Heating Fish Room

[Duzzy]

Hi all,

new to the forum, I’m putting a large reef tank in my fish room (well a fowlr with some fast growing easy corals that may beat the coral nipping fish going in there) and was wondering if it would be still necessary to have a heater chiller fan when the room is heated/cooled To 25 degrees c

regards Duzzy

 

[blaxsun]

Depends on where your tank is. Mine is in the basement, so even if the AC goes out it's still relatively cool compared to the rest of the house.

 

[Doctorgori]

Hi Duzzy and welcome///
Disclaimer: I’m an outlier here
I believe heaters are not required if you keep your rooms ambient over 21c (70F).(and your tank is over 40g (100L)-ish

I’ve had bad heaters wipe out tanks and are a unneeded cost/risk IME

. I’ve never seen any adverse issue with corals in the low 20’s nor has anyone ever proved it /// I think someone came up the ideal temp from a avg reef temp and its been parroted and ran with…

if you think your homes heat will fail or you will run your room temps under 20c then perhaps get a heater
..pardon the
multi edits…bad eyes

 

[Duzzy]

I keep the fish room between 24-25 all year it works for my aqua scaped stuff and have solar and a generator just in case but I’ve only ever had marine where I need a heater. In my mind the stability of the room is enough.

 

[Doctorgori]

yeah I’d think you’ll be fine… I figured you didn’t live in a log cabin and from your use of metric, nowhere in Alaska….
Anyway, Im on a mission; heater sales are stealing peoples money outside of the Arctic Circle

 

[LadAShark]

Hi Duzzy and welcome///
Disclaimer: I’m an outlier here
I believe heaters are not required if you keep your rooms ambient over 21c (70F).(and your tank is over 40g (100L)-ish

I’ve had bad heaters wipe out tanks and are a unneeded cost/risk IME

. I’ve never seen any adverse issue with corals in the low 20’s nor has anyone ever proved it /// I think someone came up the ideal temp from a avg reef temp and its been parroted and ran with…

if you think your homes heat will fail or you will run your room temps under 20c then perhaps get a heater
..pardon the
multi edits…bad eyes

There is research that suggests that different corals have optimal temperatures for maximum growth rate, for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8917797/
Adverse effects are more difficult to measure beyond minimum temperatures, which also have been studied. It seems corals can tolerate down to about 66F before things start really going bad, but above 70 should be fine. However if you want maximal growth, then ~78F does seem like a good bet based on research.

 

[Doctorgori]

There is research that suggests that different corals have optimal temperatures for maximum growth rate, for example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8917797/
Adverse effects are more difficult to measure beyond minimum temperatures, which also have been studied. It seems corals can tolerate down to about 66F before things start really going bad, but above 70 should be fine. However if you want maximal growth, then ~78F does seem like a good bet based on research.

I won’t dispute any of that, but if the “chasing numbers” idiom is ever misused, and not worth the risk, its in regard to chasing numbers trusting the most unreliable and risky point of failure in the entire setup: A heater thermostat

 

[cilyjr]

If the room really is about 25c (78ish f) from an external heating source, then with lighting, pumps, and power heads will give your water a not insignificant boost. I'd not be surprised if you saw as high as 28c (82 or 83 f) in the water it self.

 

[Doctorgori]

If the room really is about 25c (78ish f) from an external heating source, then with lighting, pumps, and power heads will give your water a not insignificant boost. I'd not be surprised if you saw as high as 28c (82 or 83 f) in the water it self.

I’d say 70 - 82F is the limits of my risk …
and 67 - 85 would be the about as far as I’ve seen anything not turn to mush…
Pardon the English system, my metric conversions a lil rusty…

 

[LadAShark]

I won’t dispute any of that, but if the “chasing numbers” idiom is ever misused, and not worth the risk, its in regard to chasing numbers trusting the most unreliable and risky point of failure in the entire setup: A heater thermostat

I'm just disputing the idea that it's entirely anecdotal, and showing that there is evidence of a temperature that does provide observable benefits. Better to make informed decisions, even if it doesn't change your decision ultimately.