What temperature do you run your tank at and why?

[uryy4me]

Unlike many of you that fight to keep tank temperatures cooler, even in the summer I have to heat mine and it got me wondering what an ideal temperature would be for my tank
and what impact temperature has on our tanks (assuming that temperatures were maintained such that there was not more than 1 or maybe 2 degree daily fluctuations).

What impact does different tank temperature have on the stuff growing in them and the elements surrounding them?
- impact changes in metabolism has on fish, corals, bacteria, etc.
- impact on water chemistry (e.g.ph, SG, etc.) and the ripple effect this has

Just curious?

- scott -

For what it is worth, my tank runs rock solid at 80.1, why no good reason beyond that is where I have the thermostat set?

[Geoff]

i have an aquacontroller II, so i use its seasonal variation controller for temp control. it varies from a low of 76 to a high of 80 over the course of the year. the daily fluctuations are less than .3 degrees.

in general the higher the temp the faster the metabolisms of the critters. as far as corals are concerned whatever shows the best growth to you is what is important. fish on the other hand may not like those higher temps. fish on the reef are able to dive down to cooler waters if they get unconfortable. this is not possible in out closed systems. just something to think about when selecting a temp. i believe most fish prefer the mid 70's as oppose to the 80's some people run for stony tanks.

G~

[uryy4me]

Seasonal variation control, I had heard of this but forgot all about it? Wonder what purpose this really serves in our closed systems?

Implied here is that stonies do better at higher temps, any idea why this might be?

- scott -

[dgasmd]

Run mine at 82F. Why?? That is the temp it sits at confortable with fans alone and I don't have to buy a chiller. Also, it is pretty close to natural reefs in the indopacific.

[uryy4me]

Originally posted by dgasmd
Run mine at 82F. Why?? That is the temp it sits at confortable with fans alone and I don't have to buy a chiller. Also, it is pretty close to natural reefs in the indopacific.

I suspect this is a common answer, it was mine when I had a smaller tank in a warmer/sun exposed part of my house. The question simply came to mind after putting up a bigger acrylic tank, in a lower level where this was no longer true...it was was also prompted by some of the more detailed explaination of what is truly happening in our tanks and how to some degree we are fooling ourselves by always trying to mimic nature. Maybe it is a dumb question but I won't know unless I ask

[RWD]

Yes, finally a question in the TT that I can answer! I keep my tank at 78 ever since I bought a chiller a month ago. Before that it went as high as 86. With the chiller on I've noticed a lot less algae on the glass, probably because of a lower metabolism?

[Minnreefer]

I have heard from a great wise old man (Spanky) that tempature can be your friend, raise the temp for some reasons (that I can not remeber ) and lower it for other reason. I believe that a good temp range is 76-82 and preferably in between.

HTH

Jon

[uryy4me]

Originally posted by RWD
Yes, finally a question in the TT that I can answer!

Glad I could assist

Originally posted by RWD
I keep my tank at 78 ever since I bought a chiller a month ago. Before that it went as high as 86. With the chiller on I've noticed a lot less algae on the glass, probably because of a lower metabolism?

What prompted you to set your chiller to what might be considered to be an unusually lower tank temp (at least by some SPS tank standards)?

Any other changes anticipated? What sort of critters/corals do you have in your tank?

My hidden agenda in this thread is to get an indication of how an SPS tank will function @ ~78 or maybe even cooler?

- scott -

[uryy4me]

Jon - I am familiar with the advised range but I was wondering if some one could educate me a bit more on what is going at differing temperatures. I have to believe there is a lot of stuff I am totally clueless about going on

[Flatlander]

I have heard from a great wise old man (Spanky)

I keep mine at 78-79 degees.

Why---- Because I also am an OFR.

[Spanky]

I keep mine at 76F

Why-----because I'm a older OFR.

[dgasmd]

What is an OFR???

[RWD]

Hi Scott,
I set up my 300 gal reef 3 years ago hoping that I didn't need a chiller. It was late summer at the time and I was able to control the tank temp (81-83) with a combination of 5 fans in the hood and one clip on fan blowing across the sump. Or so I thought... Well the next summer rolls around and everything is doing great. Sps's are growing like mad, many 12" across. By late summer I can't keep the tank cool enough even with all the fans and cutting back the lighting. Tank temp is peaking at 86! All of the sudden I start losing corals to RTN. 7-8 huge corals one right after another. Now I can't say exactly that it was the tank temp but I never had problems before this (10+ years) at lower (under 82). pH, calcium, alk, etc all perfect and I do regular water changes twice a week.
As far as what creatures I keep, It's a mixed reef tank with mostly sps, a few lps, softies and 7 fish. While 78 is lower then the previous temp, I don't think it is too out of the norm. I'm curious as to what others have to say. I to am curious how the tank will react to the new temp over the long haul. Bob

[Spanky]

Originally posted by dgasmd
What is an OFR???

A older, very distinguished and very knowledgeable, wise reefer.

[Spanky]

Question

If you know that it's common for corals to bleach in the wild at 86-88F (where conditions have a greater chance of being in line), and you know that they are perfectly comfortable at 74F also. If you remember that higher temps speeds up the metabolism of everything in a closed system - fish, corals, bacteria, etc. That they will all need to be fed more, you will have more waste to process, higher O2 demands, higher CO2 offgassing demands, and on and on.

Personally, I think the people that recommend these higher temps don't know what they are talking about. And these same people keep proving that over and over.