What's your perfect temperature?

[George Lopez]

Ok so i know this will give me a huge range of responses but what temperature do you keep your reef tank at? I know fluctuations happen but how hot is too hot and what's too cold? I currently run my tank set at 76.5 and it bounces up to 78 during the day because the ac is set to 78 but i noticed that my corals open up more during the hotter times so i wanted to see if maybe I'm running too low.

 

[madweazl]

The best temperature is whatever you can maintain based on the conditions in your home. For me, that was 78.8° until I added the T5 retrofit which has pushed my temps up to about 80° when they're on and the house temp creeps up to 78° in the room my fish are in (a/c doesn't hit that room very well and neither does the heater in the winter).

 

[tdileo]

My tank fluctuates between 79-80. Works great for me

 

[George Lopez]

I was thinking of slowly raising my temp a bit

 

[AdamNC]

Using my Apex, heater and a fan it keeps my temps between 77.1 - 77.5

 

[Crabs McJones]

I keep my tank at 78.5 and it fluctuates from 77.5-79.5 via my TrueTemp controller.

 

[king-coral]

I used to keep it at 77-78, but had a problem with the a/c for a few days the tank was at 84-85 ....corals colored up and grew out a great deal that week, so now i am keeping it at 82-83 everything is happy, for weeks now. not sure whats going to happen this winter, prob add a third heater. if heaters go out the drop would be to quick, risk i am willing to take after seeing what a few degs higher can do.

 

[underwaterdan]

I used to keep it at 77-78, but had a problem with the a/c for a few days the tank was at 84-85 ....corals colored up and grew out a great deal that week

That's amazing! I keep mine at 77-78 and now you got me thinking should I raise it!?

 

[DarkSky]

Higher temps means faster metabolic rates for your corals. Your nutrient demands will increase so you'll have to feed more or your corals will slowly starve.

There was a noticeable difference between 77F and 81F in NO3 and PO4 consumption for me - I have a 45g SPS tank and I dose 5ml of my NO3 mixture and 2ml of my PO4 mixture daily to keep my nutrients around 10ppm/0.03ppm @ 77F.

When I was running hotter (81F) I had to bump up my NO3 to 8ml and PO4 to 4ml.

Of course, there could be other factors going into the change in consumption, but a lot could be due to the temperature and bacteria/corals using it at a faster rate.

 

[jpreefer]

I've always had best growth and colors with temp 80-81 and nitrates 15-20

 

[George Lopez]

That's amazing! I keep mine at 77-78 and now you got me thinking should I raise it!?

that's why i set this post up, to see if i should try raising my temp

 

[Ocelaris]

I got to this thread from a search, and have been hearing some of the larger lps like acanthophyllia, indophyllia, cynarina like it cooler, like 77 for long term health, so I've been keeping it there and everything has been doing well.

 

[RussiReef]

I keep my tank water at 78-79. I find it the optimal tempr for my corals

 

[Jeepguy242]

79 - 81

 

[sil40sx]

79.2 - 79.6

 

[Wiskey]

I keep it at 78, but the heater kicks on at 76, and the fans kick on at 79, then go full speed at 80. Household temperatures are such that it rarely hits both limits in 24 hours. Either it's hot in the house, or cold.

Whiskey

 

[NowGlazeIT]

My tank fluctuates between 79-80. Works great for me

Same here