Temperature discussion

[Sanjeev Persad]

Hi, I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but I run my tank between 81 degrees min and 84 degrees max (due to my geographic location). Is this ok for my fish amd corals? If not what corals should I do and which should I stay away from?

 

[BeanAnimal]

It is on the upper edge of okay. The issue is that you have no safety margin if things get warmer for some reason.

 

[Sanjeev Persad]

It is on the upper edge of okay. The issue is that you have no safety margin if things get warmer for some reason.

So where I live, I dont use AC and a chiller is very expensive. I have an eggcrate top so its open for evporation, I have a fan blowing in, and I use a chill solutions thermoelectric chiller, on a very hot day I get like 84 max and cold days its down to like 81ish. I have red discosoma mushrooms, gsp and some rockflower anemones in there that they seem very unbothered.

 

[helmsreef]

82 would be around my max I would be comfortable with. Since you have a fan you should be able to keep your temperatures lower than 81. One of my systems runs in my garage and this summer my garage hit 96 and my fans can keep my system at 79 with an inkbird. Its only a 70 gallon tank though with 6 computer sized fans running on the back.

 

[Sanjeev Persad]

82 would be around my max I would be comfortable with. Since you have a fan you should be able to keep your temperatures lower than 81. One of my systems runs in my garage and this summer my garage hit 96 and my fans can keep my system at 79 with an inkbird. Its only a 70 gallon tank though with 6 computer sized fans running on the back.

Very high humidity here, and the most I can get it down is around 82 and 83. Thanks for your advice .

 

[cet98]

I keep my reefs at 78-80F so I agree with @helmsreef that multiple fans will most certainly help reduce the temperature but it will also increase your water evaporation rate significantly too, so be prepared to have an ATO setup in place to keep up with it.
Best of luck

 

[BeanAnimal]

In most cases Blowing a fan across the top of the water is more efficient than blowing downward at the water surface. The fan drives evaporation replacing the molecules-think layer of saturated air at the water surface with dryer room air. Smooth laminar flow achieves this better than direct turbulent flow. Even one fan pushing form one end and one pulling from the opposite end is often better than two fans randomly pointed at the water surface.

 

[Fish Fan]

82 F/27.7 C is my ceiling, and I take action if the temp gets much higher.

Would 84 F/28.9 C kill a fish? No, not in my experience. Could this temp tick off corals? In my experience, yes, very much so.

But I'll add, because I don't think it's been mentioned so far, snails and other gastropods do not like higher temps. If you have and care about your snails, I believe you should run your tank at a lower temp.

I used to target 78 F/25.5 C, but now I target 77 F/25.0 C largely because I also use the Tropic Marin hydrometer that reads at 77 F/25.0 C, and I'd like to think my snails are that much better off

Just my $0.02 of course.

Good luck!

 

[56longroof]

If your not having any issues I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[fish_collector]

My SPS tank runs about 82-84 normally in the summer. No issues with fish, coral or invertebrates. I’d use a fan but I don’t want the humidity in the room, and no chiller because I don’t want the heat either. I’d prefer to run it much cooler but I’m in Phoenix so not practical.

 

[Bob Weigant]

One of my disadvantages of having my tank in the garage is the summer heat. Every now and then we get a week here and there of 80 degree weather so my tank will go to 84-85 degrees. I have fans that do bring it down to around 80. Mostly the tank sits around 77-78. Good thing is there hasn't been any losses.