How warm is to warm?

[New&no clue]

Hi All,

I live in central Maine and it is cold in the winter so I obviously set up my tank with a heater. Now summer is here and it’s hot outside... and sometimes even hotter inside, we don’t have central air or AC. I noticed my tank has gone up from 78 to 79 and I’m wondering what’s the highest the temperature should be. As I’m just starting, couple months in, I don’t have any corals yet just fish, shrimp, and cuc.

Would you recommend getting a chiller?

Is there anything that is a heater/chiller combo?

 

[Tankzombie]

79 is fine you will be fine up to 81-82.
You can get some fans to blow across water to help cool it. Chiller would be way more expensive to run and if you are only at 79 would not waste the money on one.

 

[Cherie cook]

Hi All,

I live in central Maine and it is cold in the winter so I obviously set up my tank with a heater. Now summer is here and it’s hot outside... and sometimes even hotter inside, we don’t have central air or AC. I noticed my tank has gone up from 78 to 79 and I’m wondering what’s the highest the temperature should be. As I’m just starting, couple months in, I don’t have any corals yet just fish, shrimp, and cuc.

Would you recommend getting a chiller?

Is there anything that is a heater/chiller combo?

I try not to let my tank get over 80. If you can’t do AC you can use fans over the top of the tank...increased evaporation will cool the tank some. In an emergency you can use a bag of ice or bottle of frozen water in the sump if you have one.

 

[EmdeReef]

Hi All,

I live in central Maine and it is cold in the winter so I obviously set up my tank with a heater. Now summer is here and it’s hot outside... and sometimes even hotter inside, we don’t have central air or AC. I noticed my tank has gone up from 78 to 79 and I’m wondering what’s the highest the temperature should be. As I’m just starting, couple months in, I don’t have any corals yet just fish, shrimp, and cuc.

Would you recommend getting a chiller?

Is there anything that is a heater/chiller combo?

79 is perfectly safe.

. I would start worrying if the temperature goes above 82 for too long, especially SPS (which you don’t have). Some have bleached even at 80 for too long.

Fish alone can tolerate much higher fluctuations and the only risk is more rapid O2 depletion at higher temperatures, so you want to make sure to have good flow.

Re.chillers, Teco chillers have both but they cost a lot and honestly I would wait until you start adding corals and see if you still have issues.

 

[Aeb1419]

I hear you. I have the same
Problem. Like said above 81-82 you should be fine. I would get a fan. I purchased one from amazon and it made a 2 degree difference. I have it on a timer to turn on when the lights turn on. Its the BOYU i pettie fan. Make sure it fits. Not sure how big your tank is. As long as you have an ATO you should be good

 

[Silver14SS]

http://www.ronshimek.com/salinity_temperature.html

I wouldn't worry about it until it gets past the mid 80s.

 

[Peace River]

Great question! It should be fine but it depends what you have in your tank. Is it a FOWLR tank? Corals? What fish and/or corals?

 

[Isaac Alves]

My own experience with keeping a warmer tank for a “semi” longer period of time:

I have a reef tank in my studio workspace that runs consistently at 80.5 for two years now. I have a computer workstation in that room, plus, that side of the house gets warmer so I can’t get the temps lower.

Regarding the livestock in the tank:

Everything in this tank that has been thriving so far: branching star polyps, several coralimorphs (fuzzy mushrooms, galaxy bounce, watermelons, and blue discosomas) and a new anemone with an old clown in that tank. The fish, that are nearly 2-3 years old as well, include a Mandarin dragonet, Lemon Peel Angel, Kole Tang, a couple of chromis, and a leopard wrasse —- and the old clown. I do have a large area for chaeto growing in there (for the mandarin’s food source) and it’s been doing well in that temp. The tank had other softies but the angel took care of everything else, and unfortunately munched down on my Xenia colony — which i did like in that tank.

I have the tank connected to an Inkbird temperature controller.

I live in Southern California, and the summer is just now starting to show off some heat. My current digital workstations are new this year and have larger power needs so the heat they’re generating is more than what was generated the last couple of years —- in turn the room is warmer. So I do have a larger fan blowing across the sump. This fan pulls the temp down to 80 so I can keep the AC for the rest of the house at a moderate temp.

I hope this provides you some more info. Again, I’m not trying to keep anything like SPS, acros, etc in this tank. It’s life support setup is targeted for the mandarin.

Cheers, and Happy Reefing.

 

[New&no clue]

Thanks all for the replies, I’ll just keep an eye on it as summer progresses.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Just forgot to note:

you need to have plenty of RODI in your top off, and I’d suggest using an ATO. You will evaporate a lot of water, depending on how strong your fans are blowing.