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

[AeldariDrukhari]

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.

I my window AC blowing directly on the tanks about 9' away, it seems to work. Temp is around 79deg. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[AZ_Reef]

I keep my tank between 78-79. My apex alarm is set at 80.5. I use a fan to blow arocss top of the tank and so far is doing a great keeping tempture between 78.4-78.9. Btw the fan is controlled by my apex and is set to come on when temp hots 78.8.

 

[Carrigg]

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

My tank gets to 82 because it is in my reptile room. I use a screen top and have the a/c directed near it. I will add another fan if this doesn't help.

 

[Zar]

78 is the max I will I let my tank go up to before the chiller kicks in. In the winter, I tend to keep my water pretty cool 76 and in the summer it stay about between 76-77.

 

[lefkonj]

I have it setup so that if my tank gets up to 81 the chiller goes on. I really hate that thing because not only it is expensive to run but it heats up the room where the tank is something aweful. I have done several things to help the situation.
1. I replaced my return pumps with DC controllable pumps. The heat dissipation these put into the water is significantly less than the AC pumps. I actual had to install a heater, which I didn't require for the previous 8 years of my tank, because the temp would drop in the winter to below 76 (not what I want).
2. Ceiling fan in the room with the tank. This fan is always on at to help move air around the room so that I get movement of air on the water which helps maintain a cooler temp. This does cause more evaporation but I have a large ATO.
3. No glass lids. For a while I ran without the tops at all but the splashing and then loss of a great fish made me install mesh covers. This coupled with the fan really did make it better for me.

All in all with these changes my chiller has gone from running every 3 hours to maybe 1 or 2 times a day during the summer. In the winter it doesn't go on at all.

 

[kritquilt]

I have seahorses (H. Comes) which require 70-74 degrees. I live in Houston and keep house ac on 75

 

[Flux Capacitor]

I keep my tank as close to a constant 78 as possible. It is on our second level in a loft area, so the whole house AC doesn’t cool the upstairs the greatest. I have found adding a clip fan blowing across the display keeps the tank within .2 of 78. It is controlled by my apex.

 

[Amtrack5899]

I keep my tank between 78.5 and 79.5. High temp is not an issue. I live near Buffalo NY. Enough said.

 

[TheOldSalt]

I'm just going to put this out there:

There are plenty of reefs in the world where the water hits 94 degrees every day at low tide, and it doesn't seem to do any harm.

That said, I suppose it's a fair assumption that the species in those zones are a lot tougher than others.

 

[brianbigoats]

I keep mine between 77.5 and 79.5 fans come on at 79 and keep it from moving more than 1/2 degree up thanks to central AC

 

[AquariumSpecialty]

We keep our tanks at 76 degrees and they reach a max temp of 78 in the summer time.

 

[pasquale petrovia]

79-80 year round basement tank.

 

[3kpc2]

At 79 I turn on the AC for my house, which means the tank hits 80 and then starts to fall back to 78.

 

[bulldogniner]

I try and keep mine around 79. It gets hot in Texas, but I also have a chiller that has been kicking on recently. Once I went to all LED lights I rarely run into a heat issue anymore.

 

[Iverson]

So not to change the subject but... If you use evaporation cooling (fans) how do you manage your salt content, and how often do you have to diddle with it?

 

[luisgo]

I live in Puerto Rico and we have high temperatures for ten month. Because of that and to save on electricity I cycle my chiller between 79 and 81F. There are instances that we have power outages and then I use a large fan blowing to the water surface of the tank. I think 82F is the max before I start seen stress in my corals. I have a 3K small generator and if needed I plug my 1/4hp chiller but then I have to turn off must of the house appliances and lights.

 

[Terrp]

Found the below link in a different thread. Jumping to the conclusion at the bottom of the article: "...most corals and other reef organisms tend to have thermal optima within the range of 77-82 °F, and which is the temperature range I suggest is likely to work best for most reef tanks. Since most aquaria house animals from different regions with somewhat different temperature tolerances, I’ve suggested that relatively safe upper and lower bounds for temperature in reef tanks are about 84 °F and 72 °F, respectively. While it is often a goal of many aquarists to maintain very stable temperatures, a little bit of temperature variation seems to be well tolerated by reef organisms, and may even be useful in promoting higher thermal tolerances in corals, reducing the risk of disaster in the case of high temperature stress."

The Great Temperature Debate, Part IV

By Chris Jury Introduction Throughout this series I’ve begun by discussing the predominant temperature conditions in the tropics and subtropics, where m

reefs.com

 

[GoGo98102]

Interestingly, (high light) sps actually usually grow near the top of the water, while most (low light) lps grows much deeper, therefore, much colder.

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.

 

[Mr dennis baker]

I have a cooler which is controlling by D/D unit cooler and heaters

 

[Crabs McJones]

So not to change the subject but... If you use evaporation cooling (fans) how do you manage your salt content, and how often do you have to diddle with it?

When using this method, you definitely want to have an auto top off with fresh ro/di water. This will replace the evaporated water. When water evaporates, the water leaves but the salt stays behind. So when the auto top off pumps fresh water in, it keeps your salinity stable. You will have to fill your top off reservoir more often, but it will keep your tank cooler.