temperature?

[sharkboy]

Just wanted to get some thoughts on tank temperature. Lately, I have read that temperatures should be anywhere from 81-84. Is this accurate? Where do you all have temp at?

[GaryP]

I try to keep mine down around 80. When Mike Paletta was here he had some statistics based on surveys of successful reefers. As I recall he said that most had temps from 78-80. Of course a lot of these guys are probably running big chillers too. I'm comfortable with temps up to 82. 84 is really starting to push it. 86 is at the point you need to make some immediate action. 88 is a crisis. 90+ is a really big crisis.

Your tank can easily handle short term temp. spikes. These occur all the time in the wild, especially in lagoons at low tide when the lagoon basically becomes a lake baking under the equatorial sun. The problem occurs when these spikes become long term.

I often see this happen in the spring and fall in my tanks. This is when the windows are open, the AC is off, and while the house is comfortable, the humidity in the house is higher.

Unless you have a chiller, our tanks mostly cool themselves through evaporation. That's the purpose of cooling fans in the hood. To blow cool, dryer air across the top of the tank and this increase evaporation. It also breaks up the layer of humid, saturated air that forms at the water/air boundary. When the air you are blowing across the tank is humid, like what happens in the spring/fall, evaporation is reduced, this cooling is reduced, thus the tank is warmer. I counter this by cutting back the timer on my lights at this time of the year and I upgraded my cooling fans to higher CFM. Of course the ultimate solution is to install a chiller. However, this isn't practical or affordable by most people. Cutting back the lights is a lot cheaper.

[LoneStar]

This may not be an cheap option but it has helped out a lot on my temperature swings. I have the Premium Aquatics Lighthouse controller. It has a built in Temp Controller in it and when the tank temperature rises to a certain temperature(which is programable) It will turn off the main lights(halides). Mine is set to kill the main lights at 82.6 degrees. That helps prevent the water temp rising too high. This usually happens when the door to the room is shut or I have the computer, tv, stereo and other junk running which just creates more heat in the room. After the temp lowers the controller will turn the main lights back on.

Best way to cool is to have air flow in the room the tank is in and use the evaporation cooling method.

[GaryP]

That's an outstanding option. Thanks for the tip.

[Richard]

Like Gary 82 is the max temp I am comfortable with. Also I try to keep the day/night swing as minamal as possible.

It seems many things tend to do even better at lower temps of 74-76 but you probably can't pull that off without a chiller.

[sharkboy]

Thanks guys. I have a chiller and can maintain the upper temps. I also keep my house very cold at night and the temp drops to around 77-78. I was just worried that this was too low.

[Thunderkat]

I keep my apartment colder than that, I just keep a heater in the tank to help maintain the temp. I haven't had any problems with temperature.

[sharkboy]

The temp in the tank drops 77-78. My house is around 67degrees

[saltcreepette]

you want to avoid large swings, mainly. if your tank is 76 at night and 84 daytime I would say thats bad. but if its 77 or 78 at night and 81-2 during the day, that's fine IMO.

Typically a temp as low as 77-78 is perfectly adequate for a reef tank but keep in mind things tend to eat less and grow slower (for fish this means they live longer) at lower temps though.

[GaryP]

That also means that the bacteria that are processing your wastes are working slower too.

[saltcreepette]

well yeah but if theyre eating less and growing slower, that would be ok right?

[GaryP]

That only works if you are feeding less. If you are feeding the same then there is the same amount of nutrients that needs to be processed.

[Ross]

My old tank got up to 85-86 everyday and everything did great. I just recent got back from scuba diving jaimaca/grand cayman/cozumel, and temps were 85 even down to 100ft or more.

[matt]

Really, 85 already in Cozumel? Watch out, there are going to be some big a** storms this summer.

I can't seem to keep any tank I've run in San Antonio under 84 in the summer. I've tried open top, sump fans, etc... and it always seems like it's 84. I don't run my AC any colder than 78 though, I have an old house, bad insulation, lots of windows.

It all adds up; in my current tank the light is surprisingly cool (mini pendant) and the return pump is a fan cooled pan world. Much of the heat comes from the submersible skimmer pump and the maxijets. When the Tunze nanostreams come out hopefully I can drop a couple of degrees.

[saltcreepette]

Gary,

well if they are eating less then I MUST be feeding less right?

(ha ha, now I am being facetious!) ;)

[GaryP]

Well, maybe. If not it just ends up as detritus. That was what I meant.

[saltcreepette]

(come on now, I was kidding!) ;)

[betiuminside]

Hello,

Yesterday we have an electricity outage and I didn't have air conditioning in my house... so the tank went up to 84.... it is usually at 77-80 at the most... and I noticed that any of my mushrooms or anemone or zoas opened... the temp is back to normal... should I do something??? Or just wait?? I just checked levels.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.8 ( Can't get it up, but it's been running like that since I set up the tank, I used a air stone already and nothing... anyways)
Calcium 420 (daily dosage of B-Ionic)
Specific Gravity. 1.024

Thanks

[Enigma13]

I think you will just have to wait. If it is back to normal now there really is nothing more to do. I know that some people keep their tanks a little warmer anyway.

Have you tried SeaChem Reef Buffer to get the pH up. It will also raise alkalinity so we careful with that, but it will never bring your pH higher than 8.3. I find it to be a pretty useful additive if my pH starts dipping. I use Reef Builder (alkalinity only) to try to prevent the pH from moving to much in the first place.

[hobogato]

are you dosing both parts of the B-ionic? the alkalinity part should keep your alkalinity up which will help with you pH.

have you tested alkalinity?

[betiuminside]

YEs I am dosing both parts... I will test alkalinity tonight

[JeremyGlen]

Its amazing how easily threads get jacked.

I keep my apartment at 75 during the day and 72 at night. I am using a Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper 2 to control everything. I have the hood fans set to come on at 78 and shut off at 77.9. During the day, I have a floor fan that I set blowing over my sump to help the evaporation. With the fan blowing on the sump, 2 4" fans in my hood with air holes cut just above the top of the tank for air flow over the surface of the water, and the house at 75, I can keep my tank at 81. I have a 25 gallon with a 250w halide so I feel that is a good feat. I have the controller set to shut the halide off at 82. Everything seems to do great since I did this so that the temp swings weren't as great.

At night my fans come on in the hood every 20 mins or so. The house is at 72 and the only heat sources are my fuge light and the return pump to the main tank.

One thing that has really helped me is a closed-loop system. It draws the water out of the tank, runs it through the pump9which is not submerged in the water) and then pumps it back. The air around the pvc actually helps cool the water just a little and gets one more pump out of the water, thus less heat.

In sumation......temp swings are bad if they are extreme. No more than a 4 degree swing should occur since it is similar to the oceans natural swings, I think.

[saltcreepette]

question regarding sump/closed loops. I had a 120g with sump and the return pumps were two little giants. they were big and they got very hot (couldnt keep finger on them for mroe than a couple seconds comfortably). how much heat transfer are you likely to experience from the water going through return pumps? is it a whole lot less (if any) than having an extra powerhead or two in the tank?

[matt]

Little giant pumps are known to run pretty hot, and they will transfer some heat to the water. Not as much as a CSL velocity (whatever those pumps are called now) but more than an iwaki or pan world with a fan. It's hard to say about the powerheads; I guess it partly depends on the wattage of the powerhead. I think mj1200 are 28W, right? For sure the two in my tank are contributing 1 or 2 degrees.

[saltcreepette]

supposedly the mj900's use almost half the watts as the 1200's. less heat, less electricity used, almost as much flow...I plan on getting those next time!