Debate time ! Perfect water temperature?

Mateo · May 30, 2016

hello all so I wrote acouple days ago that some of my coral is dying off and I believe it's due to water temp . All chemical levels check out fine and salinity is 1.028 which might be a bit high. My water temp was 77.1 constant before but now it's a 79.1-81.8 which I believe is to high . Some guys at he LFS told me its way to high;however , some people said its a perfect temp . I Zoas , Kenya trees , mushrooms , Duncan's and torch coral . Thoughts ? Thanks all .

Mateo · May 30, 2016

Ps: the temp only went up when I installed a refugium , and UV sterilizer

Desmond · May 30, 2016

I run my tank at 25.5 c (77,9 F ) on a stc 1000 temp controller. It never moves more than .3 in either direction. The light over your fuge could be adding extra heater to the water. Not to sure if the uv would do this or not. I would be more concerned in getting your SG correct. at least down to 1.028 as this cant be helping anything. If you dont have a would suggest buying an auto top of unit to keep your SG more stable. Do you possibly have a faulty heater ?

Desmond · May 30, 2016

Another option if you are having no look is to get a chiller. Stc 1000 you can have it on a heater and also hooked up to a fan for cooling and they are cheap and i have never had any issue at all other than a faulty sensor which sent an alarm off on the unit and i changed it.

PatW · May 30, 2016

You can put a fan on the tank run by a controller. A fan can have an impressive effect on controlling temperature.

I scuba dive. In the Caribbean, summer water temps are typically over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The corals seem to be fine unless temperatures go over about 84 degrees for a sustained amount of time.

Hunter S Thompson · May 30, 2016

Good luck finding a temperature sensor that is accurate. I have 3 different ones and there is a 4 degree difference between them. Guess I need to find one of those research grade mercury thermometers.

ksc · May 30, 2016

I would say your temp. is perfect too. A 2-3 degree swing is perfectly fine and will make your corals hardier. It's been shown in studies that most corals will grow faster between 80-84. A thriving reef tank should be kept above 78 imo. As stated above, the cheap instruments we use to monitor temps aren't very accurate so targeting 80-81 gives you some leeway on either side.

ckozma · May 30, 2016

Hunter S Thompson said:
Good luck finding a temperature sensor that is accurate. I have 3 different ones and there is a 4 degree difference between them. Guess I need to find one of those research grade mercury thermometers.

An NIST certified thermometer should not do that. I have three and they are all within .3 degrees of each other. An NIST certified thermometer should have a max variance of 1 degree usually. I keep my water at 78 but it gets up to 79.5 sometimes on hot summer days with no issues. Usually they say between 78-82 degrees.

Mateo · May 30, 2016

Thanks all for the input . I'm going to look into some fans as I saw best results for my coral in the 76-78 degree range .

Duke4Life · May 30, 2016

Mateo said:
Thanks all for the input . I'm going to look into some fans as I saw best results for my coral in the 76-78 degree range .

That's where mine is, 78 during the day with a drop off to 75-76 at night.

Desmond · May 31, 2016

Mateo said:
Thanks all for the input . I'm going to look into some fans as I saw best results for my coral in the 76-78 degree range .

I would for sure consider a STC 1000 as they are inexpensive and you can also hook a fan for cooling and a heater up to them.
I have made mine into a unit with plugs. If you need any help just give me a shout and can show you how i done it

Pagerone · May 31, 2016

Mateo said:
Thanks all for the input . I'm going to look into some fans as I saw best results for my coral in the 76-78 degree range .

Can you explain on that what was better about them at this temp just wondering?

Pagerone · May 31, 2016

I run my tank at 78-80 turn fans on when I hit 80 it takes about 20 minutes to get it back to 78 I see no change in feeding nothing there all open and looking the same

ksc · May 31, 2016

Pagerone said:
Can you explain on that what was better about them at this temp just wondering?

I doubt he could explain considering he just got his first coral a month ago...Keeping a tank at 76 is no different than keeping it at 86, just too close to the "safe zone".

Pagerone · May 31, 2016

ksc said:
I doubt he could explain considering he just got his first coral a month ago...Keeping a tank at 76 is no different than keeping it at 86, just too close to the "safe zone".

Can you explain lol to close to the safe zone what is that

ksc · May 31, 2016

This explains it better than I could

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/reeftanktemp.htm
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/aatanktemps.htm

Pagerone · May 31, 2016

ksc said:
This explains it better than I could

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/reeftanktemp.htm
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aquariummaintenancecare/a/aatanktemps.htm

Nice thanks for that good link

AdamNC · Jun 1, 2016

Hunter S Thompson said:
Good luck finding a temperature sensor that is accurate. I have 3 different ones and there is a 4 degree difference between them. Guess I need to find one of those research grade mercury thermometers.

You need a proportional thermostat. I don't know of any for the fish industry but I've had quit a few for reptiles that will regulate +/- .3 degrees f. All of which have probes that are waterproof.

mute0514 · Jun 1, 2016

I live int the carribean and I have seen people run their tamks from 80-84 just fine over here a chiller is needed for 77-80. but then again I would guess the corals get used to it.