Tank hit 82 over the weekend, now some RTN.

[TylerHaworth]

So my AC went out some time Friday/Saturday and my tank crept up to about 82 degrees while we were away. I was able to get a portable AC unit hooked up in the tank room mid day Sunday as well as some ice bags to cool it back down to normal 78.5.

Parameters look fine except Alk bumped up to 8.8, I guess the heat caused any consumption to pause.

Today I've got RTN on one of my Acros, the other 15 or so colonies look just fine.

Not sure if I'm dealing with correlation or causation, and I don't think I actually have any questions.

Just a vent I guess as I hate losing corals and I'm grouchy that we have to replace our HVAC system.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#reefsquad

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Having gone through that twice in the last year, which has also been the first year in the first house I've ever owned, I completely understand your grumpiness with the HVAC system.

I too lost a few corals from a heat spike caused by losing our AC, it definitely stinks. I got mine back on track with regular weekly dosing of some amino supplements and they started looking much better in a month or two.

 

[CHSUB]

Don’t kind 82 is a problem.

 

[TylerHaworth]

It's a new house to us, just moved in about three months ago.

We knew the system was struggling at 14 years of age, and should have just replaced it before catastrophic failure, but we gambled that if it made it through the hot months into fall we could wait until spring time before it got hot again.

Just dumb luck that it happens in a 48 hour window that we're out of town.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Don’t kind 82 is a problem.

Its not so much the number, as it is the swing. Your 2 degrees isnt too much. But if OP was 76 and went to 82, it could be problematic.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Temp never varies between 78.0 and 78.5.

 

[helmsreef]

82 is typically not very high, I've run in the low 80's a for quite awhile and it never effected anything. Could of been the speed that you reduced it down with bags of ice

 

[TylerHaworth]

I used ice to get it from 82 to 80 and let it fall naturally as the temp in the room came down with the portable AC.

Time with ice was about three hours to get it from 82 to 80, didn't figure that was too fast but maybe.

 

[helmsreef]

3 hours was probably too quick, you will typically see a 1-4 degree change naturally over a weeks span in ocean settings or the very least 24 hours for most temperature swings. I would not personally use ice to bring your system down and just let naturally come down.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Good point I hadn't considered. Let's hope the RTN stays localized to one specimen.

 

[CHSUB]

It’s not so much the number, as it is the swing. Your 2 degrees isnt too much. But if OP was 76 and went to 82, it could be problematic.

Swimming in the Keys water temperatures swing more than a few degrees in a few hours…healthy corals have no problem handling greater heat stress.

 

[Paul B]

My reef is rarely colder than 82.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Swimming in the Keys water temperatures swing more than a few degrees in a few hours…healthy corals have no problem handling greater heat stress.

Hmmm. Per NOAA, it might swing 2 degrees over the whole day. Albeit, it is really warm water at this station, but it is in Florida Bay, but it shows an average 2-3 degree swing per day. and thats over about 12 hours mind you. Id be curious to see some data that shows a 5-6 degree swing at a reef in a few hours.

EDIT- I just dug a little deeper. That station sits in 1-2 feet of water right at teh shore too, where Id expect fluctuations to be significant.

 

[Rocks reef]

It isn't the temperature that caused the RTN.
How is your flow?
What are your parameters? Is salinity in check?
Any shadowing of that acro?
There are a multitude of reasons why an acro will RTN. Most of the time, it is either light or flow.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Light and flow should be fine, it's dead center under my lights with nothing shadowing or significantly impeding flow. 36x22x22 with MP40's and XR30's. If anything it might be getting too much light or too much flow.

None of the other 21 pieces of SPS are any different today, even the new frags I received Friday right before all this happened look great.

Salinity is 34.7ppt
Calcium 440
Alk is higher than normal (7.9-8.1) at 8.8 - the sudden spike is giving me worry, I turned my doser off for the day.
Nitrates 10
Phosphates about .1

 

[Rocks reef]

Really not a thing as too much flow for acros. Also, unless your acros are getting over 650-700 PAR, light isn't the issue either.
As mentioned, sometimes coral just die for no reason at all especially since everything else in your tank is doing well.
Have you examined that particular piece for AEFW?

 

[TylerHaworth]

Haven't pulled the piece out yet and naturally can't see every square inch, but I don't see any FW or eggs from in front, above, or the sides.

 

[Freenow54]

So my AC went out some time Friday/Saturday and my tank crept up to about 82 degrees while we were away. I was able to get a portable AC unit hooked up in the tank room mid day Sunday as well as some ice bags to cool it back down to normal 78.5.

Parameters look fine except Alk bumped up to 8.8, I guess the heat caused any consumption to pause.

Today I've got RTN on one of my Acros, the other 15 or so colonies look just fine.

Not sure if I'm dealing with correlation or causation, and I don't think I actually have any questions.

Just a vent I guess as I hate losing corals and I'm grouchy that we have to replace our HVAC system.

82? To me not a concern however I bought some fans on Amazon dirt cheap . I bought them just to cool my lights but are meant to cool the Aquarium Water . I am very happy with them . Made by Hygger

 

[Troylee]

I doubt it was temp as my display always runs hot and no problems.