tank temps

[skaterzero22]

my tank swings from 77-84 daily. will this affect LPS a few SPS and softies? basically a mixed reef with minimal sps. it is a slow growth of temp when the lights turn on til when they go off. a total 11hour time range. any concerns i should have?

 

[petoonia]

That seems a bit high, I would try to keep it a little closer to 80 degrees.

 

[greenbean36191]

No, the animals will be fine.

 

[Poisonus Yeti]

If you can't get your temp below 84 then I'd actually bump up the heaters so they don't allow the water to get as cold (relatively speaking) as 77. I'd probably set the min to 80 so there is less of a swing in temperature.

 

[ionracing]

If you can't get your temp below 84 then I'd actually bump up the heaters so they don't allow the water to get as cold (relatively speaking) as 77. I'd probably set the min to 80 so there is less of a swing in temperature.


This is true but after you min. the swing figure out how to get the temp down.

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

Heater problems really get me heated. When I first setup my tank (2 years ago, FW) I messed around with an AGA one. I ended up tossin it out with some garbage shortly thereafter. I paid a little extra for a nice titanium one with an external temp dial. my tank stays at about 77.8 constantly.

not sure what kind you have, but I'd say that's quite a bit of temp change on a daily basis, I'd say buy a nice new one if you can. I can't tell you how nice it is to see the same temp every time I check it

what light is it?

 

[skaterzero22]

2 250w halides.. about 16in off the water. got fans going. i think im gonna end up getting a small chiller to help out. i just wanna make sure the swing wont cause any problems until i save up enough to get one.

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

o. I guess that's why mine stays the same. just using T5s. 216w

 

[mcrist]

You have two 250 watt metal halides over a 55 gallon tank...No wonder you have a high temp swing. Any reason for that much light?

 

[skaterzero22]

im cheap and i know i want to upgrade withing the year none the less they are extremely high off the water. and i wanted to be able to keep a little bit of everything.

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

I would just use 1 and save the other

 

[mcrist]

I agree, turn one off until you upgrade.

 

[skaterzero22]

than half the tank will be dark... i can't center it because ive heard rumors of the halides melting the center brace and i really don't feel like having 55g aquarium floorboard..

 

[imholte]

Before I upgraded to a 40, I had a 250w mh over my 20L. It was only 4 inches off the surface of the water. The water would heat up but I rigged a fan to turn on the same time the mh turns on and no more problems with heat.

 

[skaterzero22]

maybe i have to re-positions my fans.. ill see what i can do

 

[canesfan]

I would definitely get the chiller. I’m assuming since the lights are 16 inches from the water that they are not under a hood. I would position one fan to blow the hot air away from the tank and another one blowing across the surface of the water.

 

[InLimbo87]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12062900#post12062900 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
No, the animals will be fine.

I'm with Greenbean on this one. Don't go wasting your money on chillers and sweating over the temp swings. Temp swings are perfectly natural on coral reefs, with temps reaching several degrees higher.

 

[aastretch64]

I would be more concerned with the differnce from 74 to 84. I would not allow the temperture to change more then a few degrees. Raise you lighting a few inches and place a fan in between the water and lights. You should be fine. Get yourself a heater too, so that you can regulate the water temperture to stay steady.

My water goes fom 78.4 at night to about 79.6 in the day. Remember coral can adapt very easily to steady conditions, but in the ocean the temperture does not very that much from day to night.

Alex

 

[miwoodar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12065500#post12065500 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InLimbo87
I'm with Greenbean on this one. Don't go wasting your money on chillers and sweating over the temp swings. Temp swings are perfectly natural on coral reefs, with temps reaching several degrees higher.

+ another.

As long as your tank has already grown acustomed to it, you should be fine. It's the new additions that you will have to be weary about.

Be careful when summer rolls around. That first hot day in spring could be disasterous. 84 is ok. If you have a warm day though and it goes to 90...

 

[greenbean36191]

Remember coral can adapt very easily to steady conditions, but in the ocean the temperture does not very that much from day to night.

Yes, you can get them to acclimatize to steady temps, but there' not much benefit to it.
No, there usually isn't a huge daily temp swing on the reef. The temp changes usually occur much faster than that, on the scale of minutes to hours. 10-15 degrees within an hour isn't unusual in the Caribbean and high latitude reefs in the Pacific. It's been documented that half of the yearly variation can occur within a few minutes. Tidally there's usually at least a 2 degree change at the surface. At 60 feet the tidal variation is about 4 times as much. Few reefs that have data for short-term variations show less than 5 degrees per day.