What temp for mixed reef?

[cstacks]

Hey all have my biocube at 83 f and my nano at 76 as an experiment both are a mixed reef acan sps etc. I just lowered my biocube to from 83.5 to 80 tonight thinking I might save some power and summer heat etc. Was thinking about lowering to 76. I remember that power bill thread someone said they had it 76 was wondering if anyone else keeps it cooler or is that a bad idea? I think both tanks draw about $50 total in power a month so saving another $20 or so couldn’t hurt if the heaters are 1/3 of the power draw (not sure if this is true) it is in a cold basement so I could imagine it would have to run a lot to keep warm. Anyways any thoughts on tank temp and if this might save me energy would be helpful thanks!


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[Chris A.]

I try to keep mine at 77 now but might drop it to 76 in a few months

 

[pugz508]

I shoot for 78-80 degrees. I'd be careful at 83 degrees that's pretty warm for a tank and doesn't give you much protection from the summer temp swings

 

[frank180reef]

83 is too warm

 

[dz6t]

Plus 1, 83F is at the upper limit of tolerance for most coral.


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[Phinfan]

83! Wow you making soup? I’m at 76-77

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I aim for 77. Swings up to 80-81 summer (I keep my AC off until the tank needs to be cooler), drops to 76 in winter.

 

[cstacks]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll def lower to 76. Thanks!

 

[Bigbpro916]

77-78

 

[CrypticLifeStyle]

I keep my tanks at 77.9f

 

[Alex]

I don't think anything is wrong with 83 and there may be advantages to growth at that temp but you give yourself no headroom and things will go south pretty fast if you get much higher than that.

 

[this is me]

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

 

[cstacks]

Thanks for the help everyone! My feeling with 83f was that if its cold in the winter there might be parts of the tank that get really cold maybe this is a bad idea though but I figured the warmer the better. I read that article sort of skim read it but it seems to say 80/83/85 are optimal temps for growth and the start to break down at 91/94 range especially since most of the corals are in warmer waters usually. I am sure I should be fine at 77 though so I'm going to lower it anyways I haven't seen any bad effects from going to 80 so I figure 3 extra degrees cant hurt and it's going to get hot soon. Thanks for the help!

 

[Blitzburggirl]

Very interesting article!

A bit of a tangent... In my 180 I ran 4 400 watt metal halides and temp management was important. I lived in the south and ran a chiller most of the year, and my chiller was set to 78 (I was worried if the chiller began to fail or a pump or a heater or whatever that the temp creep would be fast, so I kept the temp low.)

I had amazing SPS growth along the top of the rock work. Very good near the sand bed.. but wayyyy better up top, even with the exact same coral. I wonder if the (very slightly I'm sure) higher temp had something to do with that?

 

[this is me]

I actually didn't read the article I posted.
But I believe if you value your fish, turn down the temps. Most fish will benefit from the cooler temps(76-78). Less parasites and slower metabolism.
If you value your SPS, keep the tank 80-82.
To me, it's not about the absolute number. It's the stability of that number.

 

[dz6t]

That article has many good information except the temperature part. The temperature table in the article was ocean surface temperature, but most Coral especially sps grow at deeper water and temperature is lower.
Also the warm ocean temperature is blamed for the lost of 89% sps in the great barrier reef.
Running tanks at 83f in long term is NOT a good practice.
The ocean also has much much stronger current which remove the heat generated and built up from coral.



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[Jason_charlestown]

That article has many good information except the temperature part. The temperature table in the article was ocean surface temperature, but most Coral especially sps grow at deeper water and temperature is lower.
Also the warm ocean temperature is blamed for the lost of 89% sps in the great barrier reef.
Running tanks at 83f in long term is a good practice.
The ocean also has much much stronger current which remove the heat generated and built up from coral.



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Did you mean to say running tanks at 83f long term is not a good practice?

 

[dz6t]

Sorry yes that was what I meant


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[cstacks]

Thanks for the clarification I see the trade offs now will definitely lower it a bit more it makes perfect sense.