Ideal temp swing

[FlipToast]

It is cooled in winter and heated in summer. All Naturalle. Indiana too..so its really extreme both ways. In summer te room stays safely tropical with a window vent that exchanges with the living room air if the ambient temp is too high, or cold in winter, which I also use a high efficiency space heater that oscillates and has digital control.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Okay. So I previously had the apex maintaining the temp between 79.9 and 80.3 during the summer. I have now programmed in a temp swing so that the apex and chiller maintain the tank between 80.7 and 81.1 during the day, and 80.1 and 80.5 at night. In the summer the chiller is the limiting factor for the tank and the heater literally does not come on for months. I did the opposite for the heater 1 degree lower. So the tank should experience a 1 degree daily temp swing in summer and winter, which I am comfortable with. In the spring and fall when the chiller is needed during the day but the heater is needed at night, the tank will experience at most a 2 degree swing over the course of the day.

 

[mayjong]

mine swings from 79 to 82.5. mixed sps dominant.
i use only a fan for cooling , it comes on when the temp hits 81f. at 83f the mh is turned off by controller. it has never turned off, even during a 10 day run of 100F+ days a month or so ago.
in the winter it swings a little less (77-80), but more rapidly as the heater goes on and off. in the summer the temp is a slow climb all day.

 

[FlipToast]

K, so my frag tank with no climate manipulation whatsoever: 74.2...let me toss in some chalice corals and see if they turn into frag plugs

 

[AdamSabina]

I let my tank swing lately using my reef keeper elite. Mostly because I want to try it without a chiller running. The day temp hits a high of 81 some times and a low of about 76 on cold days at night.

I will say I have got algae and bleaching issues (minor but noticeable) when we have a heat wave. I'm obviously assuming the heat wave was the problem not the other hundreds of variables. I'm not sure how much corals acclimate to this but most of my corals are aquaculture and mariculture. the only coral that bleached is a neon pink flower pot (wild caught).

The experiment isn't over for me I just moved the flower pot to the sand bed

 

[sirreal63]

Acclimation should be a slow process, if it takes a couple of months that is better than doing it in a few days.

 

[FlipToast]

My flowerpot doesn't get as big in the summer, but it has been growing heads. Its football sized now. I just place it like a standard LpS and feed it like a zoanthid

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I read all of the linked articles By Chris Jury and they have good info. I currently have the apex programmed to allow for a 1-2 degree daily temp swing based on the day/night cycle.

I am wondering if natural temp swings are more related to the day/night cycle or tidal cycles. It makes sense to me that during an incoming tide cool water would be brought from offshore, while during an outgoing tide the warm water from the backreef/lagoon would wash over the forereef. I emailed Chris to ask if he has any info on the topic or knows where I can find some.

 

[sirreal63]

In some places I am sure that happens. Oceanic currents also come into play, cool water from the depths migrate into the shallows bringing nutrients and cooler water. This can happen numerous times daily and the temp swing can be substantial, but it lacks the duration that causes stress and bleaching. In your case that swing is fine and you can also let the range vary more, if you do it slowly like a degree every month up to 84, unless you have species that require a colder climate.

 

[billsreef]

I read all of the linked articles By Chris Jury and they have good info. I currently have the apex programmed to allow for a 1-2 degree daily temp swing based on the day/night cycle.

I am wondering if natural temp swings are more related to the day/night cycle or tidal cycles. It makes sense to me that during an incoming tide cool water would be brought from offshore, while during an outgoing tide the warm water from the backreef/lagoon would wash over the forereef. I emailed Chris to ask if he has any info on the topic or knows where I can find some.

The answer is going to very location dependent Shallow enclosed lagoons with poor tidal exchange will be more influenced by day night temp shifts, while a similar shallow lagoon with good tidal exchange will be heavily influenced by both. Open ocean, more seasonal with some influence to tides, and of course upwelling.

 

[Timfish]

Just to throw another variable into the equation is the research that shows a coral colony's experiences affects is susceptibility to stress events so two colonies of the same species grown under different conditions will react differently to the same stress event:

http://www.mendeley.com/catalog/experience-shapes-susceptibility-reef-coral-bleaching-3/

Thanks for the links Sirreal63!

 

[HippieSmell]

It's been my understanding that temp swings aren't as big of a deal for coral as they are for fish. I've heard that temp swings are bad for ich. All anecdotal, though.

 

[Carpentersreef]

Invertebrate Biology also published a study on the effects of thermal changes on adult and larval corals. I didn't see it referenced in any of the links posted so far:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7410.2010.00199.x/abstract