55 gal tank update...

[Hanali]

So my tank is up and running and small amounts of life are coming and going. My nitrates are still in the .25 range and have yet to come down, by my readings. When I took it to River City they said I had none but my nitrites had a ****e, while I see none.

Either way today I have 2 lbs of Garf grunge coming in and 6 lb of grung plus coming in with a 35 gal reef janitor kit and some mixed calurpa.

Think you guys scared me enough with the calurpa that I placed a TON of spunge in the bubble trap between the refuge and the skimmer. Maybe this will keep it from moving around.

So today all of that will be added to my tank. I do have a basic question for you guys though on temperature, though.

Yesterday or so I bought a digital thermometer and started watching my tank. It was normally around 70 degrees so I upped it to 75. The amount of life in the tank seemed to have dropped some.

Was this a good idea? It seems to jump from 70-75 throughout the day. I was thinking about getting a new heater and the temp sensor is in the bottom of the tank in the farthest corner from the inlet section.

Thanks guys... my tank is looking much better due to your help.

[Ping]

Temperature is debatable in our hobby. Yours is very low however. Temperature stability is very important. My opinion is 77 degrees. Many like to keep their tanks warmer, 80 degree range, metal halide lighting and Texas summers make this the norm. The argument is that many area's along the equator have 80 degree temps and many Corals metabolism is increased, thereby they grow quicker at higher temps. Delbeek, Sprung, and Paletta recommend 75 - 77 degrees in our closed systems.

[Hanali]

Cool... So I will up my temp. I was concerned that the upper portion of the tank and the inlet area would be to warm, but 75-80 sound managable. I will slowly up the temp today.

[crossxfire2]

the reason you had a loss of life was because the temperature is supposed to be stable. You want to raise the temperature very slowly when you do.