Question about temperatures and Lights?

[ncfishfamily]

I'm new to the saltwater and coral reef part of fish keeping. I have a question as far as it regards to water temperature for a reef tank. My tank is a 20 gallon high tank.What is a desired temperature range that I should keep my tank within for now and the future when I get corals and more fish. Today when I came home from work at 7pm after the lights being on for roughly 8 hours, the tank temperature was pushing 83.8 degrees F. Is this a dangerous temp ( from what I've read, it is)? I originally had my actinics lights running from 11am to 11pm and the 10K running from 12pm to 10pm. After the temperature getting to 83.8 degrees F I decided to change the actinics to 7am to 5pm and the 10k to 8am to 4pm. Is this new time change long enough for the lights to run and allow future coral growth? Thanks in advance for any help.

[seanb1]

i think a good temp range is 77-83 with it never going over 85.

my tank was at 77.6 this morning and its at 80.4 now with the lights running almost 6 hours, this winter it has been topping out around 81 or so.

i can definately see needing to add a big sump down the basement this summer because im not a big fan of running air conditioning 24/7.

i wouldnt run my actinics for 12 hours either, i have mine run an hour before the halides come on just to wake the corals up or expand them, then go off. i have my halides run from 3 pm till 11 pm and then everything goes off.

i dont use actinics much because i like the color of 20k xm bulbs and really see no reason to waste the electricity and get the extra heat from actinics.

if i were you i would start your lights when you come home from work, whats the use of lights running when no ones there to see it.

maybe actinics hour before you get home then the halide for another 7-8 hours.

JMO

[Flipper62]

83.8 is getting close to the danger zone. I keep my tank around 78/79. In the summer it gets to 81 but thats as high as I like it to get.

I keep the lights on for around 8 to 10 hours. The actinics come on an hour before the whites & go off an hour after the whites go off

[Avi]

I wouldn't say that 83 or thereabouts is dangerous but I would say that it isn't ideal and should, if at all possible, be avoided. I'd say that the ideal temp to shoot for is from 77-81 degrees. That's not to say that a bit lower or higher would be deadly, but just so things are stable and not on "the edge," try to keep it in that range. There are things you can do to keep the temperature of your reef from going too high, so long as the ambiant temperature of the room it's in isn't extreme. Having fans blow over the tank and over the sump (if you have one,) is effective. Doing that cuases evaporation has a result of lowering the temp by allowing heat to escape, and so this has utility. At the same time, though, it requires greater attention to the water level of the tank/sump.
If the room temperature gets very high every day during the warm months that we're going into, then I'd suggest that you just break down and get a chiller. Honestly, I tried to do without one and finally saw that the stress coming from the raised temperature...to both me and the coral...demanded a chiller. It's a great relief from the whole issue.

[Tswifty]

78-82... I shoot for 80

[ncfishfamily]

So the common average im seeing is roughly 77-82 degress F? And do you think having my tank lights on at a different point of the day will make a difference as to the temp of the tank?

[erik1202]

I think the key is to keep your temp stable regardless of what temp you shoot for.

[ncfishfamily]

Thanks!

[seanb1]

Originally posted by ncfishfamily
So the common average im seeing is roughly 77-82 degress F? And do you think having my tank lights on at a different point of the day will make a difference as to the temp of the tank?

yeah i see what you are saying, i kinda got confused or misread in your initial post about your lighting times, i assumed the lights were on from 7 am till 11 pm. error on my part.

if your tank is getting that high in temp, with summer coming i would look into putting a fan on it or the sump or thinking about building a sump to expand your water volume to slow the temp fluctuation, maybe a chiller if you dont want to go bigger.

like everyone has said 83.6 is pushing it, and with the volume of water in your tank it could easily reach bad levels fast.

i would look into a larger tank, fan, sump or chiller or not run all my lights during the day, just the white lights.

[ncfishfamily]

Not running the lights for enough time isnt good for corals in the future though...correct?

[greenbean36191]

76-86 is the average range for reef growth with the optimum being around 82-84.

Despite the garbage you read about temps within the hobby, you don't increase your margin of error by keeping temps lower and you don't do your animals any favors by keeping the temps stable. You could very well end up doing the exact opposite in the long run.

[xJake]

Originally posted by greenbean36191
76-86 is the average range for reef growth with the optimum being around 82-84.

Despite the garbage you read about temps within the hobby, you don't increase your margin of error by keeping temps lower and you don't do your animals any favors by keeping the temps stable. You could very well end up doing the exact opposite in the long run.

+1 to that. As a future marine bio student I must say the one thing I have learned is that wild reefs can't and don't depend on stability so they've learned to adapt. We really must give more credit to the hardiness of the animals we keep (to a certain point of course ).

I keep the 75g tank at my school pretty unstable (temp-wise). It gets up to about 83 with the halides on and drops down to about 76 at night. My fish are parasite free, fat, and happy. My corals are growing like crazy and I haven't lost any livestock. I only run a 100w heater on the tank and it's really just there to keep the temp from dropping below that 76 mark (it's set to 78).

As for the original question, if you don't see any signs of stress in your livestock just keep doing what you're doing.

[erik1202]

While the 2 above postings are certainly valid, I still feel it's important to provide for stability in our tanks. The ocean is obviously a much more forgiving environment than a captive reef. While animals may be perfectly equipped to deal with fluctuations in the wild, our tanks often have less than stellar conditions in other areas as well. Providing stability will help ensure the healthiest of environments we can possibly provide for these creatures. Just my opinion. Do whatever works for you personally.

[greenbean36191]

Most of what we know in the hobby doesn't come from studies done on reef tanks. Unless there's evidence that the same governing principles aren't at play in captivity there is no reason to make an a priori assumption that what we know from the wild or the lab isn't applicable. In captivity we know that dissolved O2 concentrations are comparable to what you find in nature. The same physiological factors are still responsible for controlling metabolic stress and thermal tolerance. The responses to the stress are the same too. In fact, we usually measure metabolism and thermal stress in captivity rather than the wild.

[erik1202]

Thank you for your informative post. I will continue to maintain stable temperatures in my tanks.