard, lol

sana

 

[Thairun]

Hey dude, I really salute you with such temp fluctuation! You will never be good if in our tropical country.
Good work. Nice tank you have there.
Good growth and color.

 

[george albert]

in the winter mine stays at 78-80 and in the summer around 82-84 with no problems

 

[ShawnKPD]

My tank swings daily between 77.9 and 81.5 and I've not had any problems

 

[Allmost]

Sana, I'm just really interested in what you are doing so please dont get me wrong I'm just tired of running AC all the time 24/7 lol

would you say that your corals, since the grew in these conditions, are adapted to it ? meaning if you put a new colony in, it may not make it due to the temp swing right ?

if growth is doubled at 86, why not keep it all year there ? too cold in winters ?

 

[Dave71]

How hot is too hot?....110 degrees is too hot...i am sure about that :smokin:

By the responses you can tell, there isn't a silver bullet answer for these questions. Too many variables need to be considered.

That said - if you look at Borneman's book they surveyed one thousand reefs for temperature.

Coldest Reef - Low 16 C (61 F) High 28 C (82 F) Avg 25 C (77 F)
Hottest Reef - Low 25 C (77 F) High 34 C (93 F) Avg 30 C (86 F)
Avg of all reefs - Low 21 C (70 F) High 30 C (86 F) Avg 28 C (82 F)

 

[reefling]

my temp ranges from 78-84, but it is consistent. in the winter the range was much lower like 76-82, but it did the same thing every day. I live near houston texas so we only have 2 seasons. stony corals are usually best suited for high temperatures. they are in the shallow seas where the water is much hotter. I would be more worried about deepwater zoas having problems. I say the key is consistency. each sps I add takes about 3 months to start growing. my blue tip stag took longer. I have been doing sps since the fall and my frags have tripled in size since then. I did not know eric borneman was so well known, I live 10 minutes from him haha.

 

[MCCOOL]

Winter 72-78
Summer 80-86

I don't have a heater,or a chiller, or fans. my tank has reached 90 without issue, but only because of the consistently wild temp swings IMO. It's a mixed reef, but has numerous SPS corals.

I think the people that keep their tanks within a degree or two variation year round are the brave ones. what happens when your heater or chiller fails? a 4 degree swing can ruin your day, where as, I know my tank can handle it without any stress at all.

All just my opinion of course, no real science to back it up.

 

[Allmost]

Winter 72-78
Summer 80-86

I don't have a heater,or a chiller, or fans. my tank has reached 90 without issue, but only because of the consistently wild temp swings IMO. It's a mixed reef, but has numerous SPS corals.

I think the people that keep their tanks within a degree or two variation year round are the brave ones. what happens when your heater or chiller fails? a 4 degree swing can ruin your day, where as, I know my tank can handle it without any stress at all.

All just my opinion of course, no real science to back it up.

so you think your corals are trained to it right ? okay

what if I sent you a frag ? it will be trained as well ? will it stay alive untill it gets that temp changes around here ? how did u train ures ? how do you add new corals ?

not saying ure wrong, just trying to understand

 

[MCCOOL]

throughout the few years my tank has been this way, I haven't had any losses from temp related issues. the only losses I have had, have come months after acquiring the coral, so I assume this rules out temp issues.

I don't do anything special when adding corals, just place them on the bottom to light acclimate them.

It should be noted, my tank doesn't ALWAYS swing that much every day, those are just average summer and winter highs and lows.

edit: feel free to send me a frag to test :lmao:

 

[jestersix]

Running mine between 80 and 82.5. No problems so far.

 

[T-Boner]

Well my chiller gets here Thursday but in the mean time I lost another coral it was a deep water acro. Here it is

 

[iamwrasseman]

i maintain a tank and it got up to 86 before we got a chiller hooked up and the stress from the temp gave them an ick outbreak . 3 weeks later we are just getting a handle on the ick and the tank is down to 79 ~

 

[sanababit]

Sana, I'm just really interested in what you are doing so please dont get me wrong I'm just tired of running AC all the time 24/7 lol

would you say that your corals, since the grew in these conditions, are adapted to it ? meaning if you put a new colony in, it may not make it due to the temp swing right ?

if growth is doubled at 86, why not keep it all year there ? too cold in winters ?

Yes corals DO adapt, it might not make it or it might, it all depends how healty it is to begin with and the conditions it was before, i really dont buy colonies, i like frags, i like to watch them grow and if a frag dies i can always get another one, i really cant maintain the tank at 86 because it would be the same as maintaining a tank at 79, or 76, or 80, i like the swing in temp and i really dont want to waste electricity either, besides i live in tijuana and my corals grow a LOT, i cant give them away because there's not a lot of people in the hobby here and i cant cross the border with corals (tried it once and almost went to jail, long story, lol) so every time i frag i just throw them in the sump or put them on a little rack, and they wait there till someone wants to come pick them up or trade, lol

Sana

 

[sanababit]

Hey dude, I really salute you with such temp fluctuation! You will never be good if in our tropical country.
Good work. Nice tank you have there.
Good growth and color.

Thank you sir, and i see from your avatar pic that you have a very nice looking tank also, lol

Sana

 

[sanababit]

Well my chiller gets here Thursday but in the mean time I lost another coral it was a deep water acro. Here it is

Hi t-boner, well that sucks, how hot did your tank get?, how long did you have the frag?, did you check alk, salinity, calcium?, did you light acclimate it?, did you dip it before putting it into your display?....

Sana

 

[scottwhitson]

I agree 100% with EVERYTHNG sanababit is saying. I don't think any SPS losses occur from TEMP alone in the mid 80's unless your tank has been TOO stable with a chiller.

 

[mutateddogbone]

summertime temps on reefs in the wild have been recorded up to 88 degrees, and wintertime temps as low as 76. if you split the difference, you sit right around 82 degrees which i keep my tank close to that. its just sudden changes that will nuke corals. ive heard of a few people keeping their tanks at 85 for increased growth, but that is playing with fire. best temp IMO is 80-82, but like others have said, the key is stability

 

[jimroth]

I am trying to run without a chiller. I have an open-topped system with a fan blowing across it. We have central AC but the sump and backend equipment are in the garage, which is HOT (90F+). So far, as long as the fan is blowing across the tank I have been able to maintain 83F. Without the fan (oops) it hit 86F. My corals all look fine though.