Temperature Swing, what is too much?

[steveaus10]

No large swings of any parameters is my recipe for success your temp swing should be fine

 

[Kris B]

In WI With my 400+ gallon tank and all my sump/filtration in the basement my tank stays extremely stable. I never see more than .3 deg change throughout the day in the summer (no chiller) though I do know my AC works harder.

 

[TaylorJames]

I use a phase change blanket under my frag tanks. It passively absorbs heat when the tanks to hot and releases heat when its to cold. (Full disclaimer: my company makes this stuff but we sell millions of square feet per year for conditioning buildings so a few sq feet for a reef tank isn’t really a sales plug) i use the Insolcorp 25C mat which is set at about 78.5 degrees for my tanks. My frag tanks temperature swings are cut in half or more over the my display tanks without them. I lay a sheet down and place the tank on top. I didn’t think about trying it until my second frag tank and haven’t drained the first tank to install it so i got a pretty good comparison. I see a lot more growth on the one with the phase change blanket under the tank. Not really a scientific test but pretty noticeable. One of these days i’ll Do a serious study and write an article for here about it.

Where can one get this said Insolcorp 25C mat?

 

[adw]

what he said

 

[BrianReefer]

I set my tank to 76.5 for heating purposes but yeah lots of halides heat things up. I have never seen the tank temps get higher than 81.

I had a similar issue. Just bought two 4" personal/desk fans at Target, plugged them in through USB port, suddenly my temp swings dropped 2 degrees. I was going from 78-82, now i'm maxing out at 79. Amazing what $20 in fans can do. Try it, it works!!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I try to keep temp swings small. My tanks always seen to have a 4 degree swing from night to day. But I have had temps increase to 83-85°f on a few tanks when my AC went out with no issues.

 

[DarkSky]

Wild reefs have temperature swings between 4c to 8c daily. Research has shown that SPS become more resilient when they're subjected to swings in temperature versus ones that have stable temperatures.

I let my tank swing between 76F and 80F now, where I used to make sure it stayed at 77F before.

 

[Entz]

Wild reefs have temperature swings between 4c to 8c daily. Research has shown that SPS become more resilient when they're subjected to swings in temperature versus ones that have stable temperatures.

I let my tank swing between 76F and 80F now, where I used to make sure it stayed at 77F before.

That is interesting... I have been keeping mine within a very small margin by Apex (78.3 -> 79) but plan on moving to SPS soonish. I will let it swing a bit more, easier on the heaters anyways...

 

[Lousybreed]

Wild reefs have temperature swings between 4c to 8c daily. Research has shown that SPS become more resilient when they're subjected to swings in temperature versus ones that have stable temperatures.

I let my tank swing between 76F and 80F now, where I used to make sure it stayed at 77F before.

Very interesting!

 

[JAMSOURY]

What’s the highest temp before sps starts dying off?

 

[Pete Horwath]

Where can one get this said Insolcorp 25C mat?

I can sell you some. I can do a 2' x 4' sheet for $25 + shipping. you can cut to shape. BTW i also us it for shipping frags to help stablize the temperature during shipping. if you have ever bought corals off my reefandfins.com site you probably gotten a small piece with the order. I use it like a hotpack or together with a hot pack to keep from overheating the corals. was thinking about putting it on my website. It wants to stay right around 78.5 to 79 which is perfect. attached are pics of the controllers on both my frag racks.

 

[Jay Z]

.........

Or handicapped.

 

[Joseph3]

I can sell you some. I can do a 2' x 4' sheet for $25 + shipping. you can cut to shape. BTW i also us it for shipping frags to help stablize the temperature during shipping. if you have ever bought corals off my reefandfins.com site you probably gotten a small piece with the order. I use it like a hotpack or together with a hot pack to keep from overheating the corals. was thinking about putting it on my website. It wants to stay right around 78.5 to 79 which is perfect. attached are pics of the controllers on both my frag racks.

This is awesome! How much heat do the pads absorb during phase change? Do you think it is safe to put the pads in the tank buried in the sand for better efficiently?