What is your IDEAL temperature range

[scubadude]

Well the topic says it all...I have seen may reefers tend to stay in the upper 70's to low 80's for the most part....But I feel like there would be much more benefits to running a system that is very stable and only has a +/- of 1 or 2 degrees. And from what I am seeing Im gonna vote the prime temp somewhere around 77 degrees.

[golfish]

My reef runs 79 low to 82 somedays and 80 to 83 others. I just re-installed my 12" fan over the sump yesterday and temps went down .5-1 degree.

I agree that a more stable temp is better. I have had NO problems at all with these temp. I have on two occasions seen my temps get up to 85 for a few hours with no problems (forgot to turn on the ceiling fan and fan blowing into tank room from the doorway)

The thing that's kiling me more then all the fans blowing is the 5+ gal of eveaporation. All the doors in the house are swelling up

I had not thought about a chiller for some time until a certain someone brought it up the other day I hope to have one running by the summer.

Mark

[golfish]

Hey Dude, I wonder if all the guys voting for 80-84 have MH's and no chiller;)

[scubadude]

Originally posted by golfish
Hey Dude, I wonder if all the guys voting for 80-84 have MH's and no chiller;)

LOL...gee u think?
haha...I asked for IDEAL temps...not wat they where running though!...Atleast someone voted for the same temp as me the coldest one :P

[Ltspd]

Scuba, I replied over at RC too.

I had mine at 80, but my mentor runs his around 76. I have put a digital thermo on mine and pushed my tank temp to 77 (down). If I run the mh's then the tank temp goes to 80 without fans, stays stable with fans.

Like I said at RC, the ocean heats up during the day and cools at night. I think as long as the swing stays within acceptable parameter then its ok.

[tendar]

I run tanks at 79.5 in the morning and heats up 80.5 by evening with the lights on.

[64Ivy]

I like to keep mine a little cooler than that which is most commonly advised these days; around 75-76 degrees (a chiller helps with the stability). The corals seem to be fine with this and the one time last summer when my chiller did crap out, my temp had only climbed to 80 before I caught it and fixed the problem. Fortunately, I didn't lose a single coral but I DO think about what could've happened if I STARTED at 80 or so.

[mrok12]

Our 65 gallon runs between79-84 degrees. We run 2-250watt mh + 2-55 watt pc. I have 2-4 inch ice cap fans and 2- 3 inch fans in the hood. Might add one over the sump. I figure a small desk fan to circulate air in the room will help cool the ambient room temp. For those with chillers: Can you keep the chiller in the room with the tank? Please reply becuase I am thionking about getting one maybe next summer. Will see how it goes, I do have air conditioning.

MROK12

[Toadally]

Mine runs 81.5 in the morning and 82.2 during the afternoon and evening. It took me about a week of playing around with the heater and fans to get it this stable. I'm shooting for an 82 average. Oh, btw lighting is 220watts PC and one 400watt 10k on a 72 gallon bow.

[Rin]

I used to worry about letting my temps get above 80. But on the advice of a well-respected person on another board. I purposely run my tank in the low 80s.

[organicreefer]

as far as temps "in the ocean",we all need to remember that our tanks are NOT the ocean.temps over 80 degrees are definitely something to worry about,as are temperature swings of more than 2 degress.anyone who says 83-85 degrees is ok ,is either a newbie or extremely lucky,imo.

[golfish]

organicreefer,

That's a pretty bold statement for an Opinion......Pretty funny too

[organicreefer]

which one was bold ,and which one is funny?

[golfish]

bold and funny

temps over 80 degrees are definitely something to worry about,as are temperature swings of more than 2 degress.anyone who says 83-85 degrees is ok ,is either a newbie or extremely lucky,imo.

[organicreefer]

impractically quoting almost every single published author on reefkeeping;)
again what is bold ?
wheres the humor?

[organicreefer]

c'mon im gonna be late for work,im gonna stress on this all day
do you own any books on reefkeeping golfish,or do you get all you "knowledge" on the "boards"

[golfish]

...................I have tons of books sitting right here next to my PC. I don't read them anymore because there so outdated...

So I guess we're ALL newbies or are we ALL lucky? (the poll doesn't agree with you) How long does this luck last do you think? I now there has been many things said agains Dr Ron's thought on high temps. Hmmmm, must be luck!


Still rolling

[golfish]

Ahhhhh, If I would have known you were going to stress about it (I know you would) I would have waited a few more minutes

Well, I guess I'll go to bed

[scubadude]

I saw this thread this morning when Organic first posted to it (before you had a chance to tear into him golfish :P ) and My response was that IMHO I think he hit the nail on the head! You are correct books that are printed yesterday are outdated today in essence....but lets not pick the fly poo poo out of the pepper here! I say the proof is in the pudding....Show me facts or I will believe the most recent books (provided they are written by well educated ppl in the field) SueT is my proof in the pudding....She keeps her tank with a chiller on 77 degrees 24/7 and she has a beautiful system with nice healthy acros...this is an ecosystem with no skimmer....Now you are probably thinking we cant base this on just one tank...which is correct but even though everyone has been running their tanks low 80ish with little/no problems does NOT mean that it is the ideal conditions....Heat IMO throws MANY things off...salinity, oxygen gas exchange, metabolisms of animals (corals/fish) and many more things im sure.

[myreef]

I think it hard to imagine having one temperature range be ideal for all the creatures in our systems. I stopped taking everything in books as the end all be all of reefing. Now, I just look at my tank and see what works and what doesn't. If it looks good and things are thriving and growing, then my temp range of 77-78 is fine. If not, then I would adjust it. I have always been a believer in the lower temps (76-78) in a system. When someone says I am crazy for running low temps, I just nod and smile and say to myself, there are many ways to skin a cat or grow a coral!

I am not saying Dr Ron is a nut for recommending higher temps, I am just saying I prefer not to have to deal with anything ever over 80. I want the water cool to the touch when I stick my arm in to scare the fish, I mean clean the tank!