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

[Ike]

I worry when it gets into the upper 80's, which is never. As long as it's between 78 and 88 I'm happy.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

I set the max lower in the summer - to allow for unexpected increases - and warmer in the winter - same logic.

 

[Ryan Wolf]

Stability is key. I try to keep the tank 77-79. Over or under and I know I could get in trouble. The ambient house temp helps with this.

 

[Fezbearer]

I'm guessing that one of the good parts of cycling up my tank over the summer is that I can experiment on ways to keep my tank cool without harming my livestock.

 

[Ike]

Stability is key. I try to keep the tank 77-79. Over or under and I know I could get in trouble. The ambient house temp helps with this.

No, it's really not. Corals and marine fish have little issue with varying and swinging temps. In fact, it's more natural and may even encourage a greater thermal limit and less sensitivity to wide swings.

 

[Mkissane]

78-79 on a 180 gallon display. Apex controls the heaters and chiller.

 

[klimfish]

I see I’m one of the only ones who’s kept a tank at 83 for a summer with no losses. Any higher than that and I see issues. But in the interest of new Dino beating tek - I’ve been staying in the 81-83 range constantly for a month now with no ill affects from any corals or livestock so far.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Electricity is cheap in Delaware and my winter bills

So wish this was the case in NY.

 

[immortl]

How do you people with central AC afford the electricity?

Ha! When we moved to our current house, we found that the electric bill with central AC running in the summer was the 'cheap' part of the year. The hot tub in the winter really spikes the bill. That was an eye opener the first winter.

Prior to this past weekend, my tank (Biocube 28, 23 actual gallons of water in the system) would range from 77 to 84 degrees. When I noticed 82 or above, I would drop in a few frozen bottles to bring the temperature down. That got to be a bit tedious in the summer.

This weekend I installed a Chill Solutions CSXC-1 Peltier based chiller and since then, the tank has not moved more a few tenths of a degree away from the set point of 79. One less alarm to go off when I'm not around and freak out the wife. I am quite happy with the chiller and life is good here.

That said, taking into account my own experiences and reading some of the posted research papers and others' personal experiences, I believe that generally (perhaps excepting some specific flora and fauna) temperature variations are not all that bad overall and our livestock are ok with more than we give them credit for. This is just another area for us to obsess over and address with more fun gadgets and gear.

 

[lefkonj]

So wish this was the case in NY.

Can you change your provider for electricity? This is what I do in NJ plus I have a giant solar installation.

 

[MiniCoco]

I would like to see 78 for a tank temperature everyday of the year if possible. With that said, controlling the house temp with air conditioning is my first defense. Fans on the surface is my backup.

 

[Claire Austin]

I keep my tank at 72-74F max, as I keep seahorses. Cooler water seems to keep them from developing Vibrio infections. We keep the A/C in the house at 72F. One liter bottles of frozen RO water floating in the sump will do in a pinch.

 

[Doctorgori]

Just expanding the discussion...

29C or 84F.
I use a chiller but unfortunetely it is a bit underpowered and have to sit next to the tank. So during sumemr time it is set to 28C(82.4) and at 27C(80.6) during rest of the time. Ofc it creeps up +1C befroe it starts to cool off .

PS:I seriously am worried for people with open top tanks blowing fans at their tanks. Your electronic equipments and everything metal, gona corrode away so fast....

Only corrosive if And unless it splashes, Otherwise its pure/fresh water that evaporates, the salt stays

Mine doesn't get any higher than about 79 and I live in Phoenix. It's currently 109 outside. My AC stays around 77. When I top off from evaporation I add RO/DI ice cubes to the sump.

Lived in the SW USA 20+ yrs...after seeing 2 mature reefs turn into stinky primordial soup, I’d invest in a backup power supplY if I did it again Even though most of Phx has buried lines and no telephone poles, there are still power outages during those July sorms...

82-84 degrees. Everything's healthy, and I would assume that higher temperature=faster metabolism=faster growth.

...another 84

All SPS are thriving in my tank. Temps reach 84 max.

...I’m wondering if its another undiscovered param

One of my worst tank crashes came from an AC failure when I had my first 55 gallon reef tank. The entire AC died and it took 3 days to fully replace. It was in the peak of the Arizona summer with temperatures outside of 120. In side it got even hotter because the block home retained heat. I was measuring between 120-130. All my coral died despite all the fans and ice I could muster. On my newest tank I have a chiller. I don’t need it as long as the ac works but I won’t go through that again. It gives me peace of mind and lets me save on my electric bill because I can turn the air off when I’m not home. I try to keep the tank at 80-81.

...I feel your pain: I had a 5yrs reef turn to mush within hours; same Bat time, same bat channel

My SPS dominant reef stays around 84 year round. I use two underpowered heaters so if a heater fails on, the maximum possible temperature is about 86. The house is AC temperature controlled.

I’m wondering if your tank is rock solid stable besides ... 84F is where eagles dare IME

No, it's really not. Corals and marine fish have little issue with varying and swinging temps. In fact, it's more natural and may even encourage a greater thermal limit and less sensitivity to wide swings.

...probably in the ocean, but I dunno how that plays in tanks with so many other param swings ... I’ve had bleaching events following large temp swings ... keeping a open mind that a 3rd factor could be lurking

 

[BZOFIQ]

Can you change your provider for electricity? This is what I do in NJ plus I have a giant solar installation.

You can but Con Ed gets you with delivery rates - which is nearly double that of elec cost. So for each killowatthour which is say $.08, it costs $0.14 for delivery. Combined, its nearly $0.23 per kWh

 

[Reesj]

Just expanding the discussion...

Only corrosive if And unless it splashes, Otherwise its pure/fresh water that evaporates, the salt stays

I really doubt that though in reality.My wifes house is about 150 meters off from beach. Their equipemnts with anything metal gets rusted soo fast. That after being 150 meters away. So a large tank open top with ton of fans blowing ...

 

[BZOFIQ]

I really doubt that though in reality.My wifes house is about 150 meters off from beach. Their equipemnts with anything metal gets rusted soo fast. That after being 150 meters away. So a large tank open top with ton of fans blowing ...

This is very valid observation that a lot of people don't account for.

That said, I believe Ryan at BRS is making a great mistake having a return air duct for his HVAC in his new fish room. Saltwater aerosols are very real and corrosive

 

[adobo]

This is very valid observation that a lot of people don't account for.

That said, I believe Ryan at BRS is making a great mistake having a return air duct for his HVAC in his new fish room. Saltwater aerosols are very real and corrosive

I am not sure that what beach houses experience and what people with salt water tanks at home experience is the same thing.

Beach houses are not just subject to humidity due to evaporation. They are also subject to mist from seawater waves. Waves will vary in size depending on weather (wind) at the shore line and even weather in the open ocean.

Fans blowing over the top of an aquarium will encourage evaporation but I doubt they will create mist in the same way wind creates mist in the ocean. If anything, it would be flow from return pumps and power heads that would create those conditions in an aquarium. And though I haven't seen many aquariums, I have only ever seen mist inducing waves in huge institutional tanks (Monterey Bay Aquarium as an example).

 

[BZOFIQ]

I can tell you I have many friends at a local society that have had fish tanks / fish rooms for decades and we all agree that anything steel will rust in these rooms eventually; with salt water in a matter of few years. There is salt spray and salt water aerosols at play here. I wipe salt dust from wall ledge many feet away from the tank, its like sticky, salty dust. It's real.

That said any salt spray hitting the fan will surely get "suspended" into the air and be pushed across the room.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I keep main 30 gallon tank between 77-79. I only use a heater, no chiller. I’ve read That it won’t hurt your corals if it fluctuates into the low 80’s. So I’ll keep it like that. I have a hang on refugium, a canister filter a water skimmer and no sump. My corals are growing and the fish are fine, so I think it’s okay. My 13.5 gallon fluval evo has no heater or chiller and its running like a champ. Corals are growing. It might help to say I keep my home temperature between 73-78 degrees and I got a newer home so less fluctuations.

I have been trying to grow my gsp on be back glass, but it looks indecent. My wife made fun of it because it looks wrong. And the stupid urchin keeps eating the coralline on the back glass too.

 

[Rogueaquariums]

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.

That's something I've been meaning to do.