is there a benefit in cooling a reef tank below 82 F?

[yraveh]

Good evening.
without active cooling my reef tank may get as high as 82.7 F. So I am cooling it with fans. Now using apex I can cool it to below 80. The question is if there a benefit in cooling a reef tank below 82 F? Do corals grow better in 80 or 81?
I would appreciate an evidence-based advice.
thank you
Raveh Miami

 

[HumbleFish]

Everything seems to grow better in warmer water. This includes corals, but also algae. Probably the main downside to warmer water temperature is decreased available oxygen for your animals. You also are closer to the "danger zone" if say your house loses power in the summer or AC breaks. Someone running their tank 77-78 has further to climb before livestock starts dying.

 

[Our Coral Reef]

Good evening.

without active cooling my reef tank may get as high as 82.7 F. So I am cooling it with fans. Now using apex I can cool it to below 80. The question is if there a benefit in cooling a reef tank below 82 F? Do corals grow better in 80 or 81?

I would appreciate an evidence-based advice.

thank you

Raveh Miami

What temp is your house i would keep it close to that as to not be fighting the outside temperatures
I have sedn coral grow well at 80-82 dlower growth on the lower temperatures the problem is if it goes past the 82 you might start seeing problems
As mentioned above lower oxygen deeper coral like cooler temperatures

 

[Oldreeferman]

I keep mine at 78 i think its the safest setting for all the reasons stated above & many CUC snails prefer the cooler temp also.

 

[Bpb]

Forget about algae. Algae is a result of inadequate herbivores. Not lights not parameters not temperature. You can have bubble algae coat an entire tank in an ULNS, with 100 par of solid blue light. Too many people have the wrong idea about algae. If a set of lights and parameters can grow coral at all, it can grow algae as well.

That being said....higher temperatures mean faster metabolisms but the higher you go the closer you push toward the kill threshold. 82 is fine if your tank is acclimated to it. Just be ready to never let it get much warmer at all. I personally like 78 degrees because in the event of a catastrophic AC failure, I've got some wiggle room before it's a problem.


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[billdogg]

I aim for 77-78 in my DT for all of the reasons already mentioned. My FT in the basement is at 76-77 in the winter just because it's a bit chilly down there. In the summer it is 77-78 as well.

 

[NuEoK]

82F is a bit on the high side, not just for the corals but for the fishes. Depending on the location of the coral/fish the temperature will vary. But general consensus is to keep the tank at 78. If you put a fish or coral where the natural habitat was a bit colder, 82 is way to high.

 

[Sk8r]

Depending on the strength of your lights (worse if stronger) you may get bleaching of coralline and some corals as temp climbs over 83. This dieoff takes a long time to repair.

There is a cheap way to lower temperature without a cooler. Get an aquarium fan array (or make one) using computer fans to fit your canopy or to blow on your sump. This is a good thing to have anyway.

 

[Timfish]

As mentioned above at 82° you are close to hte threshold corals will tolerate. You should know a coral polyp's temperature can also be 1-2° F above the ambient water temperature so you might be closer to a corals bleaching threshold than you think. No doubt there will species, genotype and variety specific differences but calcification is generally better at temperatures in the mid range of what corals are found in. (Galaxia likes 77° F)

 

[tomreefer]

I go with 78 and I lower it in summer to 75 degrees to go with some of summer heat waves my tank does hit 82 sometimes in summer.

 

[treesprite]

I aim for 78f. You have to factor a lot of variables into the preferred temperature and maintaining it consistently. My tank temp is pretty consistent, so when I see a fluctuation I automatically look at the house thermostat and it always turns out that my son changed it.