Tank Temp

[Henry Bowman]

I have read posts regarding chillers, evaporative method's etc. Recently I have seen one indicating that some of us keep our reefs at 82 deg F + ?

What temp do you keep yours at ?

To start, I keep mine at 79 max via fans and a chiller if needed.

 

[unstopable]

79 here

 

[Peter Eichler]

I encourage fluctuations and play around with temperature a lot. 82 is pretty close to the average temperature for a lot of Indo Pacific reefs, and there is nothing to indicate that we should try to keep our aquariums cooler than the average in nature. To go out of your way and spend a lot of money on chillers and electricity to keep temps unnaturally low and unnaturally stable makes no sense to me... Lately mine has been fluctuating from about 80 at night and hitting 83 during the day.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I'm interested in what temps we are keeping our tanks at vs. a real reef.

I believe we have a tendency to keep our tanks cooler than is necessary. I am really curious as to what happens if I let my tank warm to say, 81? Probably nothing except lower electricity cost !

Looking for feedback before I set the temp higher.

 

[cyberseer]

mine have been all up and down between 78 to 84 at one point, but norm is 79 to 81. no ill effects that i have seen, but then all i got is softies and lps.

 

[OwenInAZ]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15234899#post15234899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Henry Bowman
I'm interested in what temps we are keeping our tanks at vs. a real reef.

I believe we have a tendency to keep our tanks cooler than is necessary. I am really curious as to what happens if I let my tank warm to say, 81? Probably nothing except lower electricity cost !

Looking for feedback before I set the temp higher.

Hell, my tank doesn't hardly ever go below 81. It's hot in Phoenix

 

[SKremk]

THIS LINK contains some interesting information on reef temperatures in the wild and includes a short bibliography at the end.

The temp in my tank fluctuates between 78-81 degrees.

 

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15234899#post15234899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Henry Bowman
I'm interested in what temps we are keeping our tanks at vs. a real reef.

I believe we have a tendency to keep our tanks cooler than is necessary. I am really curious as to what happens if I let my tank warm to say, 81? Probably nothing except lower electricity cost !

Looking for feedback before I set the temp higher.

You'd probably get a little better coral growth as well besides the benefit of saving on electricity.

 

[r-balljunkie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15234873#post15234873 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Peter Eichler
I encourage fluctuations and play around with temperature a lot. 82 is pretty close to the average temperature for a lot of Indo Pacific reefs, and there is nothing to indicate that we should try to keep our aquariums cooler than the average in nature. To go out of your way and spend a lot of money on chillers and electricity to keep temps unnaturally low and unnaturally stable makes no sense to me... Lately mine has been fluctuating from about 80 at night and hitting 83 during the day.

+1

I see folks trying to maintain this narrow "optimum" band, temperature wise. Makes zero sense to me. The ocean is not constant for anything, temp, salinity etc. Things are in flux constantly.

I see more heater failure posts…..in areas you don't necessarily need to be running a heater, resulting in tank crashes.

I have a heater on hand, not in the tank, but in the garage. I keep it for “Armageddon” type scenarios, but refuse to run one on my tank.


C

 

[gooyferret]

Mine runs at:
Night 77.9
Day: 80.5

It rises about 3 degrees throughout the day. I did buy a 6" fan to blow on the sump and that made it only change about 1 degree swing. Currently I turned the fan off and just run AC in the house with the air exchanger.

 

[Lawdog7368]

I just put a new light on my 210, temp used to be between 79-81. Today it peaked at 85. I would really rather not have to invest in a chiller. And yes its inside a canopy. Would placing a fan inside make that much of a difference?

 

[Henry Bowman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15235761#post15235761 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lawdog7368
I just put a new light on my 210, temp used to be between 79-81. Today it peaked at 85. I would really rather not have to invest in a chiller. And yes its inside a canopy. Would placing a fan inside make that much of a difference?

I'd put one or two in the canopy and possibly one over the sump. Evaporation is a very effective cooling method.


Thanks for the replies folks !

 

[Henry Bowman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15235172#post15235172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SKremk
THIS LINK contains some interesting information on reef temperatures in the wild and includes a short bibliography at the end.

The temp in my tank fluctuates between 78-81 degrees.

This link is interesting because it is closer to what happens in our tanks. I have read a good bit on temperature variations over lengthy time periods (months or years) but not in days. The daily fluctuations are more in line with what happens in our tank(s). The only remaining question is how similar the corals in our tanks are to those on the reef where these fluctuations happened. I know most of our live stock comes from various areas or the world all stuffed into one area (tank).

For now, I am going to start letting my tank go up by a degree every 5-6 days until it is peaking at 81 instead of keeping the chiller set for a max of 78 or 79.

Interestingly, I found a site late last night with a graph that indicated stag coral growth
peaked when temps were allowed to rise to 81 degrees F.

My tank bottoms out at 77.5 and the heater(s) kick on. I live in the Allegheny mountains of VA. Our evening temps run into the mid to low 60's at night and up to 90 or so in the daytime. Elevation is 2100 feet. We leave our windows open most of the time. My chiller will kick on in the late afternoons and by 5 am the heaters are on for a very short period of time. I keep fans, ceiling fans etc. on most of the day and turn the room fans off before I go to bed.


If this thread is still active then, I'll post the results of letting the temp rise more at the end of a few weeks.

Thanks for all the input !

 

[Henry Bowman]

oops DP.

 

[Anemonebuff]

My tank runs at 80-82. Sometines it hits 83-84 in the summer and I use nothing but a fan for cooling.