Thermal tango in your tank: Does the temperature fluctuate in your reef aquarium?

[Cthulukelele]

It's interesting seeing that people seem to have success at a wide range of different temperature variations. Wonder why. Maybe being in the goldilocks zone is more important that actual temp stability in our tanks

 

[GlassMunky]

It's interesting seeing that people seem to have success at a wide range of different temperature variations. Wonder why. Maybe being in the goldilocks zone is more important that actual temp stability in our tanks

Yea I think it’s def about just staying in that zone and not having anything happen tooo quickly.
But in nature day to day and month to month the water temp change so the corals can def handle it if it’s not too fast.
In fact they have to have those changes to use as cues to spawn in the wild

 

[lapin]

Humid.... yes... 78.9 to 80.4 - Depends on house A/C
Not Humid.... yes... 79.0 to 79.8

 

[thayes4147]

Mine is too hot even with heater turned down. Does this mean heater is broken or just too many watts?

 

[JayM]

Mine is too hot even with heater turned down. Does this mean heater is broken or just too many watts?

If the heater is set at the desired temp and is working, more wattage than necessary for the amount of water you have won’t make it too hot.

AC pumps typically create more heat than DC pumps, lids and lack of surface agitation can also add to a lack of heat dissipation.

 

[X-37B]

Keeping my aqualogic at on 76 off 77.

 

[Daveobrien]

I cast my vote as Does Not Fluctuate. But the reality is, it does... some amount.

I attempt to control my tank to about a degree. Heaters for the cold months, Chiller for the warm months. My system is split between the house and the garage. Display tank inside, sump and connected frag tanks in a dedicated bay off the garage. Therefore, the garage (T-Air) clearly shows daily and seasonal temp dependence.

Red is tank temp (T-tank). During the year, I found broken heaters a couple of times (I have three in the system, to kick on during particularly cold months). I did maintenance a few days, which turned water flow off altogether. And T-Tank is actually measured in the garage room-sump. So recording got cooler.

I record my apex datalogs bi-weekly, so I'm able to draw longer trends. Today I graphed all of 2023 temps to see what it looked liked.

(Hey Neptune, I'd love to be able to use apexfusion to display 14-21days of data on the same screen. Instead of the 7 day limit. I really do check trending regularly.)

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Yup seasonal for me for sure!

 

[sfin52]

Does 78 to 77 count as fluctuations?

 

[betareef]

It's interesting seeing that people seem to have success at a wide range of different temperature variations. Wonder why. Maybe being in the goldilocks zone is more important that actual temp stability in our tanks

As I mentioned in another thread, I think a lot of these temps are a bit colder than in nature. Mine would be over 80 (27 degC) for a good part of the Summer Also, seasonal temperature variation is more normal, than constant all year round. No idea what effect that might have on the coral though.

 

[Joekovar]

I just realized my tanks are a bit cooler than everyone else's.

Mine fluctuate from about 74.5 up to 78 with 74.5-75.5 being what I see most of the time. I might see 80-81 occasionally in the summer.

 

[Lasse]

Here is my temperature during the last 6 months -(till the beginning of March) Its rather stable - most variation around 0.2 degree C a day.

In february - I check up the average min and max temperatures in the north of Sulawesi during a year. The water temperature between morning and midday could vary with up to 2 degree C. Here is the swing during a calculated 2024, I have calculate this from the average water temperature -morning/evening during the last years

Because that highest temperature is around 30 degree C - I have take an average of 3 degree C lower for my aquarium temp - My calculated aquarium temperature is natural - 3 degree C

This graph - I converted to a CVS file that I can use in my P4 computer to create a dynamic set point and hence - create a daily swing in my aquarium - and seasonal variation as well

Here is the real result since i start this

This together with a calculated seasonal light influx like below from the same area I will test the coming year

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Salty_Northerner]

My problem is pH and cold winter months. I'll keep a window cracked and turn the heat off in the living room at night as my electric bill shot up a hundred bucks. So I'll still keep the window open a tad and set the rooms thermostat to 15c. Summer time will be alot more stable hopefully. I just bought an Apex a week ago and was shocked to see how much of a swing the tank fluctuates on a daily basis.

 

[betareef]

In february - I check up the average min and max temperatures in the north of Sulawesi during a year. The water temperature between morning and midday could vary with up to 2 degree C. Here is the swing during a calculated 2024, I have calculate this from the average water temperature -morning/evening during the last years

Similarly I have been looking at the numbers recorded on the Great Barrier Reef. Note the huge lattitude variation of the reef means it's best just to look at what happens somewhere near the middle.

In rough numbers, that variation of about 27 to 30 degrees seems to be a good target.

 

[Reefing102]

Mine maintains a low of about 78 and maxes out generally somewhere around 82 daily. Once the temp hits 82, my halides shut off, all heater outlets turn off. I’m getting ready to add a fan to the system.

 

[JBReefer23]

My temperature will fluc·tu·ate between 77 to 78 degrees every 6 hours ? during winter & spring and when the temp reaches 79 during the summer the fans will come on and bring it down to 77. Using a Inkbird to control the heater.

 

[Lochekey]

I voted "seasonally" as my temperature vary within my controllers setpoints on a daily basis but I consider this "stable" within the framework of the question. I do have some variance in my setpoints between heating and cooling though so I do see some variance throughout the year as ambient temperatures vary both inside and outside my house.


My controller is set to 77f degrees with low set point of 76f and high set point of 79f. So during colder months it fluctuates between that 76-77f mark. During spring and fall it will bounce between 76-78f depending on the day. During the summer months it varies between 77-79f.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Slight seasonal change but I do run chiller unit during the summer

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Ever since getting the inkbird, I have one heater setting at 77.5, and the second at 78. So it seems to fluctuates within that half degree. But it is certainly consistent

my temp is set at the same setting on my tank, love being able to see a graph and know when the heater is due for a change.

 

[RelaxingWithTheReef]

This is my SPS tank with a lot of pumps for flow, skimmer, and return. The chiller controlled by the Apex is always cycling. The high peaks are usually feeding times when the return pump is off for 30 minutes and cooling stops. The heater will kick on if the temperature drops about a degree.

I would think its totally unnecessary to have the temp regulated this closely, but the graph looks kinda cool.