Just want to ask what temps in the tank do you maintain and why that number? I am using a season table but think I am going to switch back to just min. And max. How do you control your temps too?
I personally am not maintaining temps yet. As of right now my tank is 76.6 during the day my tank raised to 77.8. I do not run a heater yet but once the tank starts dropping below 75/76 at night I will have one set for around 76.
I do this mainly to mimic the real ocean (there was a post about this in the past… Hopefully Rosti will chime in I think it was one of his many posts with good information) the ocean temps do not stay at a specific temp. The temperature fluctuates throughout the day and night.
Yeah that’s why I’m asking with thermoclines and currents they fluctuate a lot but I also read it’s good for higher temps than lower ones might give better results in coral growth and color.
Right dunk. ocean temps can vary a lot with upwelling deep currents chilling them out, and sun during the day warming it up. but the range is generally not below 75 or 76. mostly higher. Corals metabolism slows down as the temp goes down too. so they would grow slower. this season im setting my heaters for about 78 for the night cooling bottom. and during the day the lights will warm it to 80-82.
Good point Ken… I just did a little googling and came up with a few good points that might even explain my trachyphyllia bleaching.
This is a older post but still good info even for today.
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/coralreef/CRcoralreefs.html
There are more good sites with decent info if you have the time to weed them out.
I keep mine a minimum of 81 and it can get to 84. I use reefkeeper lite and cooling fans over the sump.
Cool I am having a bleep bleep time getting the season temp to control the heaters properly. So I’m picking a temp. Somewhere around your numbers ken. This if temp< rt+ 0.6 then on stuff is confusing me lol
I personally like to maintain water temps between 79 - 82, and with the new LEd lights this is much easier to accomplish. Keeping the water temp from fluctuating and being more consistant is beneficial to good coral growth and hardiness IMO. When it comes to buying a heater, don’t cheap out and buy a lesser quality one. There are some good brands out there. I have heard too many stories about people losing their tanks because of heater failure.
I have my heater set to come on at 77… summer temps get to 83…
I dunno if its the optimal for growth and all though…
+1 on a quality heater. get one with a probe externally. over a couple years, the extra $$ is not even worth thinking about. heaters are the weakest link in tank safety.
Can we get some good informative links posted… I like this topic and the info you guys have with your success with different temps.
With the Reefkeeper, if the heater sticks on the outlet shuts off when temp reaches predetermined number.
people shouldn’t keep the temp abso steady.
I take it the reefkeepers can be set for changing climate temps?
You can set your reefkeeper to a variable of a temp. Lets say you want your tank no less than 78 but no more than 82, you set it to 80 with a 2 degree variance and when it gets below 78 the heaters outlet comes on but goes off when it hits 82. Do this with a second outlet and a cooling fan and if it hits 82 the fans come on and go off at 78.
Now since that would have the 2 conflicting with each other I set it so the heat comes on at 78, turns off at 80… if it floats up to 82 the fans come on and go back off at 80.
Not the exact numbers I use but you get the jist.
Thats pretty sweet. I might have to save up for one someday
This is a great topic! I had really had hard time deciding what temp to keep my reef at. At first I did not keep any heaters and just let temp fluctuate. During winter my reefs temp went down to 72-73 at night and 80+ in day time and in summer it got up to 84 during day. After reading this article, Ron Shimek's Website...Critters followed by this one Ron Shimek's Website... AHABS - Issue Seven I was convinced that 73 - 75 is too cold long term for a healthy reef tank, but it did help me avoid lots problems in the beginning because of reduced metabolism of animals. I now keep it at min of 80 but let it go up to no more than 85, sump (fuge) temp stays few degrees lower. I think 80 is a good temp to shoot for. I use two 300w heaters and no chiller. This summer temp never went higher than 83.
Mine is usually somewhere around 80. Everything seems to like that temp, colder and warmer not so much.
yes i am using that season chart with the apex and it seems cool, it drops .1 degree every 1-3 days then rises at the same rate but after reading 75 seems too cool, so i’m going to do the 80 give or take 2 degrees so 78 heater on/off at 78.5. 81 fans on 80.5 fans off and the temps in the winter will bounce off the heater set point and in the summer the fans will bounce off the set points. I can’t remember or even think how i made it without a controller these things are great.
The various temperature specific claves of zooxanthellae will become dominate over time depending on your tanks temp. My tanks would run around 85 with a max of 89. In the wild ocean temps on reefs will fluctuate wildly with higher temperatures being common. The main concern is which species of coral are in your tank. Some corals have evolved in shallower environments."