Reef water temps

[amoroso6]

Hi All,
Ive had my 125 reef for about 4 years and it does okay but I tend to loose LPS over time not due to water conditions which are fine and my reactor works fine. The question because of the light I use (3-175 10,000k and 4VHO actinic) the water is running in the mid 80's and I have been reding that it can cause stress in the tank, some people say the temp is fine and others say to get it down to the mid to upper 70's What do all of you think? I went ahead and ordered a chiller today which from what I hear will stablize the tank. By the way I do have times when I get red alge on the rock and sand and I know thats a sure sign of a stressed tank. So let it rip I would really like to hear all sides of this subject.
Alex

 

[murph145]

i keep my 180 reef at 79-80 on a chiller.....
stable temp is a good idea...
i get red slime aka cyano on my sand from time to time also ... i treat my tank with boyds chemi-clean red slime remover when i see it comes back and it works great doesnt harm any of my corals and i have all kinds even sps

 

[slofish]

Originally Posted by murph145
i keep my 180 reef at 79-80 on a chiller.....
stable temp is a good idea...
i get red slime aka cyano on my sand from time to time also ... i treat my tank with boyds chemi-clean red slime remover when i see it comes back and it works great doesnt harm any of my corals and i have all kinds even sps
I would avoid chemicals if possbile, but the Chemi-Clean does do a stupendous job.
last cyano bloom i had, my LFS said it was due to high temps, phosphates and aging/bad lights. Phosphates were Ok, tank temp went from 79-87 just before the cyano bloom(broken heater) and my lights were gettin really near their replacement time.
Got a new heater and replaced the lights... 2 months later, and many a water change later(along with some manual removal), i was able to beat the cyano at the source and avoid some chemical use.

.Although, the chemi clean woulda probably got rid of this in about 2 days

 

[bonebrake]

When you get your chiller, drop the temperature slowly so you do not really stress out your tank. Slowly bring it down 1 degree per day to 78-80.
:joy:

 

[amoroso6]

Originally Posted by Bonebrake
When you get your chiller, drop the temperature slowly so you do not really stress out your tank. Slowly bring it down 1 degree per day to 78-80.
:joy:

Thanks, I didnt really even think of that I would have just set it on 75 and let it go. By the way I do water changes every 2 weeks and the temp of the water going in is 75 and the tank looks great for a few days and then returns to it normal state so I think adding the chiller is going in the right direction or at least I hope so because I'm add a new store in 07 and it will have a 360gal reef in it.
Alex

 

[sharkbyte1023]

The chiller is the way to go. I have had alot of tanks over the years and i am running 6 reefs now and i would not want to run them without one. I keep the temps at a max high of 81 in the summer months and 79 in the winter. Stability is the key. This is an issue that will long be argued. I am a diver and do see the corals in the wild are in an average of 84 and in the midday a reef can reach 90 but a tank is not the ocean. Like he said take the temp down slowly to give the animals time to acclimate. Make sure you have a heater and fans in the hood in case of a chiller failure in either direction. I have had one stick and the heater was not on and the tank dropped to 68 in 2 hours and i have had a compressor go but the fans kept things from getting too bad before i could fix it. The best judge will be you and your animals. If you know how they react when they are happy that will make it a little easier on you. I set the chiller with a 2 degree variance so it doesn't run all the time and everything has been good. Best of luck to you