78 degree water temp sweetspot OVERRATED

[ReefJunky]

Hmm... I've always kept my reef aquariums at 75F with good results... other than a 16 day power outage in January or the time when I was on vacation and my heater stuck on and I came home to a 112F stinking aquarium of coral and fish stew. But I like to keep ecosystems that look like deepwater zones which are darker to medium blue in color so I think my choice of corals probably prefer cooler temps. I am just getting back into the hobby after moving so only one of my tanks is running right now and I'm slowly restocking and building sumps, etc.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im st 79-81 degrees. No issues

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good Topic. I created a poll on temperatures

 

[KenO]

Good Topic. I created a poll on temperatures

Not seeing the poll. My tanks are at 78. No issues at that temp.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hmm... I've always kept my reef aquariums at 75F with good results... other than a 16 day power outage in January or the time when I was on vacation and my heater stuck on and I came home to a 112F stinking aquarium of coral and fish stew. But I like to keep ecosystems that look like deepwater zones which are darker to medium blue in color so I think my choice of corals probably prefer cooler temps. I am just getting back into the hobby after moving so only one of my tanks is running right now and I'm slowly restocking and building sumps, etc.

I would love 75, but using a chiller 78, till fall.

 

[ncshpfox]

I’ve ran my tanks as high as 85 with no long term issues. But I typically try to stay around the 80 mark. Not much danger of overheating unless a heater gets stuck on. And if the power goes out I’ve got a little bigger window before the tank gets too cold. The only other reason I can think of for shooting for that sweet spot of 78-80 is the range of animals you keep in your tank. Depending on their natural habitat. Some from shallower warmer locations to deeper cooler waters. So unless every animal in your tank is from the same region, the common 78 degree temp covers a wide range of environments.

 

[EHerbert]

I recently moved and the new apartment was getting extremely hot during the day. With my tank being at 78° normally, I started panicking the first few days of getting as high as 84°. I busted out the fans and was freezing bottles of water to place in the back of my 45 gallon all-in-one. And 84° didn't feel too hot when I stuck my hand in there. (That made sense to me.) After about a week of panicking I stopped sweating it. The fish were fine, the corals were growing and I even watched my Ruby Red Dragonettes do their mating dance a few times. Now I wouldn't keep my reef at 84° but I see nothing wrong with it fluctuating up to that point. IMO, I think you're asking for trouble keeping it that high as anything can go wrong and mess up your oxygen exchange. Keeping your temps lower provides a cushion in case it does.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not seeing the poll. My tanks are at 78. No issues at that temp.

Its under forum " aquarium /tank discussion"

 

[Scrubber_steve]

What? The whole feeling water temp with hand part? With 20yrs experience I can feel with my hand in the tank if it's too cold or too hot



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LOL

sorry, but

 

[doughboy]

Imo. Yes my opinion...The 78 degree tank temp sweetspot is overrated.

But it could be just my situation. 95% zoa/play dominated tank with several tangs

Since July I have my Apex bottom temp at 80 and its bounces from 80 to 82.5.....sometimes 83 but rarely. I've put my hand in the tank and 82-83 doesn't feel unhealthy at all.

My zoas/palys have never looked better. My fish are active, fat n healthy.

I'm going to keep 80 as my low mark for 6mos and see the longterm effects.

Your thoughts?




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are you using a heater (during summer) to keep the tank temp above 80?
my tank used to go above 80 during summer, but since I switched to DC pump, temp is around 74-76 this summer. Did not really notice any significant difference from previous years when tank was at higher temp, other than the fan never came on so far this year.

 

[sik_z33]

I have a 180 gallon mixed reef lit by 2- 250w MH, 2- 120w Black box leds, and 2 80 t5's. My tank stays between 81 -83 with no issues I am getting great soft coral growth, good SPS growth, and decent LPS growth . I have a simple PC fan hooked up to a temperature controller that blows across the display tank when the tank reaches 83.

 

[Dennis McGrath]

I keep mine fairly close to 80. On my 13.5g tankIt usually fluctuates from as 79.2 to 79.8, and the Biocube 32 is between 79.6 and 80.1

 

[mlb75]

I think there's more to this story, anyone that's ever snorkeled a natural reef can tell you the natural habitat is much warmer than what we keep out tanks. To coral and fish can absolutely not just survive but thrive in those warmer temps. The difference comes in the stability of the other properties of the water ie chemical composition and available nutrients in the ocean vs our tanks. My belief is by keeping things a bit cooler we slow down the metabolisms of the organisms (fish, coral, and parasites) so the fish and coral become more resilient to the fluctuation of other properties in our systems and the parasites have a harder time taking hold. Sure you can run higher temps and probably even get better results in some things but the nutrients and other properties will just need to be managed that much tighter and things could go from OK to bad to worse quicker than at a little lower temps. That alone makes it worth it to me to shoot for 78-79 vs 82-84.

 

[vetteguy53081]

At times, our own equipment, ,,,,, return pumps, indirect sunlight and lighting itself will produce heat and add to already warm summer temperatures.

 

[Scarybo]

The tank will be fine at 80. The only risk is as discussed earlier, less oxygen. The higher temperature will greatly reduce the amount of time you have during an outage or other event that affects oxygen replenishment. I would review my contingency plans and make sure I have redundancy in the system. Otherwise you will be fine. IMO.

 

[DHill6]

Using an Apex fallback is set off. Set at 77.7, easy to keep cool by using a Tunze aquawind fan on the edge and a ceiling fan. Grant it I'm in the desert and I run AC also. Winter it's dual Neo Therm heaters, just in case one goes out and the house stays a consistent 70.

 

[saltyhog]

In the 100-of-thousands of Apex's sold worldwide, I have yet to read any Apex heaters stuck-on cooking the tank

As I understand it when an Apex outlet fails, it fails in the OFF position making the outlet dead.
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If the Apex fails it should go to the fallback setting is my understanding. If the E8 fails I dont see what would prevent it from doing it in the on position. Granted, unlikely but not impossible.

Remeber when you check temp with your hand you are measuring the temp difference between your hand and the water. Since the surface temp of your hand can vary greatly I don't think that's a very reliable way to check your tank temp. LOL

It's why we discourage moms from relying on the old hand to the forehead method of fever detection

 

[PhreeByrd]

I've never heard of an Apex or any other controller failure leading to runaway tank temperatures. The problem is that the probes used to monitor temperature can and do fail, which usually leads to the water temperature being underreported to the controller. The controller then keeps the heater on and the water temperature continues to rise.

The only tank crash I've had happened in just this way. Temperature probe failed and the controller saw the temperature as too low. Water temperature continued to rise and reached 95 degrees F before I saw the problem. By that time several fish and corals had died, probably 50%. Eventually everything that survived the initial event recovered, but it was a major disaster for me.

Thinking that an Apex (or any other controller) will prevent something like this is just wrong.

As for tank temperatures, I'm a 79 degree F guy.

 

[Servillius]

I've never heard of an Apex or any other controller failure leading to runaway tank temperatures. The problem is that the probes used to monitor temperature can and do fail, which usually leads to the water temperature being underreported to the controller. The controller then keeps the heater on and the water temperature continues to rise.

The only tank crash I've had happened in just this way. Temperature probe failed and the controller saw the temperature as too low. Water temperature continued to rise and reached 95 degrees F before I saw the problem. By that time several fish and corals had died, probably 50%. Eventually everything that survived the initial event recovered, but it was a major disaster for me.

Thinking that an Apex (or any other controller) will prevent something like this is just wrong.

As for tank temperatures, I'm a 79 degree F guy.

I’m fortunate in that where I live I get away with underpowering heaters so reducing the risk of overheating. I’ve twice had multiple redundancies fail and heaters get stuck on. Once was user error and once equipment related.

Things go wrong. Betting they won’t will end in tears.

 

[ZoWhat]

OP here

Change of Heart.

Tank topped at 84 yesterday and fish were all breathing rapidly and heavy.

I'm backing down to the 79-80 range now.



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