What temp do you run your reef at?

[rabid frog]

I have sort of an odd question. Everyone has a diff opinion. What Temperature do you run your system at? Do you have a chiller?

Today after I got back from harrasing Erick and Brian I stopped by my 75 to look at things. I noticed my tank temp was 89 degrees. The house heat was not on, but I guess the neighbors thought it was cold.

I usually run my tank around 82. I have seen some people run them as low as 76. I guess I never really took the time to ask what my tank temp should be.. I know 89 is way too high, my gsp's were closed, they dont close for anything most of the time.
So what are your guys/gals opinions?

Thanks, Joey

[israelnajar]

I try to keep my tank around 79 degrees. But with the crazy weather hot cold hot cold it has been between 78.5 and 80.8 a three degree fluctuation is not too bad I guess.

[GreenUku]

Rabid :frog:,

Did you check your thermometer battery? 89F seems pretty difficult to achieve without blasting your furnace and heater.

[xchrisjb]

I keep my thermometer reading just under 81 F. It usually reads 80.8.

[asfullax]

In the winter mine runs 77-82, and in the summer our chiller kicks on at 85 and brings it down to 82. I have had our tank hit 89+ once without any permenate damage.

I agree with greenuku, with our current temps, it seems pretty hard to get above 85. The easiest way to lower the temps is with a few fans. 2 fans on ours drops the tempuature up to 5 degrees in the summer and I can't have them on in the winter because it cools everything down way too much.

[rabid frog]

I live in a corner apt. so I have people on 3 sides of me blasting heaters. I can count on one hand how many times I have used my apt heater. I did check my heaters in my aquarium and 1 was set a little high. I think I am just going to run a fan over it for now and see about getting a chiller later.

Thanks for the replies, Joey

[rdarlington]

Pickup a Watlow process controller on eBay. You can find them for about $100 or less (research them because they all have different features). I have some basic info about mine here:

http://www.nerdhouse.org/projects/aquarium/

That page is terribly outdated, but you get the idea. The watlow turns on my heater when the water is below 75F, off when it hits 80F, and now turns on my chiller when it hits 82F to bring it back down to 80F. The other thermocouple monitors the canopy temperature and kicks on a little muffin fan to exhaust the hot air when that reaches 90F. $100 on eBay plus some type T thermocouple wire I had laying around and about an hour of my time was all it took. The only reason mine was as much as it was is because it talks RS232! It is mounted in the cabinet door below the tank and looks real slick.

[rdarlington]

Oh, in that picture, the 78 is the tank temperature and the 84 is the canopy temperature. The thermocouple in the water is sealed up in a glass tube. That took about 42 seconds to make with a blowtorch. Anybody can do it if I can do it.