Awesome SPS tank! + Temp Question

I didn't see anything about this tank on 3reef so let me know if I missed an old thread, but has anyone seen this Tank of the Month - December 2007 - Reefkeeping.com?

I was surprised that in his arsenal of parameter controls and methodical maintenance procedures, the only temperature control he utilizes is a few fans. He writes that he doesn't use a heater and specifies his tank temperature as: "[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][SIZE=-1]Winter 76 - 80°F; Summer 80 - 84°F[/SIZE][/FONT]"

Anyone else find that surprising? I thought 84 was starting to get into the danger zone*, but even if not 'dangerous', Chan's embracing of this fluctuation begs the question: does temperature stability matter aside from intra-day/week fluctuations? Whatever the case, this guy clearly knows what he's doing

*(at least for fish, the high of 84 is a full 10 degrees higher than LiveAquaria's recommended range and there's NO WAY they're wrong )

Your thoughts!

-The Question Man

 

Geez that tank looks like a crayola box lol awesome set up.
i think stability is more important than the actual temp. i keep my tank at 80. it never changes even .1 degree
some would say 76 or 78 or even 84 is ideal temp. if you look at the ocean the temps of the animals we put in our tank are all over the board because of where they come from.
each animal truley has to adapt to live in our boxes of water.

to each his own, and it shows that what he is doing works. would i want my temp to swing like that? nope. but its working for him apparently

 

liveaquarias been wrong plenty of times recently over the last year i know more people complaining about them rather than giving them any credit there not handling the mass of orders and the staff is sending out wrong animals constantly atleast from what ive heard

 

They key is to make sure that your temperature does not swing much in a short period. But if you can keep the swing to a few days none of your inhabitants will really be able to tell. It becomes a real problem once temps start swinging a few degrees each day. I.E. 84 to 75 in a day.

 

Many of the most diverse (wild) reefs are at 84F or so. I don't use any heaters or chillers on my tank. It runs 82ish through the summer.

The only concern about running at 84 is it doesn't give you much buffer if things go wrong (ie - power outage). If the temp rises a little bit... Ugh.

The concern with fish is not having enough dissolved oxygen in the water, as the warmer it is the less it can contain. If you're not overstocked and you've got sufficient oxygenation (skimmer + surface agitation) this isn't much of a concern either.

 

Corals really don't care about temperature swings; at least as long as the swing is within it's acclimated range. That is the important part, the high and low temperatures that it is metabolically equipped to handle. If the coral is acclimated to 75-84 then it couldn't care less about a swing from 75-84. If it is kept in a constant environment where the temperature is held at say a fixed 78 degrees, a sudden swing to 79, for an extended time could in theory kill it even. If you don't have a heater or chiller, as in the TOTM, the temperatures will slowly change with the seasons and the tank will acclimate to the given temperature ranges for that time of year. So, it isn't a problem as they are used to it.

As to high temps, most oceans where our corals come from, average around 82-84. Generally we like to keep them a bit cooler, to provide a buffer, however, in reality, due to warming, the reefs are commonly getting into the 90s in the summer and are proving to be surprisingly adaptable (although this is really on the edge of their absolute limits - don't keep your tank at 90! LOL).

I prefer not to keep my tanks above 84ish for various reasons, however, I have, in the past had tanks, which got into the upper 80s regularly in the summer and it was never an issue. Mostly it all depends what they are used to... There is a finite maximum though and that maximum can vary with any given coral (I am mentioning corals BTW as "most" fish seem even more adaptable). Shallow water SPS even, are probably more tolerant than deep water corals for example. In the wild, some corals at low tide are even completely out of the water, baking in the hot sun and it isn't even an issue. So, that brings up the next part which is sustained temps. When marine biologists model coral bleaching for example, they don't actually pay much attention to the temperature, but rather how long it's been that temperature. The longer it's out of the acclimated range the more likely it is to bleach. Short burst out of the range can cause stress, however, are less likely to cause mortality (except perhaps in our systems, as there are a lot more other stressors than in the ocean. Remember this may not be as true in a very well kept tank though. It depends on a lot of things. Certainly safer to keep a buffer).

 

Speechless....thanks for the post!

 

Great post m2434