Thoughts on Wild Temp vs Home Temp

[Waterjockey]

I know the apex unit has seasonal tables you can have your tank temperature follow the season...when I looked at the tables (you can edit them), I think it was about a 4 deg difference summer/winter

 

[SantaMonica]

Interesting they would think of that, but not daily fluctuations.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well its kind of funny. Last week I had the same thought and this was my result.

I was sitting and pondering last night / early morning on the topic of Temp. and Salinity, and then had an idea. Why not ask someone who lives in the Tropics ( Fiji ) and Reefing is his Career. I went to Walt Smith site and sent a question asking if he ever takes readings of the water where they collect the corals and at the Corals Depth, so not surface. Well to my shock 1 hr. later I get message back saying hello and that they take have and do take readings. Temp wise he said it depends on season and has temp's as low as 74 and as high as 92. He also said that he has noticed that temps below 82 seem to be the best on the reef where they do the Harvesting, 82 and above can see signs of stress starting. I was surprised as to the Salinity or should say S.G because that is what he used, he said about 1.024 and sometimes will see 1.025 so I am assuming 1.023 - 1.024 is the average and 1.025 being the highest he has seen. He also told me that for the Fish holding tanks he keeps them at 1.019 to help keep O2 levels up and help keep the Ick away.
So there you go straight from the Horses mouth, I guess you could say.

Salinity in the equatorial Pacific is usually in the 34-36 ppt range (sg = 1.0256 to 1.0272; see link 1, figure 2) except for local phenomena, such as in the lagoon at Fiji where river runoff lowers the salinity to much lower values (see link 2). From such data, one cannot conclude that corals do best at the lower values Walt is reporting to you, than they do elsewhere in the Pacific ocean.

Sea surface salinity changes along the Fiji-Japan shipping track during the 1996 La Niña and 1997 El Niño period
http://www.legos.obs-mip.fr/delcroix/publis-pdf/Delcroix_etal_GRL_1998.pdf?lang=en

Salinity, Temperature and Turbidity Structure in the Suva Lagoon, Fiji
http://thescipub.com/html/10.3844/ajessp.2008.266.275

 

[saltyhog]

Water temps in Kona (Big Island) last August were 82-84 even at depths of around 100ft. The reefs we dove looked very healthy. Not unsual at all to see 77-78 degrees in the Caribbean in Feb/March and 84 degrees in late summer.

My tank rarely changes more than a degree in a day (78.5-79.5). I usually run a little higher in the winter for buffer in case of a power outage.

 

[skim]

Hi Randy, I just posted what I thought would be some good info as his people dive everyday on his dive site, from what I understand is a few miles off shore. He has racks and racks of Coral that grow in the Wild you could say, so I just thought who better to ask what conditions he has at the dive sights and not on the surface but at Coral levels. It may not matter so much, but I think one should consider where the Corals and Fish came from and mimic a best one can. The Question about Salinity and Temp. is and always will be a hot topic as Skimmers and Refugiums.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Randy, I just posted what I thought would be some good info as his people dive everyday on his dive site, from what I understand is a few miles off shore. He has racks and racks of Coral that grow in the Wild you could say, so I just thought who better to ask what conditions he has at the dive sights and not on the surface but at Coral levels. It may not matter so much, but I think one should consider where the Corals and Fish came from and mimic a best one can. The Question about Salinity and Temp. is and always will be a hot topic as Skimmers and Refugiums.

I agree and information is always good. :)

 

[Larry L]

some folks want the ph to be8.3 all day every day. and never have alk fall.

The problem is that the "perceived ideal" of constant temp and other parameters may not actually be ideal. Pretty sure I recall @JimWelsh telling me that while he was testing his continuous alkalinity monitor, he had it hooked up to his controller so that the dosers would keep the alk basically constant all day every day. He said his corals ended up looking worse, and they looked better when he let it go back to the normal daily fluctuations, and using the controller only to keep the baseline of the fluctuations constant.

 

[kalare]

Temp on the reef changes drastically fast in localized areas due to current and thermocline. Mobile animals like fish routinely swim through these thermocline whee the temp swing can be huge (5 to 10 degrees or more) and makes me shiver when diving or snorkeling. Shifting tides and currents shift these different temp waters around continuously. While sustained high temps may be bad I don't believe small temp swings are bad at all and are in reality quite natural.

 

[djreef]

I'm thinking biomass has a great deal to do with the systemic flexibility where temperature is concerned. The higher the energy required by the system the lower the temps must be to keep a lid on everything. Our systems here at work are packed to capacity (extremely high bioload) with high turnover. When the temps start pushing past 80 degrees the weaker animals start stressing, and at 81 degrees begin to fall out. Given the biochemical make up of the organisms we keep higher temps inherently raise metabolic rates and thus tax the resources of the system. We must remember that everything happens faster when temperatures rise.

DJ

 

[Rob's Reef]

I let my tank fluctuate, during summer months my tank stays a little warmer. During the winter it runs a little cooler. the ocean fluxuates during the year so I figured my tank can handle it too. helps on electricity bill to not have to run my heaters or chiller as much.
:)

 

[SantaMonica]

Is an interesting point. Maybe fluctuations are needed, in order to activate or enable some type of internal metabolic pump or process. And maybe without the fluctuations, they cope or tolerate it by shifting some energy budget over to other systems to make up for it.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I'd say that would be a dream scenario [emoji122]

Eh.. happens in my tank, pretty surprised after I nailed that down. I wasn't even trying..

Otherwise I believe there's some data that has never been explored too well. Temp is a prime example, alk is another, even light spectrum I would guess. (different minerals in nearby water)
I try to just stick around 77 since it seems a decent average. Alk is another thing that has completely blown be away. Always went for 10ish in the past, then recently with another setup I'm not doing too well to keep up with the alk so it's always 5-7, but it's done amazingly. (I guess I need to add kalk in addition to 2part or even a calcium reactor because the tank is so small for the amount of corals) Even on the couple days I've tested 3 times because it says 5 dkh, the tank looks amazing.