Temperature settings for reef....

luptinpitman

luptinpitman

Member
I had two LFS's tell me that 75-77 was the ideal temperature range for a reef tank.
I have since read on Garf.org that the temperature should be 78-81
I have a chiller on my system that I have run both ways. The only difference I have seen is in the amount of time the chiller runs. The different temperature ranges have had no noticeable effect on my tank.
Anyone have any information either way?
 
dima96

dima96

Member
i personally shoot for 78 to 81. but my understanding is 75-78 is good for fish but coral grows better in the low 80's. it is supposed to be about the amount of o2 in the water
 
lizardworks

lizardworks

New Member
I keep mine at 82 as well. It may creep a little higher if t's a hot day and the AC isn't on. But if it gets hot enough to drive the tank up to where I would be concerned, it's usually too hot for me as well. For some reason, I seem to have a need to heat my tank as opposed to chill it. No MHs though, I run VHO, maybe that's why.
 
sammystingray

sammystingray

Active Member
I was going to say lower 80s earlier, but didn't want to disagree....and I didn't want to even mention about oxygen and temp or metabolic rates in certain temps.....
 
sammystingray

sammystingray

Active Member
Wrassecal.....when is the last time I told you "I love you" .......too long.;) Anyway, if we could please have a nice conversation about water temp...lets do it. Of course I haven't traveled the world taking temp readings, and I haven't personally recorded data for temp conditions on certain corals.......what I have is basically years of reading and curiosity.....seems for many years the common answer in books was 75-78....but a lot of the more recent books have temps for reefs all over the place, and basically it makes sense that reefs all over the world are different temps...they will often suggest lower 80s nowadays as the best average temp. Cooler water slows the metaboliosm of just about any living thing.......all the way down to absolute zero where life will cease to progress, but will not even be able to die really. With this thought in mind....corals should grow faster if fed enough, and fish should be more active when the temps in the 80s, than they would if in the 70s......does either one work? yes......:) Anyone else have thoughts on the matter? Oh, and also, there is actually less available oxygen at higher temps.....;)
 
sal t. nutz

sal t. nutz

Member
So that I don't have to use a chiller, I keep my tank at 85 in the summer and 80 in the winter. Granted, I don't have corals yet, but fish are just as sensitive to temps as corals. I also make sure I have a lot of moving water through surface aggitation, overflows, and a wet/dry for the exact reason Sammy stated, Oxygen content is lower at higher temps.
 
flydan

flydan

Active Member
Hey,
I keep mine at 80. Just seems like a nice round number thats easy to find on my thermometer. My tank is in the basement and it's always cooler than 80 down here. I have one heater in my tank and one in my refugium and they keep things nice and stable.
Just my .02
Dan'l
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member

Originally posted by tangsfornuttin
I'm not sure I like your tone.... As a moderator you should be held to the highest standards of the blah, blah, blah, blah,......:D ;)
Hey! watch it. He seems perfectly normal and mod -like to me:D As to the temps thing I actually determined my preference for my tank by having a heat issue on a new lighting upgrade. While bringing the temp back down slowly, I noticed that my corals really liked the 80-82 range. So I kept it there, then read up a little on it and decided that the metabolism agrument had merit since I could see the improvement in my tank. I think a main issue is keeping it stable and not letting the temp fluctuate more than a couple degrees.
 
E

elan

Guest
i went diving in south florida on sunday... it was a typical day in the "carribian" reef.. the reef was full of live and the surface watertemp was a very nice 82... typical for this time of year... it gets to 85 during the hottest part of the year.. and then down to 75 in the coldest part of the year...
but... one thing that all the divers were talking about after our first dive was the thermolayer we had gone though which sent a chill down our wetsuits... the water temp went from 82 to 75 in a matter of 2 feet... at around 60 ft of water.... right where the reef was.... not sure how the reef handles that type of water variation, but the reef looked very nice, and i am sure this is not the first time this happend on the reef (i expereince this thermolayer about every 5th dive)
but, the deeper you go, the colder it gets... so, in the "best" scenereo, you really should decide which corals you want, what depth they are at, which part of the world they are at, and the mean temperature at their enviorment..... (and there are no redily available temp readings below surface temp)... so a little colder than surface temp should do fine.... but that is probably around 78-82, depending on where you measure.
 
E

elan

Guest
and as a weird thought, the corals may be much healthier in our tanks if we varied our temps according to the time of year..... they want seasons too :eek:
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Just to clarify - when I said fluctuate I meant like 74 at night with lights out up to 82 in the afternoon with them on. I found out real quick my tank inhabitants didn't like that at all.
 
sal t. nutz

sal t. nutz

Member
GatorCSM,
There is only 1 shop worth a crap in Jax and that is Atlantis Aquariums on atlantic. I have been to them all and most are diseased mutated fish that wreak of ICH. I have been VERY disappointed with the fish stores here other than Atlantis. It is like a showroom, with everything beautiful, and most of the fish look healthy. I do have to say though, they are a little steep on price compared to the others, but I feel it's worth it.
 
sal t. nutz

sal t. nutz

Member

Originally posted by sammystingray
elan......seems to me most corals we get in the hobby are from around 15 feet or less.
I would have to agree with Sammy, if the corals were from 60ft + I don't think we would need Metal Halide lighting, as there is no way the sun is that intense at 60ft +.
 
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