The temperature debate

My 75G tank fluctuates between 78ºF-81ºF degrees.

I found that my chalices start melting at 84ºF. My tank once hit 86ºF and most my LPS sucked in. When my temp drops below 76ºF, all of my LPS refuse to open. My zoas are always open no matter the temp.

My fish have never shown any signs of stress when the tank was as low as 75ºF and as high as 86ºF. Same with the snails, shrimp, crabs, and clams.

I went with a low of 78ºF and a high of 81ºF so that I had a large buffer between having issues with the temp being to low or to high.

I have a friend who keeps his tank at 75 and has no issues with it.

I think the most important factor is the consistency of the temperature that you keep the tank out.

 

It took me quite a while to find this link. Animal Network.com took down their web page so I couldn't find an index to what month it was. However, once I found the month, I went to the Internet Archive and snagged it. If you want to debate this issue, this is a very good article to read. (As you might have guessed I lean towards Harker's point of view but that is primarily based on experience and not because me and Dr. Shimek have a storied past). Even though this article goes back to 1998, it's still a good read.

Aquarium Frontiers On-Line: Feature

OK....I don't know why the link won't work.....go to waybackmachine.org. When the box pops up, put this into the box.

 

mine swings from 76 at night with lights off to 80 with lights on. i havent figured a way to keep it any more stable than that without buying a chiller and i refuse to buy a chiller for this tank. when i get my 225 ill have one lol

 

For what it's worth the water temp on the Florida Keys Reef annually goes from 55F to 85F.

Hawaii's ocean temp doesn't change much due to it's location and weather about 72F-74F.

I like my tank at 80F to keep the ich cycle fast and my fishes metabolisms fast to help fight off disease.

 

I usually run my tank a consistent 78f with an RKL. I'd like mention that I had a pretty bad dino problem until I accidently left my sump shut down one day. My ATO was empty and I didn't have time to make more because had a doctors appointment. My heater is in my sump. The next evening I noticed nothing looked well, all LPS were closed and the fish didn't look very happy. I had forgotten about the sump being shut down and the temp had dropped to about 68f. The tank was clear but the sump was fowled and cloudy (and STUNK). I quickly put my backup heater in the tank and cleaned out the sump, etc. I did loose my yellow tang but everything else survived...except the dinos! They were gone for a few weeks and have now started to creep back in. I am going to try adjusting the temp down to 76f over the next week and see what effect it has on the dino problem and report back.

Has anyone else seen any simillar reactions to a large temp swing?

 

Yes....dinoflagellate blooms on established tanks are usually caused by large temperature or chemistry (including salinity) swings.

 

It's like this. I could probably survive and live to a ripe old age in Northern Norway, but I'd rather be hanging out in the mid 80's on a tropical island.

 

Inwall, The dinos were there before hand. They were gone for a few weeks after the temp swing but have slowly started to come back now that it's been stable.

 

Ahh, then the cold temperatures slowed their metabolic rate and their reproduction rates slowed as a result. Once the proper temperatures were obtained, they started reproducing again...makes complete sense.

 

Mine is at a steady 80