Water temp, what's yours?

[ophiura]

Your tank is fine at 82...no worries at all. It is fine up to 85 or so though it all depends on what you are keeping. I believe Bang Guy used to run his system at 85 degrees. Above that, and especially if unstable, it gets into problems. But 82 is just fine. I would definitely not get a chiller for that level unless you have to go to great extremes to keep it that way. If you haven't tried it already, always try using fans to blow over the surface before investing in a chiller.
IMO, under 78 degrees is getting too cool...natural reef temperatures are mostly 80 and above. There is an excellent article by Ron Shimek on natural reef temperatures and salinity out there. Can probably Google it.

 

[nanoreef]

Heres a story to remember "for me anyway

"
Went to check my tank after getting home the other day and the temp was 90 degrees

the only effect was on my corals they all went small like
they do at night so here is what i did added some cool top off water put a fan to
the tank and turned on the air "my fault i frogot to turn it on"

so at this point i turned off all of the lights and in about an hour the temp was back to 79 degrees
oh yah and my tank happens to me a 10g nanoreef :scared:

 

[mhoup]

Originally Posted by ophiura
Your tank is fine at 82...no worries at all. It is fine up to 85 or so though it all depends on what you are keeping. I believe Bang Guy used to run his system at 85 degrees. Above that, and especially if unstable, it gets into problems. But 82 is just fine. I would definitely not get a chiller for that level unless you have to go to great extremes to keep it that way. If you haven't tried it already, always try using fans to blow over the surface before investing in a chiller.
IMO, under 78 degrees is getting too cool...natural reef temperatures are mostly 80 and above. There is an excellent article by Ron Shimek on natural reef temperatures and salinity out there. Can probably Google it.

I appreciate the info...I have a Harlequin, Tesselatta, Cleaner Wrase & Clarki, 82 deg is good, very cool, Thanks again.

 

[tgruby]

Should I raise my temp and salinity. My LFS says to keep temp at 74 and salinity at 1.020. They say that the amount of disolved oxygen the water can hold goes down as temp goes up.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally Posted by tgruby
Should I raise my temp and salinity. My LFS says to keep temp at 74 and salinity at 1.020. They say that the amount of disolved oxygen the water can hold goes down as temp goes up.
That is true, but 74 is way to low...i'd say 80 is a good medium...but 78 at the absolutle lowest.
And bump your salinity to 1.024-026 forget what the lfs said..

 

[sw65galma]

To all the people whose tank goes from X-Y in the same day...
Turn your heater up!! to whatever the highest is...
So if it goes up to 82 during the day and back down to 78 at night..
Turn the heater so it stays contant 82 all day and night!!!
This will eliminate 3/4 of your fish illnessess!

 

[ntrigger]

My heater is set at 82 the highest it go's. In the morning tank temp gets to 81 or 82. At night it miht go down to 78 to 79 My wife keeps the house really cold at night 70 or 71. in the morning I keep the a/c set at 75. I guess my wife is freezing my fish butt off to. Is the house temp making that big of a diffrence to my tank. My heater is 200w on a 100g long tank. :help:

 

[sw65galma]

200w is no where near enough. You'd need alteast 300w, maybe 400w.
But ya those temp swings are real bad for your fish..
or it just dawned one me duhhhh...... :thinking:
Turn your heater down to 78.....see if it can maintain 78...

 

[ophiura]

In general, you want a 3-5 watt heater per gallon, so you would really be looking at a 300 minimum - I would probably do 2 300W in each back corner. Temp swings are really bad.
You will not have oxygen problems if you have surface aggitation of the water and good circulation throughout the tank.

 

[ntrigger]

thanks for the tips going to go and get 2 300 watt heaters today. :happyfish

 

[tgruby]

I have no idea how much flow i Have in my tank. Does anybody know how to figure that out. My pump doesn't have a GPH rating on it. It has horsepower and RPM. I don't have any powerheads. I'll probably have to pbuy a refractometer since my lfs swas testing that for me. I just have an inacurrate hydrometer.

 

[speg]

My temp is 81 during day and 80 at night... its odd to me that the temp only goes down 1 degree with the lights off...

 

[stephentam]

Hello. This is my first time to visit this site. Can anyone recommend a good temperature as my heater went out after nearly 7 years and I bought a new one today. I have a 30 gal hex established this time for 2 years and have 2 blue damsels with yellow tails, 2 small clown fish and one DORI fish, uh, tang? I forgot now what she is called.....I want to say Hippo tang. Anyway, can anyone advise me?

 

[speg]

>Dory< is a hippo tang, yes. Or a regal tang. A temp that is around 78-81 or so as long as it doesnt go up and down a lot is ideal.

 

[stephentam]

Thanks for the info. The fish I am describing looks like the one here on the menu,
where it says VALUE MENU. Blue with black and then a yellow tail. Well, I was reading
a few pages over where someone talked about a fish like this and said they get really
big and need a lot of room. I have this 30 gal. hex tank! How big are we talking here?
And the only fluxuation in temps that I have ever had was this week when I noticed my
heater looking funny and the temp down to about 76. I have been able to keep it 82.
I haven't had any trouble with any of my fish. They all seem to thrive on neglect.
The tang eats the algea off of stuff which actually helps me! And I have a little snail in there too who stays busy. The only color my algea is Green. I rarely change any of the
water or mess with it. So far, so good!

 

[speg]

A hippo tang is gonna need a larger tank than 30 gallons.. they do not get HUGE, but they do get much too big to keep in a 30 gallon tank. They like to swim around a lot too.. i'd at least suggest a 75 gallon tank when keeping a 'dory' tang.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by ntrigger
At night it miht go down to 78 to 79 My wife keeps the house really cold at night 70 or 71. in the morning I keep the a/c set at 75. I guess my wife is freezing my fish butt off to. Is the house temp making that big of a diffrence to my tank. My heater is 200w on a 100g long tank. [/COLOR] :help:
Yes, the ambient room temp has a lot to do with how much energy is required to mantain temperature.
Also try adding more waterflow, that should help the heater(s) keep the temp higher.

 

[mr_bill]

80-82
No probs

 

[diane4]

I keep my reef tank at 78 and my dogface puffer around 80. I am wondering if I should have my reef tank higher? The tank is 50 gallons and I have a portable air conditioner in the room and no chiller. Haven't put a heater in there yet becuase the temp has been stable at 78. Is that ok, or should I raise it to 80?
Stock is BTA, LTA, Saeba (sp?), rodadactus, xenia, pipe organ coral, recordia, yellow polyps, featherdusters and a mated pair of Tomatoe clowns. I think that is it.
Your thoughts? Tank is about 3 months old and all seem to be well, so far, although I haven't had all inhabitants that long.

 

[luke g]

i keep mine at 75- 77 and havent had ick and i dont have a chillen i also have a canopy of it that i keep opena nd have my vent blowing right in it