How cold is too cold?

[Michael43]

my tank is sps dominant and doing very well. My temp cycle right now is 75-76. I was thinking of lowering it a degree or so if everyone thinks it will be ok. It seems all the different fish I have accumulated are either deep water or cooler temp fish and I'd like to keep them happy and long lived. Is 74 at some points of the day too cold?

 

[Sabellafella]

I dont think it would be a big deal, just try not to go lower then that if you could.

 

[Michael43]

I don't necessarily need to lower it. Just curious

 

[Tahoe61]

Personally I would shoot for 76-78 and use a heater.

A respected vendor once told me that cooler temps are fine but it's slows down the coral's metabolism, so if you want optimal growth I would try to stay within that range. See link below for NSW parameters.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

Some sps might not do as well a cooler temps since sps come from vastly different geographical locations.