Reef temps

[bobj]

"The Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook" by Goldstein published in 1997 recommends that reef tank temps be maintained close to 75 degrees and not allowed to rise above 80.
Therefore the boom in the marine chiller industry.
A study by Kleypas in 1999 of 1000 coral reefs worldwide gave a average temp of 81.7 degrees with the average of all lowest temps at 76.4 degrees. The average of all highest temps was 86.4 degrees.
I know that there is increased oxygen dissolved in water at lower temps. My concern is that the lower temps we use now are not consistent with the actual reef environment.
What do you think?
The reference is "Klepas, J.A,J.W. McManus, and L.A.B. Menez. 1999. Environmental Limits to Coral Reef Development:Where Do We Draw the Line.American Zoologist. 39:146-159"

 

[adrian]

I have my heater set at 80 and during the day it may get up to 84, one day it got to 86, I was sweating both because it was so hot and I thought my reef was gonna be a goner, but nothing happend, all the corals and fish were fine. You wont have to worry about oxygen levels as long as you have suffcient water agitation, ie surface skimming, power heads, fans, ect. Your info is a little out dated, if you want something a little more in depth check out Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman, Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock, or The Coral Reef Aquarium by Dr.Ron. Im pretty sure they all say reefs should be kept in the 80-84 range since that more closely mimics natural reefs. HTH

 

[up north hermit]

I wholeheartly agree ADRON.
I keep my reef set at 81. It may on a "hot" day here go as high as 83. But mostly it stays right on 82/83 day and 81 night. I have VHO ABS hood, fan cooled. Perfect surface agitation.
I have animals laying down new coral, and anemones splitting. The reef is quite happy it seems. I agree with keeping the reef at above stated temperatures.
HTH
Hermit

 

[twoods71]

I read a paper by J.Charles Delbeek M.Sc. that mentioned on reef flat areas, at low tide, teperatures can reach over 90 degrees. Now thats hot.
In the same paper though he does mention to keep the tank no cooler then 72 and no hotter then 80.
Mine usually stays between 80 and 82.

 

[tonga]

our summers are hot here so I keep it stays from about 75-77 all the time

 

[indy1]

I too have corals splitting. Everything in my tank is doing well. My temp at the hottest gets to about 86 F. But that is a slow process after the lights have been on almost all day. As long as the temps don't vary drastically you should be fine. I read somewhere that the marine life will adapt to the diff. temps. Besides who wants to pay hundreds of dollars on a fridge for their fish tank ..... not me!

 

[gettinjr]

I read that reef aquariums can maintain at 90 and abov but wouldn't try it, The weather around here has been 90 with high humidity, Been running around 81, Keep reefin