You guys will think I am nuts

[RockyMtnReef]

So check this out

My pinpoint wireless thermometer went on the fritz this past fall. I did not bother to replace it because I was distracted with the holidays and all the livestock including my SPS were looking good so what the heck right? I have always warmed water for my water changes based on the finger method (does it feel the same as the tank water?) so checking the actual water temp had not happened in at least 3 months. Don’t be too freaked out. I do a 35 gal water change once every 1-2 weeks in a system with over 300 gal. A few degrees difference has never been an issue. I have two heaters in my sump with temp gages which I have been casually keeping an eye on. I see the heaters on in the AM and off in the afternoon so I figure "Hey, all is well". The tank looks good and everything seems happy. In hind sight the water has felt cool to me for quite a while now but everything is happy so why worry right?

Sooooooo for grins I decided to stick a fly-fishing thermometer (they make these to check the stream water temp because you shouldn’t fish if the stream gets to warm) in the tank today.

Tank temp was 69 degrees OMG!

Currently in the tank I have multiple plating, encrusting, and branching monti's including a tyree true undata that I have had for almost 2 years and a idaho grape that is the size of a dinner plate.

I also have many acros including protratas, millis, granulosa, tenuis, and solitaryensis.

All 9 fish look great.

Now....This has me thinking. Do we make too much of an issue about keeping temperature within a certain range? It also made me think back to when I went snorkeling in the Caribbean a while back and I didn’t think much about it then but I remember going in and out of areas that must have had a least a 10 degree temp difference. This happened on the same reef and the temp changes happened literally in the span of a few feet. Thinking back the differences were so great that you could see the water get a bit cloudy where the cold and warm water met. There were tons of SPS on that reef that were clearly ok with big temp swings.

I know SPS that get exposed at low tide can handle high temps for short periods of time but maybe SPS are more tolerable of low temps than we give them credit for?

Comments?

 

[barnett8]

Are you sure that the fishing thermometer is not just accurate within a certain range (like 10 degrees)? Because then the temp. would be 79 degrees.

 

[RockyMtnReef]

It measures to the tenth of a degree. The actual temp was 69.4 or something. It is a digital thermometer that has been remarkably accurate measuring stream temps. Believe it or not these thermometers have to be very good. Once streams hit 65 degrees you need to basically get off the water or you can kill the trout by overfighting them. The warm water does not hold enough oxygen for them and they cant recover after they are caught. In the past I have gauged it against my different fishing partners thermometers and it has been consistent with others to less than 1/2 a degree.

I trust it.

 

[ezcompany]

reefs in the Philippines have a natural temperature sway of 6-8 degree daily simply from night to day. corals are able to handle temperature swings pretty well. its just the industry that stresses to keep our temps stable saying it will harm our livestock, but somehow i don't agree with it 100%.

 

[woz9683]

I wonder about the growth rate of the corals in the colder water. Have you noticed a change in growth rates?

 

[RockyMtnReef]

I would say that my growth rates arnt bad but are not what some of the people on this board are getting based on the before and after pics I see posted. To put it in perspective I added a new acro frag (not sure what species) about 3 months ago. It was about 1" tall with a couple tiny braches and had just been glued to a 3/4" plug Now it has encrusted the plug and has added another 1/2" or so to 3 or 4 branches . I know that is not huge growth but that has all happened during the "cold snap" in my tank. I did also add a cool tenuis frag at the same time which seems to be getting more and more colorful by the day but has not grown much at all. It is hard to say if the relatively slow growth is the cold water or other factors however. I just switched out my 9 mo old Radiums (20K, 400W) a couple days ago so it will be interesting to see if the growth rates pick up. I can certainly see how slower metabolism from the cold could slow down growth. Based on the polyp extension I am getting however it certainly seems like everything is out feeding, especially at night.

Do you guys see slower growth when you water is cooler?

 

[mr pink floyd]

i try to have a 1-2* temp swing each day. that way in the summer if it swings 4-5*, the corals are a little more used to it and wont die as easily.

growth is fine, not amazing like some people, bu it is steady nad im happy with it.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

my temp swing 3-4 degrees a day...

i too think people make far too much of it...

i think the issue is...the more stable your tank is the better because when something goes wrong and you have a basis to go by you will know what to try to fix..

how ever with that said...catastrophic occurances still happen...for instance the thread just above this one titled "the good the bad and the ugly"

but yeah my tank has run consistently at 86* with not really any ill effects..short of slow growth and a bit of algae..

my tank has also run much cooler...when my first heate broke and the tank dropped to about 71 degrees or so during the night..

now my heaters are working in conjunction with my lights and my tank is anyway from 79.4 to 81.6 in a 24 hour period...i have noticed much better growth with the stable temp but that could be completely unrelated...

 

[Purple Haze]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11633152#post11633152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ezcompany
reefs in the Philippines have a natural temperature sway of 6-8 degree daily simply from night to day. corals are able to handle temperature swings pretty well. its just the industry that stresses to keep our temps stable saying it will harm our livestock, but somehow i don't agree with it 100%.

I tend to agree with you.

I have a friend that does not run heaters or chillers on ~400 gallon system with four 400w bulbs over the display. From winter to summer his temperature variance is 11 degrees and he keeps everything under the sun with good growth and color.

 

[therman]

On exposed reefs at low tide, especially at night...you would have some major temp drops due to evaporative cooling. Someone get out there with a temp gun and measure them! I bet they drop to the mid-60s easily, if not colder.

-Tim

 

[Kip]

not 69, but i've been running at 75*F for the last year and i've seen a slow down in growth (i have had acro problems so i cant count those... but the monti's and everything else that were unaffected grew slower than when i ran the tank at 80-82)

purely anecdotal though

 

[RockyMtnReef]

Before my negligence in keeping an eye on the temp I had always shot for a 79-82 range.

After seeing the low temp I decided to leave things alone and just pay attention to the daily swing which maybe can be more detrimental than the actual temps. My temps the day after I first posted ran up to a high of 73 at the end of the day after my lights had been on to a low of 69.5. I have been checking again every other day and I have seen a similar swing of 3-4 degrees per day but on warmer days the over all temps went up quite a bit. Over the weekend when we had a couple warm days I was up to 74 low and 77.5 high. This is all the result of having my fishroom exposed to our crawl space which in effect makes it exposed to the outside temperature. I have decided to keep the door to the room open which keeps the fishroom temp more consistent with the basement room temp which runs about 67. This seems to be keeping the tank temp more in that 74-77 degree zone. I am sure I was getting similar temp changes over the past few months but (knock on wood) I have not seen any detrimental effects. I used to be one of those guys that tested religiously but with the holidays and chasing my two kids around I have lately been looking at coral health as a sign if something is off. I guess maybe I should do a bit of both going forward.

I wonder what the warmest water temps people are running out there? Has anyone let their water get to 90 (for example) with out any problems?

 

[therman]

I've hit 88 without problems in the summer.

 

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658971#post11658971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kip
not 69, but i've been running at 75*F for the last year and i've seen a slow down in growth (i have had acro problems so i cant count those... but the monti's and everything else that were unaffected grew slower than when i ran the tank at 80-82)

purely anecdotal though

Purely metabolic....if everyone notices the same thing then it moves past anectdotal.

 

[xtm]

When I frag my colonies, sometimes I tend to leave them on a small bin with saltwater and this bin does get cold after 30 mins or so. The frags are fine and seem unaffected.

The bin probably drops to around 70 degrees or so, and my system is at 80'. So from 70 to 80 in a matter of seconds with no ill effects

 

[jmaneyapanda]

To be honest, I think you were extraordinarily lucky. I have seen what cold temps can do for a symbiotic coral, and it wasnt pretty. There is no reason to try to reinvent the wheel, and create some anomolous environment outside the parameters we know will work for coral husbandry. I know in this case it accidentally happened, but there is no reason for anyone to try to be striving to reach this point.

I think comparing corals which are exposed to high temps at low tides are very misleading. When corals are exposed to open air, they surely do not function as they do when they are submerged. They will respire differently, matabolize differently, operate differently.

 

[acrohead500ppm]

i agree with jmaney , i keep my reef stable at 80 it may drop to 78 if its cold out, ive never seen temp. swings as a good thing.
88F therman???you are lucky! usually when temps hit over 88 in the pacific most corals start dispelling zooanxthelle. i think that 80-81 is best for sps as i have noticed alot faster growth when kicking temps 2-3 up for winter, as their metabolism is faster.