Temperature Rising & Clownfish Fighting

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dorie

Guest
Can you guys help me out. The temperature in my tank is going up to 80, I picked up some cleaner shrimp tonight and the owner mentioned that I should only be running my light system for 6 hours at the most, right now it goes on at 11:00 am to 11:00 pm (12 hrs total)!
The book I use (The Contscientious Marine Aquarist) suggest to leave on for 12 hrs total.
Any advice, also world war 2 started in my tank with the 2 maroon clownfish, only way to get them out is to remove all the rock, corals and anenomes out of the tank.
Will they kill themselves. Dang I should of known better than to add them both....
Thanks Dorie
 
col

col

Active Member
80 is ok, but is it staying at 80 or moving around?
6 hours is not enough, 12 MAY be just a little long but see what others do. 10 sounds about right to me. How many Watts exactly and what kind of lighting do you have?
If you don't remove 1 maroon then one will probably kill the other. I'm not sure if you can expect Maroons to pair up or you may have to buy a maited pair.
How long has your tank been running?
 
petem

petem

Member
I thought that it's either one clownfish, or 4 or more? but never 2, Does that sound right?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Hi Dori,
You'll differing opinions but IMO 80F is a couple of degrees low. More important though is a stable temperature.
I think you should let the Maroons battle it out and just count it as a lesson learned. You probably ended up with two females. Sometimes in the dead of the night you can catch them.
 
aarone

aarone

Active Member
yeah, 80 is a little low...I try to keep my tank at a solid 82 degrees.
On the clown issue, maroons are more aggressive of all of the clownfish. Let them duke it out...you may just have two females like bang said, and if you would like to have a maited pair go and buy a clown that is smaller than yours and smaller than most in the LFS (maroon of course)
aaron
 
D

dorie

Guest
Hi, everyone...Thanks for your advise.
The temperature ranges from 75 - 80 but never goes above...
I thought that the temperature should never go over 80 because of ich & algae problems and the fish don't like that it's too hot!
I read under 80 (75 preferred)?
 
D

dorie

Guest
My tank has been running since July of this year.
All readings are great? Cleaned out my skimmer yesterday...
All is fine in my tank..
My Hippo Tang is coming down with bumps on her body...so I am thinking it is either the stress of the two maroons fighting and me trying to take them out of the tank (too much distrurbance in the water-with me moving everything around...she probably thinks I am trying to catch her) or the temperature?
 
jedininja

jedininja

Member
Thats a retty large temperature swing. My tank is always betwen 81-82 degrees at al times. If it is a fish only tank, then 78-80 is good. It allows the water to hold more oxygen. But corals are found mostly in tropical area where the temperatures are higher.
In a reef tank, 12 hours if fine. Usually I hear people most people keep thiers on for 10-12 hours. I keep mine on for 10 in the winter and 11 in the summer.
 
D

dorie

Guest
What do suggest on making sure the temperature does not fluctuate so much?
What should I be using...
I have 2 heaters submursed inside the tank on the back glass.
 
col

col

Active Member
My first guess is that you are way too low for 180gallon tank.
I think you may need double that, but I will have to check first.
 
col

col

Active Member
This is from Hagen for a 200w heater:
Maximum aquarium capacity: 65 U.S. Gallons
Your brand could be more or less than that.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I think your heaters are fine. I'd suggest setting them for 79F. That should give you a temp flux of 78 - 80. That will be a LOT less stress IMO.
 
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