- Joined
- Oct 9, 2019
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We are always talking about trying to replicate natural reefs. But why do we try to force a stable temperature instead and do not take that into account?
Me personally, I'm always trying to tweak temperature so it does follow seasonal temperatures (which is a fluctuation of about 2.5°C over the whole year) which I can get using my controller. But in that month I have a 2°C (4°F) limit. But while searching how much natural reefs could fluctuate during the day, I came across this great article: https://reefs.com/magazine/the-grea...ly temperature variation,as the tide comes in.
Few quotes:
So I basically just changed my controller, allowing the heater to create fluctuations that are double the swing as before... So instead of a swing of 2°C (4°F), I'm now allowing my tank to swing 4°C (8°F) and even a bit more during the night.
WDYT? Probably it is better to make the corals in our tanks common to swings in temperature so they are prepared for bigger swings if they would ever occur?
Me personally, I'm always trying to tweak temperature so it does follow seasonal temperatures (which is a fluctuation of about 2.5°C over the whole year) which I can get using my controller. But in that month I have a 2°C (4°F) limit. But while searching how much natural reefs could fluctuate during the day, I came across this great article: https://reefs.com/magazine/the-grea...ly temperature variation,as the tide comes in.
Few quotes:
For instance, many corals and other reef organisms can survive and grow long term at temperatures of 74 °F and 84 °F
The degree of daily temperature fluctuation on a reef varies considerably from place to place. On an intermediate depth forereef exposed to oceanic swell and adjacent to deep water, the daily temperature variation is quite small—typically < 1 °F. At the other extreme are tidally influenced pools, backreefs, and lagoons like those on Ofu Island in American Samoa. Here the daily temperature variation is often 8-10 °F, and can be as high as 12 °F (e.g., 80-92 °F) with these swings in temperature sometimes realized in just a few minutes, as the tide comes in.
So I basically just changed my controller, allowing the heater to create fluctuations that are double the swing as before... So instead of a swing of 2°C (4°F), I'm now allowing my tank to swing 4°C (8°F) and even a bit more during the night.
WDYT? Probably it is better to make the corals in our tanks common to swings in temperature so they are prepared for bigger swings if they would ever occur?