Tank Temps: How warm is too warm for your saltwater reef aquarium?

[revhtree]

Those tank temps keeping rising as the summer gets closer and closer! When should you take action to reduce the heat and when is higher temps too high?

Let's talk about it today!

1. How high will you allow your tank temperature to rise before you take action? What's the MAX?

2. What do you do to keep temps down or help keep them lower during the warmer months?


Photo via @cedwards04

 

[Crabs McJones]

I tried not to let my tank get any hotter than 82 in the summer. To combat this i'd either A.) Turn on the AC or B.) I have a huge box fan that i'd face into the sump to help with evaporative cooling. Could usually keep it 2 to 3 degrees cooler that way.

 

[Biglew11]

i have 4 120 m.m. fans mounted on backside of my canopy to blow air across then out the top, controlled by apex to turn on at 83.5 and back off when temps reach 82.5

 

[ForTheLoveOfCoral21]

Tank never gets above 80. I am lucky enough to have central AC so its never an issue during the summer.

 

[Aqua Man]

Start getting nervous if tank reaches 82. Average temp is 78.

A/C and fans to help keep tank cooler.

 

[Casket_Case]

I live in the Southern U.S.A. so it gets hot in the summers... It’s pretty difficult to keep the aquarium at 77° so I always have a box fan on high facing my tank and in extreme cases if it ever gets up to 79° I put ice in a ziplock bag and float it next to the return. Then monitor the water temperature and remove the ice when it’s lowered to my liking. I like keeping my reef tank cooler because then it takes more to get it overheated. But in the winter I try and take it up a bit warmer in case there’s any power outages so it’ll retain heat.

 

[sp1187]

my tank stays 77/78 year round.
located in the basement.
I have to run 2 dehumidifiers through out the summer to keep the humidity in check or the pipes all start to sweat.
fish room shares the water softener,well, boiler and a whole lotta copper pipe for the baseboard heating in the house.
it was almost an after thought to put pipe covers over the copper pipe running over the tank. good thing I did.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Mine would cost too much $$$ to heat any higher than 81 being in the basement.

I keep mine following ocean temps in Fiji with a max at 81 and a min at 78. My corals seem to not mind.

 

[homer1475]

Whole home AC keeps my temps right in the 78 to 80 range.

Back when I didn't have AC, I used to blow fans(cheap walmart desk fans that had a clamp on them) across the top and that would keep me around 81 in the summer.

 

[Dr Jimmy]

I put mine from 78/79 with an undersized heater that takes on most of the work of heating the tank by itself (meaning it's running basically all the time). I have redundancy in this as this primary heater is set to 80 degrees but really struggles to get above 79.5. My secondary heater is the same size and set to 81 degrees but on an outlet controlled by a temp controller. The temp controller is designed to turn on at 77 degrees. This is how the system works with failures:

1) Primary heater fails on - temp slowly rises, I get an over temp alarm and a reading of 80+ (it takes more than a day for it to go from 79-79.5). Plenty of time to react and with lower cycles of on/off, the thermostat should last quite awhile.
2) Primary heater fails off - temp drops to 77 and heats the tank to 78 before turning off. Temp is displayed on the front of the tank and I know that 77-78 is too low so the primary heater must have failed, allowing the backup heater to take over.
3) Because the backup heater is almost never in use, it should have a much lower chance to fail when needed. If the outlet failed for the heater controlled by the temp controller, an on fail would result in a tank of 81 (high but still "safe")... an "off fail" would result in a tank that's cooling more than I'd like and would need somewhat quick response though should be able to make it the whole time I'm at work. I suspect this to be the least likely occurrence as it would mean the primary heater has failed off, the temp controller has also failed off even though the switch turning on the backup heater is barely used. I suspect the primary heater will fail long before the temp controller outlet.

 

[hllb]

Even though we have central AC and keep the house at 73, the tank gets up to 80+ in the summer. I have a fan that turns on when it reaches 79.8 degrees which is successful, mostly, in keeping the tank under 81 degrees. Our AC went out one day, the house got up to 77 degrees before it was fixed, and the tank got up to about 81 that day. It took all night to bring it back down.

I have a biocube 32 with the lid, so the heat really gets trapped in there.

 

[TheDuude]

I use a couple of Noctua Industrial PPC fans on bracket i 3D printed. They are controlled by my apex.

BTW the Noctua PPC fans are worth the extra $$. Waterproof so when they get nasty with salt creep i just dunk them in RO. They will even run underwater.

 

[hllb]

I use a couple of Noctua Industrial PPC fans on bracket i 3D printed. They are controlled by my apex.

BTW the Noctua PPC fans are worth the extra $$. Waterproof so when they get nasty with salt creep i just dunk them in RO. They will even run underwater.

How do you plug them in? I hadn’t seen waterproof ones before so this might help with my biocube if I can fit it in my lid.

 

[Kris 2020]

I keep my tank around 79-80. I have 2 clip on style fans on the sump that kick on if it gets to 81. I keep the AC in the house around 73F. The sump is in the basement and sometimes it gets warmer down there...weird house right?

 

[TheDuude]

You will need a 12Vpower supply

 

[ReefGeezer]

My tank gets to about 82 (lights on) in the summer. It runs about 6 degrees F above room temp. I keep the HVAC set on auto @ 75. The tank temp fluctuates slowly at 80+/- 2.

 

[Joem820]

I always keep mine somewhere between 79-81, but being in a basement and with having central AC certainly helps.

 

[Conrad Noto]

Those tank temps keeping rising as the summer gets closer and closer! When should you take action to reduce the heat and when is higher temps too high?

Let's talk about it today!

1. How high will you allow your tank temperature to rise before you take action? What's the MAX?

2. What do you do to keep temps down or help keep them lower during the warmer months?


Photo via @cedwards04

No chiller here, 79.6 on my 180gal display- 77.3 on my 45gal at the moment. I run from 75 to 83 degrees depending what time of year it is. Tanks were 90-92 degrees for 6 days last summer when central air broke down, no loses.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Because I run MH and T5, I have to run a chiller because I like my temp at 78 or below. I let it eek up to 79/80 in summer months.
My other tanks have no chiller, but are in the basement and usually stay under 80.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Well, the answer depends on what's in the tank. Softies can withstand little over 82 but I dont think you'd try that with SPS. That said, this is what past couple of days look like. Time to get that chiller connected tonight - tired of dumping ice in the tank every evening.