How important is temperature?

[Kial]

I’m just curious, how important is the temperature in our reef tanks? Obviously in the ocean, I would imagine the temperature is changing throughout the day up and down.

I ask this because I’ve not had to run a heater in my tank since I set it up 6 months ago (live in Australia) and all I seem to do is try and keep it cool with cooling fans. It ranges from 27.5 - 28-7 degrees. Fish and corals do fine.

Today it’s a lot cooler outside and my temp has gone to its lowest of 27.1.

 

[sfin52]

Your lucky I live in Springfield IL and I have to use heaters to keep the temp up. I keep the house 68degrees in winter. In the summer I keep it at 78. I try to keep the tank at 77 all year round in the summer it raises a little to 78-79. Temps in Fahrenheit.

 

[Kial]

So changing a few degrees here and there isn’t a problem?

 

[sfin52]

I don’t think so. Going to high and to low for extended periods of time can and does kill coral. The temps in the ocean change from seasonal to season they stay most of the time in coral temp range.

 

[Kial]

Ok cool. I should be fine then

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Stability is the most important thing to corals, fluxuations in temp can have an effect on a reef tank.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Something like a 2-3 F degree gradual swing over 24 hours shouldn't hurt anything. More than that though, more sensitive corals can start to show sign of stress. You can hook your heater and fan up to something like an Ink Bird controller and keep a more constant temp which is a better way to go.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Something like a 2-3 F degree gradual swing over 24 hours shouldn't hurt anything. More than that though, more sensitive corals can start to show sign of stress. You can hook your heater and fan up to something like an Ink Bird controller and keep a more constant temp which is a better way to go.

yup you can read about reefs dying in the ocean due to temperature change. If it' nothing major it will be ok.

 

[VR28man]

The best indicator is that things are doing fine. The consistnecy(ie narrow range) is important too.

That being said, at those temperatures........

Depends where the corals are from, on the reef. Tide pool species should be ok. Ones from shallower reefs may be able to take it. But ones from reef crests, at 10-20m or so, might not like it in the long term. I’d definitely be careful about if you had deep water corals.

This study suggested bleaching iccurred at 88 degrees f (28.9 c). That being said, this is in the context of temperature fluctuation – much more than in your tank. Still, if I were you, I might try to get a chiller, and slowly bring the temperature down.

http://www.popsci.com/amp/hawaii-coral-reefs-bleaching

As an aside, you said that the tank was warmer over the past six months, and coolest now. How you get your coolest temperature in the summer?

 

[Cae]

I’m just curious, how important is the temperature in our reef tanks? Obviously in the ocean, I would imagine the temperature is changing throughout the day up and down.

I ask this because I’ve not had to run a heater in my tank since I set it up 6 months ago (live in Australia) and all I seem to do is try and keep it cool with cooling fans. It ranges from 27.5 - 28-7 degrees. Fish and corals do fine.

Today it’s a lot cooler outside and my temp has gone to its lowest of 27.1.

Kial. I live in the Wide bay Queensland, I just had my tank bleach from the heat that we have had. All of my coralline algae went white. You will need a heater come winter though because last winter (which was mild) I forgot to turn my heater back on after maintenance and I woke up the next morning to everything closed up and suffering. I lost a lot of the small shrimp and critters that live in the sand bed which threw out my whole system for months. I also lost mushrooms, elegance, hammer, favia and all my zoas. So yes , I will say that in winter in Australia you do need a heater unless you live somewhere the temperature stays above 25 deg C day and night all year round.

 

[Kial]

Still got a few more things to purchase before I go the controller route but as it’s only changing about 1 degree every now and again it should be fine.

The best indicator is that things are doing fine. The consistnecy(ie narrow range) is important too.

That being said, at those temperatures........

Depends where the corals are from, on the reef. Tide pool species should be ok. Ones from shallower reefs may be able to take it. But ones from reef crests, at 10-20m or so, might not like it in the long term. I’d definitely be careful about if you had deep water corals.

This study suggested bleaching iccurred at 88 degrees f (28.9 c). That being said, this is in the context of temperature fluctuation – much more than in your tank. Still, if I were you, I might try to get a chiller, and slowly bring the temperature down.

http://www.popsci.com/amp/hawaii-coral-reefs-bleaching

As an aside, you said that the tank was warmer over the past six months, and coolest now. How you get your coolest temperature in the summer?

The temp here has dropped a good 10 degrees the last 2 days for some weird reason but I like it aha.
A do want a chiller but they are rather expensive so that will come in time

 

[Kial]

Kial. I live in the Wide bay Queensland, I just had my tank bleach from the heat that we have had. All of my coralline algae went white. You will need a heater come winter though because last winter (which was mild) I forgot to turn my heater back on after maintenance and I woke up the next morning to everything closed up and suffering. I lost a lot of the small shrimp and critters that live in the sand bed which threw out my whole system for months. I also lost mushrooms, elegance, hammer, favia and all my zoas. So yes , I will say that in winter in Australia you do need a heater unless you live somewhere the temperature stays above 25 deg C day and night all year round.

Yeah I have two heaters just not switched on. What temp did yours get up to which caused your bleaching?
You running a chiller over summer or just cooling fans?

 

[Cae]

Yeah I have two heaters just not switched on. What temp did yours get up to which caused your bleaching?
You running a chiller over summer or just cooling fans?

Stupid me decided not to run my chiller as I noticed the ceiling fan was helping to keep the tank a bit cooler as long as I had a lot of surface agitation , also they are expensive to run. one afternoon when I got home from a trip to Brisbane (The tech den)I noticed that my tank temp was 30.6 dag C. Outside temp had been 46 deg C . I didn't even get time to get my chiller out before the damage had been done. I'm an idiot for not checking the weather forecast, I was in aircon all day and didn't notice. Up until I brought a chiller or on one off hot days I keep 2ltr bottles of water in the freezer and cool the tank (350ltr) by floating them. It works well.

 

[Kial]

Nightmare, I’ve tried the frozen bottles but only seems to drop my temp slightly then bottles themselves warm up lol.

 

[Joe Batt]

I live in Dubai and have a similar problem. I never run a heater, just a chiller. I use an Apex controller and the temperature varies 25.5-26.2C slowly during the day.

The oceans do change temperature but very slowly over the course of months, and since their volume is so huge it is a very small variation. The surface temperature can change quite markedly but that's not usually where our corals are. Because we use such a small 'box' of ocean we have to guard against such variations since the corals and fish cant escape it.

 

[PEP12]

I have heaters and a chiller hooked up to a Apex controller programmed to keep the temperature no lower than 25c and 25c summer and winter, outside temperature today 4c, house temp 23c both 525ltr tanks now at 25.3 during the night house temp 17c tanks 25.3

 

[FloodWaters]

I have invested in a simple Inkbird brand heater/cooler controller and have had good luck with it. My sump is in the basement and that helps to keep temps a little more stable, but i find a degree or 2 swing does not cause too much of an issue with my setup. I shoot for 77-78F year-round.