How hot are you!

tony1970 · #1 09/11/2007, 01:24 PM

Taking a poll here on what people keep there tanks at , as far as tempature. i live in hawaii and temp of water here is usually around 70-79 degrees thru the year. sometimes lower. After looking at alot of threads i see some people run tanks as high as 82 degrees! With no major side effects. In hawaii we experience heavey algae blooms exactly this time of year which is the hottest, and sometimes ocean gets close to 80 when these severe blooms take place.

So whats your temp of your tank!

Edit: Just called diver shop, temp of ocean today is 80.5 degrees(this is the hottest it gets) We are having big algae blooms in our reefs as of now like every year to.

If you run 80 or higher do you find algae to try and take hold in tank?

Entropy · #2 09/11/2007, 01:28 PM

79.3-81.5 currently. It stays in the 79's when my AC works though which I am hoping is soon.

VaderWS6 · #3 09/11/2007, 01:28 PM

My 75 gallon runs between 77-82F, but I think my temp gauge is wrong. The water feels like 78 to me, at its highest point.

OliverM3 · #4 09/11/2007, 01:30 PM

I run my tank at 77

Under the assumption that the tank produces less waste at the lower temps.
So water quality is easier to maintain.

Wryknow · #5 09/11/2007, 01:45 PM

Mine stays spot on at 80.7 24/7. I leave it a little higher than most to save electricty and I also believe that the higher water temperature = faster metabolism = faster growth (& more waste obviously.) My filtration can handle the higher bio load without any problems.

HBtank · #6 09/11/2007, 01:55 PM

I set my heater to 77 degrees on my AQ jr. and it only comes on in the winter.

Forcing the temp higher to a perfectly static level (or lower with a chiller) when it is already within acceptable min/max levels and consistant daily fluctuation is kinda silly and a waste of money IMO.

I am all about conserving watts and I see no benefit in temperature stability to begin with.

Basically I am coming to the conclusion that I really don't need a heater and may remove it very soon. My pumps and light already do all the work it does. The highest my tank has gone is 85 with 90 degree weather for a week straight with no air conditioning, so I am fine at that end...

At first it was really cool having a controller keeping the temp within .1 degree, now I just see that red light on the heater buring 250watts and see my pocket emptying...

Basically I am all for no temperature controls at all.. let it be unless minimum and maximum levels are consistantly reached..

jman77 · #7 09/11/2007, 02:16 PM

I'm pretty dam sexy.....

loosecannon · #8 09/12/2007, 08:03 AM

82-84.f

RichConley · #9 09/12/2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tony1970
Taking a poll here on what people keep there tanks at , as far as tempature. i live in hawaii and temp of water here is usually around 70-79 degrees thru the year. sometimes lower. After looking at alot of threads i see some people run tanks as high as 82 degrees! With no major side effects. In hawaii we experience heavey algae blooms exactly this time of year which is the hottest, and sometimes ocean gets close to 80 when these severe blooms take place.

Most of our corals are from Fiji, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, etc, and these areas get MUCH hotter than hawaii.

I run 78-86 all summer, and have no algae problems. Dont forget, while the algae does grow faster when its hotter, so do corals.

jeffgp · #10 09/12/2007, 10:11 AM

i was told at 85 your corals and fish will not do so good ..

and this is from a LFS that has alot of well done tanks

pass1over · #11 09/12/2007, 10:35 AM

usually between 78.8 and 80.2 is what my tank stays at

RichConley · #12 09/12/2007, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeffgp
i was told at 85 your corals and fish will not do so good ..

and this is from a LFS that has alot of well done tanks

Your LFS is wrong. Mean temperature for a large part of the year in Fiji and the Marshall Islands is higher than 85.

Your animals will only be bothered at 85 if you are keeping them at stable, low temperatures.

triggerfish1976 · #13 09/12/2007, 11:03 AM

85-86 is as far as I ever like to go but the main thing with temp. that causes the most problems is major swings over short periods of time. Keep in mind that Ocean temps. increase a few degrees from Summer to Winter but that is over the course of an entire year whereas a 4-6 degree temp. spike in one day in an aquarium can cause problems.

Wryknow · #14 09/12/2007, 11:42 AM

Entropy - How the heck are you surviving in Round Rock without AC? Jeez, your aquarium chiller must be running like crazy.

BBoley24 · #15 09/12/2007, 11:51 AM

I think im about a 9.5

.5 is cause im no david hassalhoff

anyhow... my LFS is full of crap. wont hijack so ill leave that for another thread.

I have seen very successful tanks run at 85 consistantly... I personally wouldnt go over 83 but I think anyone who says hitting 80 and over is hurting your reef is full of it. Not scientifically but strictly experience... whichever you take...

oct2274 · #16 09/12/2007, 11:54 AM

81

RichConley · #17 09/12/2007, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by triggerfish1976
Keep in mind that Ocean temps. increase a few degrees from Summer to Winter but that is over the course of an entire year whereas a 4-6 degree temp. spike in one day in an aquarium can cause problems.

I'm sorry, but this is more falsehoods.

4-6 degree DAILY temperature swings are NORMAL on ocean reefs.

Keeping temperature stable destroys a coral's ability to thermoadapt. The reason why you lose corals when you have spikes is because your temperature is usually kept in a narrow range.

DarG · #18 09/12/2007, 12:03 PM

77 - 78, and that's where it is staying.

OliverM3 · #19 09/12/2007, 01:05 PM

I'll stick to a .5 swing myself.

I just think comparing a tank to the ocean isn't the same.

There has to be a much greater change on a tank/water quality with a 5 degree swing compared to the 5 degree swing in the ocean.

HBtank · #20 09/12/2007, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RichConley
Your LFS is wrong. Mean temperature for a large part of the year in Fiji and the Marshall Islands is higher than 85.

Your animals will only be bothered at 85 if you are keeping them at stable, low temperatures.

What about the species that are not from those locations, especially fish? Do they just get lost in the mix and suffer because you decided the majority of inhabitants are from Fiji and the Marshall islands and that is then only environment we should look at?

Maybe I do care about my flame wrasse for example.. or my other animals from lower average temperature reef environments and have compromized on upper limits and durations that are best FOR ALL my inhabitants? I reached 85 once this summer, I did not freak out but if it lasted more than a day I would have acted.

I generally agree with some of what you are saying as I posted before, but you take to the extreme and generalize far to much Rich.

oct2274 · #21 09/12/2007, 01:21 PM

read this:
http://www.reefland.com/rho/1105/reefc7.php

http://www.ronshimek.com/Temperature%20Salinity.htm

keeping your aquarium below 80 is definitely not optimal for coral growth. Alot of the older books recommend 78 or so, but that is before they did any true studies on what average reef temperatures were around the world. If you keep it below 80 you can definitely expect corals to grow slowly. I picked 81 because it is safe for most fish and corals. Some fish don't do to well in higher temperature ranges. Average temperature for all reefs around the world is 81.7

tony1970 · #22 09/12/2007, 03:35 PM

I read those link Oct., so basically tempature in a tank isnt important unless it falls down to say 75 or goes above say 85. If this is the case, why are chillers used on most tanks? is it safe to say, let your tank fluctuate at its descresion? now those tempatures are for wild animals. now

What if you buy from lfs store your corals, were they tank raised? or were they pulled from ocean. if tank raised in controlled enviroment, puting them in a flunctuating enviroment will do them harm id say, what think? Most acro's are from tank raised conditions, tho i bought some once from fiji right out of the ocean, they looked nice but didnt last more then 2 weeks.

So in general i think people should be careful about some tempatures, cause not all your animals came from the wild.

I think this is worth talking about, tank raised and wild

triggerfish1976 · #23 09/12/2007, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RichConley
I'm sorry, but this is more falsehoods.

4-6 degree DAILY temperature swings are NORMAL on ocean reefs.

Keeping temperature stable destroys a coral's ability to thermoadapt. The reason why you lose corals when you have spikes is because your temperature is usually kept in a narrow range.

Yeah ok keep telling yourself that. The reason why most SPS tanks fail/crash is due to drastic swings in parameters. If your idealogy was correct we all should be jacking our PH, Calcium, Alk up and down all day long so the corals can "peramadapt" so when we decide not to keep up our tanks for a week and everything goes to crap the corals will thrive.
One other thing, Reefs in the Carribean are bleaching due to the drastic increase in temperatures over the last few years. Scientists are talking swings in the 2-3 degree C range over the course of a year as the cause of bleaching so your 4-6 degree commented is seriously misleading. Temp. do fluctuate this much in enclosed lagoons (maybe) but not on open reefs exposed to the ocean.
These same temp. increases have also caused the recent hurrican influx as well. Read the info in the link below for more info.

http://www.coralations.org/Brown%201...s%20conseq.pdf

RichConley · #24 09/12/2007, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by triggerfish1976

One other thing, Reefs in the Carribean are bleaching due to the drastic increase in temperatures over the last few years. Scientists are talking swings in the 2-3 degree C range over the course of a year as the cause of bleaching so your 4-6 degree commented is seriously misleading. Temp. do fluctuate this much in enclosed lagoons (maybe) but not on open reefs exposed to the ocean.
These same temp. increases have also caused the recent hurrican influx as well. Read the info in the link below for more info.

http://www.coralations.org/Brown%201...s%20conseq.pdf

You're confused. Corals in the carribean are dying because of HIGH temperatures, not unstable temperatures. I really suggest you read some research, specifically that by Brian Helmud

Here are some graphs of mean water temperature: 29c is 85f

HBTank, yes, 85 may be bad for your flame wrasses, but 76-78 is just as bad for things collected in the marshall islands. By keeping both, you're guaranteing that something is outside of its natural range of temperatures.

RichConley · #25 09/12/2007, 04:15 PM

This is stolen from Green Bean, and is about Helmuth's research

Quote:

I don't think it's available anywhere for free. If you want to look it up a good one is:
Castillo, K.D. and Helmuth, B.S.T., 2005. Influence of thermal history on the response of Montastrea annularis to short-term temperature exposure. Marine Biology. 148, 261-270.

"Scleractinian corals are stenothermic, but their ability to tolerate elevated seawater temperatures likely varies with their history of thermal exposure (Coles and Jokiel 1977). That is, corals that have been exposed more frequently to fluctuations in seawater temperatures or to elevated temperatures may be better able to withstand temperature extremes (Coles and Jokiel 1977; Moberg et
al. 1997; Brown et al. 2002)."

"The present study showed that ambient seawater temperature experienced by inner lagoon reef M. annularis was significantly higher than temperatures on the outer barrier reef at an equivalent depth during a non-bleaching year. Our respirometry measurements suggest that this observed difference in thermal history may lead to a decreased physiological response by inner lagoon reef M. annularis when exposed to elevated temperature."

"At both inner and outer reef sites, our data show significant high-frequency variability in thermal regimes, especially during the summer months. Temperature changes of up to 2C [~4.5F] were recorded on a daily basis... Importantly, our measurements of photosynthesis and respiration suggest that M. annularis responds physiologically to these changes in temperature."

Others to take a look at:
Leichter, J.J., B. Helmuth, and A. Fischer. 2006. Variation beneath the surface: quantifying complex thermal environments on coral reefs in the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Florida J. Mar. Res., 64(4): 563-588.

Coles, S.L. and Jokiel, P.L., 1977. Effects of temperature on photosynthesis and respiration in hermatypic corals. Marine Biology. 43, 209-216.