Too Hot Or Cold.....!

[JP-79er]

Question what is the ideal temp range. I have always run my tank at around 26.9 - 27.3deg C. But can this water be to warm for some inverts???

What do you run your tank/s at

I have had trouble in the past keeping tube worms and starfish and trying to think of any thing that may cause a quick decline as my water quality dosn't appear to be an issue. My Anemone, finger corals and star Xiana's are all fine and growing well and all my fish and cleaner shrimps are as happy as Larry.

 

[rabbut]

Generaly, you aim for a temperature between 24 and 27c, and I run mine on 25 The heat I think is supposed to get corals before mobile inverts and fish, but no doubt someone will correct me shortly...

 

[seffieuk]

I run mine at 80 degrees, 26.75

Seffie x

 

[IIITYIII]

mine runs 78-80, it usually hits 80 after my halide has been on for full 6 hours

 

[ben1987]

My heater is set to 26. Can kreep above that if the rooms hot or when the halide is one for a while

 

[SkiFletch]

I keep mine at 28-28.5 in the summer which is high but my halides heat up the water so I live with it. In the winter like now when it's crazy cold outside (gonna be -12C outside tonight) I let my tank get down to ~24C to save on electrical costs to try and heat the beast.

Unfortunately our corals, fish, and inverts tend to come from a variety of water temps across that whole range. Deep water corals are more in the 21-26C range while shallow water corals are typically found in the 25 to even as high as 32 for species found in tidal pools. Fish tend to be significantly more adaptable than corals OR inverts and can handle a significantly larger range provided there is enough gas exchange at high temperatures to get them Oxygen.

Where you get in trouble with reef tanks and temperature is first if the temp gets too high for your corals/inverts. Especially if you have deepwater species, they'll literally cook in high temperatures (or at least their proteins will). This happened to me over the summer when I forgot to turn on my Air Conditioner on a day when it was 35C and 90% humidity outside... Tank shot up to 32C in a flash and all my deepwater LPS suffered, I even lost many. The shallow water corals didn't look happy, but they didn't suffer, and my tridacnid clam which is often found baking dry in tidal pools was laughing at the heat .

Second trouble you can get into with temp is with fish. While they can handle a wider range of absoloute temps, they cannot handle swings in temp very well, especially downward swings. Downward temp swings tend to leave them stressed out and vulnerable to infections and ich. This is especailly true with Tangs or other similarly sensitive fish.

A word on cool water. When we lost power to my house a couple years ago for 3.5 days and I barely was able to keep water moving and oxygen in the tank with a car inverter, my tank temp dropped to around 13C/55F after those 3.5 days. Corals weren't happy but they didn't die. Fish got sick but didn't die. Dunno how much more they could have handled, but these animals are significantly more able to withstand the "cool" than the heat.

So my advice, keep it stable and don't let it get too hot. If you notice your heater stops working and the tank gets cool, don't freak, just get a new one and trust that they will recover

 

[jennybugs]

...and there was I panicing about the temp rising from 25 to 26!

Some excellent advice there SF

 

[JP-79er]

Thanks all for your input. it amazing how it varies from tank to tank. I am shocked about Skifletch experiance down to 13degs think i would have had kittens if it had happended to me.

I will reduce my tank temp a little 25.5degs as during the summer months my temp can rise up to 28 and somtimes peak over 29 with relativly no cooling down during the nights this will create more of an over heat buffer.

Oh..the joys of living in Britan ramdom temps although predominanly cold wet and miserable but when the heat comes we have little defense against it and we all cook nicley in our homes with no air-con.

 

[seffieuk]

Where abouts in Essex are you?

Seffie x (Seffie and Trod, Essex Girls - no jokes )

 

[JP-79er]

I live out in Braintree, and sometimes shop in Swallows Aquatic's which is not to far from you.

 

[jennybugs]

I'm an Essex girl too - originally from Brentwood

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks all for your input. it amazing how it varies from tank to tank. I am shocked about Skifletch experiance down to 13degs think i would have had kittens if it had happended to me.

I will reduce my tank temp a little 25.5degs as during the summer months my temp can rise up to 28 and somtimes peak over 29 with relativly no cooling down during the nights this will create more of an over heat buffer.

Oh..the joys of living in Britan ramdom temps although predominanly cold wet and miserable but when the heat comes we have little defense against it and we all cook nicley in our homes with no air-con.

Heh, I'd rather have that then the extremes we have here in Buffalo . Yesterday it was 10F at night and we were freezing our tails off. Today I wake up, it's 33F and my car is covered in half an inch of ice. Later it's going to rain, and then tomorrow we're going to get 6-12" of snow... Gah why do I live here?

 

[JP-79er]

Ok you win..

We are ranging between 2C during the day & -5C at night. With no snow but i can still grind Britian to a hault and closes half the schools, how rubbish is that