Better temp control than using a chiller????

[mxett]

ok guys, time to get your thinking caps on.

I have noticed with my tank that on cooler days the maximum temperature gets to 81f when the lights are on, and remains there for the lit period. It seems that no matter how long the lights are then on, the latent temperature of the room air and fan doesn't allow the temperature to rise above this. Therefore you could say this is the 'tank temp max' at that room temp.

When the room is around 81f the 'tank temp max' becomes 83f, rising from 80f. On very warm days the 'tank temp max' becomes around 85f.

These temperatures seem high, especially compared to the 78f that some people chill their water to using traditional chillers.

After some web research it seems to me that many of the worlds reefs actually have summer water temperatures in the 82 to 85f range.

What I am proposing to do is raise my minimum water temperature closer to my 'tank temp max' of 83f. Then if the 'tank temp max' on a warm day is only 85, the corals will be accustomed to this higher range and will not suffer any signs of stress.

What this theory relies on is the fact that the 'tank temp max' is not reliant on the starting temperature but on the other factors in the room such as the fan and air temp etc, therefore not letting the tank temp rise above a 'tank temp max' of 85f.

If that were the case then this plan would seem more energy efficient, cheaper and closer to nature than using a chiller!

Has anyone had any experience with this theory?

[SlowCobra]

While there are reefs that do have the 82-85 temperatures, the problem is that our tanks are a mixture of stuff that comes from all different temperatures. Some of which compensate fine to a higher temp and other stuff that does not last very long. A temp swing of less than 5 degrees daily can actually be beneficial to the tank as if there ever is a temp change, high or low, most of the inhabitants will not be severely stressed or so I have read on several different occasions. Keeping the tank at a "solid" temperature does not allow a buffer so to speak.

In my opinion 85 is actually on the high end of things and I would try to keep it to a max of 82. Again that is my opinion and others will chime in and say their tank hits 85 all the time and never a problem.

[KDodds]

The "optimal" threshhold for coral growth is in the 80-84ºF range, so I'm not quite sure why reefers are keeping their tanks in the high 70ºF range. That's something I never could quite figure out unless it has something to do with FW days, or accomodating "deeper" species. 85ºF is a bit warm for an extended period of time, and you can start to see bleaching at that temperature, especially if the baseline is in the high 70ºF range. Still, I kept my 180g around 83-85ºF for years (soft corals) with no problems, and that included keeping three species of Xenia.