The temperature debate

Anyone noticed a link between average temp and pod count? Just interested. I know people say it's harder to keep the tigrioporus califoricus (I know I butchered that) in hotter temps... I've added a couple bottles over the last months and don't see much of them. Was wondering if my 80-82 had anything to do with it.

 

I keep my nano at 76, it runs great...Corals seem to like it.

 

They are bigger so they are picked off by fish easier. I doubt it's going to be a function of temperature as they grow in a wide variety of temperatures in the wild. At the store, they grow with abandon at 79. However, they are also in a 300 gallon sump that has about 10 different species of macroalgaes so maybe that has something to do with it. You might want to PM Gresham here as he cultures Tigriopus californicus

 

Thanks! I have them in my fuge. It may be that I just didn't do something right, or they are hidden in the crevices of my LR rubble. Thanks again.

 

I traditionally have kept my tanks at 75-78 degrees.
Recent experiences have me a bit less worried about temps on the low end (although I see the points about metabolism).

Moving my tank recently, temps dropped a lot as it took time for me to setup the tank again. I didn't lose anything. Furthermore, I have a blob of montipora digitata on one of my overflows. This was out of water, in the pack of a pick up, exposed to 50 degree air on the highway and left out of water for a total of about 8 hours. Amazingly it is not completely dead.


matt

 

Im pretty sure that just a few degrees is not going to make a significant difference in them... if anything, they might even grow faster due to a higher metabolism! copepods are one of the most resilient creatures out there.

 

Lot of responses here, so I'll just post mine and go back and read the rest later...

I keep mine between 79-81 degrees. I agree that Shimek is right about most reefs being in the lower 80's. His numbers and averages do match what is fact- that a majority of the world's tropical reefs are in that range.

What it doesn't take into account is what corals or animals we are keeping. If you keep a colder water species or warmer water species, you may want to adjust for it, but you will start limiting your options of what you CAN keep.

It seems that our animals can adjust to slightly cooler temperatures, as evidenced by the fact that many tropical reef tanks are kept at around 78 degrees.

One problem with keeping a tank at a higher temperature is the amount of dissolved oxygen goes down as the temp goes up, and it can be dangerous when the temps get much above 82. It's this reason that I like to keep mine slightly lower than 82 so that when it gets warm during the summer months, I don't have to worry about temps getting much above that.

I do believe that for the best health of all animals, it's better to have a stable temperature. If possible, no more than a one degree swing, but two degrees seems ok.

I'd say anyone keeping a tropical reef in the 78-82 range is playing it safe, while outside of that, and you're asking for trouble.

 

My FOWLR stays around 78 degrees. My reef tank varies between 77 and 80 (80 by the end of the day). I read those temperatures are best, so that's what I do. I haven't experimented with different temperatures.

 

i keep my tank at 76 seems to be working well with my fish and corals

 

I took a hard stare at this blob last night. There is a small section that still has color, but the jury is still out here. Will know in a few weeks for sure I imagine. For the record...