The Great Temp Debate??

[Dozer]

:lol . Just kidding. I have been reading up on temp. lately though and have found some interesting things. I would love to hear some opinions all of you have on either your feelings about temps in captive reefs, and/or your reactions to the reading linked below. I have found 3 examples. One in favor of fairly high average temps, one in favor of lower temps, one basically in the middle. I chose these three because each of them has the opinion of a different well known member of the Reefkeeping community (Shimek, Holmes-Farley, W.Smith). If any of these have been since revised please let me know because I realize they may be a bit dated. Please read, enjoy and post your thoughts!!

http://web.archive.org/web/20030218193420/www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/nov/features/1/default.asp

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=604948&perpage=25&highl ight=walt%20smith&pagenumber=1

[lido]

I keep my SPS tank at 82-83 degree's at all times.

It's higher than the norm, but my corals seem to like it. :)

[Texreefer]

78 -81

[hobogato]

79 - 82

[cpreefguy]

Mine is 78 at night, and gets up to 81 durring the day

[caferacermike]

I'm also at the 76-82 range. Summer it's about 78-82, right now it's around 76-79. The lows being at night and the high is during the day. From what I've gathered is that 6,500K bulbs with temps about 82-84 will cause your corals to grow super fast but not be as colorful. Keeping them around 79 or lower helps slow the metabolic process.

[z28pwr]

83 All the time, been running like that for years. I know it's high but it's a FOWLR and I run it this high to avoid fluctuations without the need of adding a chiller.

[apedroza]

78 to 82 degrees for me.

[Ram_Puppy]

78 - constant - cause thats what the chiller keeps it at.

[prof]

Constant is the most important part, IMO

[brewercm]

79 - 81
Running from a Medusa dual temp controller.

[Dozer]

Thanks for all the responses everyone! Is anyone else out there also geeky enough to read the links I posted? Here are some more too:

http://www.ronshimek.com/Temperature%20Salinity.htm
http://www.reefland.com/rho/1105/reefc7.php
http://www.reefland.com/rho/0106/reefc8.php
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/reef_temperature.html

Most of what I posted is from Ron Shimek, touting the benefits of much warmer temps than hobbyists typically use. I'm not trying to push this idea- I myself have never tried it and actually I have not gotten into really keeping SPS yet. But in the future I plan to keep SPS and I am trying to find out as much as I can beforehand about providing the best environment I can. I was not aware until I really started reading about this stuff that there was such a difference of opinion. Personally- living in Texas- I think it would be great if it were true that we could (maybe even should) run our tanks in warmer temp ranges and with more variety (i.e. less stability) than previously thought. However I am skeptical and a little afraid to jump right in and try it lol.

Anyone else have any experience running with warmer temps? How about differing opinions to what Shimek is saying? Also on the last link that I pasted above (the one which is an online debate about this subject) you'll notice Eric Borneman also states that he runs his tanks at 84, which is kind of interesting. I'm currently still looking around to find out how others in the industry (Fenner, Calfo, etc) feel about this. To me it is always interesting to hear the thoughts of people who are actually making careers out of working with marine life and see how these opinions compare to hobbyists like us.

So where are the other geeks that like reading this stuff?!? :D Gary P are you out there somewhere??

[Headless_donkey]

79-81

[watson0720]

79-82

[mathias]

79-82 I put my tank right under a ac vent and have 2 pc fans in the hood and another fan blowing over the top of the water that is a clip on fan....

whats funny is the clip on fan was $7 and been running nonstop for 2 years over saltwater and has never cut off.....

[erick]

yep 79-82, no problems yet...