What is your reef temperature?

[mitchelliii]

Poll per request:

Please explain any reasons you keep it the way you do and your experiences with it. Also - mostly corals? mostly livestock? etc.

[glxtrix]

78 here. I have 3 clams, 2 softies, 1 LPS and a bunch of SPS. I would love to get the tank a lil warmer but the ambient temp of my room at work is cold and I dont want to have my heater puke on me if its working too much. I have your basic ranco controller hooked up to a fan if the temp gets above 81. I would think about raising it although my tank is only 15g's and wipeout could happen very quick if I dont keep it in check.

[flyingarmy]

I was running mine around 78 but after I moved and changed my 10K MH to a 20K the temp stays around 80 and my corals have never looked better. I know the 20K definitely helped, but along with it the temperature rise sure seems to make the corals grow and open more. I have a mix of LPS, SPS and a huge cluster of Xenia (now I have to frag before they get oout of control) My 2 centavos!

[Stroid]

I run my tank at 79-80 slight flucation under PC lighting. I just setup my sps tank recently and I am seeing temp flucations from 80-82 when the lights are on. Thank fully there arent any fish or corals in there yet but I am aiming to keep it stable around 80 for the sps.

[JustOneMoreTank]

My tank stays around 78 to 79. During the summer the wife and I try to run the AC as little as possible to keep the bill reasonable. However this causes the tank to get a little warmer even with the fans running.

[Showtime305]

My target temperature is 81.6 at the moment. I know this is higher than most reefers keep their tanks but I'm doing it to provide a more stable environment for my corals. My tank temperature swings from 81.6 to 82.0 with the lights on and 81.5 - 81.6 with the lights off. I'm considering dropping my tank temperature 1 degree over the next couple weeks.

Oh yeah, Almost forgot to add that my ReefKeeper 2 is my temperature controller.

[MattTVI]

Originally Posted by JustOneMoreTank

My tank stays around 78 to 79. During the summer the wife and I try to run the AC as little as possible to keep the bill reasonable. However this causes the tank to get a little warmer even with the fans running.

Same with me. I'm usually between 79-80F. If it gets particularly hot during the summer, the tank might creep up to 81-81.5F, but a large(ish) fan in the canopy as well as plenty of ventilation keep things cool.

I target 80F because that's somewhere in the middle of everything people have suggested to me...

I keep only 1 anemone in that tank and few fish. Hope it will be several clones of that anenome in the future.

[Cameron]

I run between 78-79 and rarely go above 78.6. I run 2x150w heaters and 2 vantec stealth fans. In the winter the house is around 65 and in the summer it is around 76. As the summer months come on, I expect the tank temp to rise but I have a chiller I need to hook up to help with that.

[Simon.Kruger]

78F all year round.

[Xyzpdq0121]

My tank has a lack of cooling right now I will admit. It is about 83 witht he halides on and 80 with them off. My corals have loved the higher temps but now that there are fish back into the tank, I am going to drop it a degree or two for the summer time. I live like an canadian anyways so I do not let my house get over 75 or the clothes start to come off!

[bonez]

Hi new member. This is a great question I have my tank at 76 and was thinking of warming it up to 78-79. 90 Gal with 2-250 hid 2-vho blue.

[Cameron]

Originally Posted by Xyzpdq0121

I do not let my house get over 75 or the clothes start to come off!

So many jokes... too many jokes.

[casper75]

I keep my tank between 78-79 . Whit all my equipment in my fishroom in the garage I run a 3/4 chiller and a 1000w in line heater to keep things stable.

[kwl1763]

I run mine around 80.

Here are my thoughts on it though. It needs to be stable (and especially so if you have SPS) but anything between 76 and 82 (some would argue more) is fine. I think people should run where their system attempts to stablize. Anyone with high powered MH is going to have heat issues. It's just part of it so do what you can but why waste the energy to get it below 80 - 81? Just do what you need to do to keep it reasonable. Many times if you don't have halides then heating is more of an issue. That being the case I would try to run around 77-78. No reason to waste energy driving to 80 degrees.

After having my big tank up for almost a year I'm finally going to install the chiller I've had the whole time as in these hot days I'm creeping to 82 which is to hot for my comfort.

[Darren24]

Winter 78-79.5. Summer (now) 79.5 - 81.5.

[Schwaggs]

My Aquacontroller adjusts my tank temp between 76 and 81 to simulate seasons. Why do I do it? Because it is there!

[Cameron]

Originally Posted by Schwaggs

My Aquacontroller adjusts my tank temp between 76 and 81 to simulate seasons. Why do I do it? Because it is there!

I thought the temp at most reefs were about the same year round. Wouldn't a better simulation be keeping the temp closer to a single degree?

[Schwaggs]

Nope, check this out... http://www.naia.com.fj/research/water.html The temps vary from a low of 78 to a high of 85! Of couse, these temp changes happen over weeks, not hours. I do believe daily temp stability is key in our captive systems.

[petrasb]

Ok,
I am running 84-86 and just realized this could be why I lost several fish the last few days. I have read this is because of less oxygen in the water? My coals look great though. I have 3 250w MH and 4 100w pc. I have my sump and 75gal refuge in basement, which is unfinished and the temp down there is much higher now than it was 2 months ago. I was thinking it was because I needed a bigger skimmer when the fish started to die, but my chemicals and everything looks good.
So, do I need to spend the money on the chiller. I was thinking it would run me about $1000.

[Cameron]

Originally Posted by Schwaggs

Nope, check this out... http://www.naia.com.fj/research/water.html The temps vary from a low of 78 to a high of 85! Of couse, these temp changes happen over weeks, not hours. I do believe daily temp stability is key in our captive systems.

and there you have it... leaned me somethin else new today.