So just how critical is temperature?

Well, I had a little surprize today. I found that my thermometer in my tank was way off. it has read 78-80's for months now, with slight variations on occasion, and with the room temperature at 75'f I never questioned the temp. I have a pair of peppermint shrimp that have eggs, and I'm attempting to hatch and raise them. I've set up a hatching tank, and was confirming that the tank temperaters were the same and had planned on moving the shrimp to the hatchout tank, when I noticed that the temp of the water was only 70'f. when I checked my main tank, it also was only 70'f, and I confimed this with two other thermometers. I now suspect this to have been like this for several months, and while I've not had any known problems due to this, I wonder what the longterm affects on my corals have/could be.
My tank setup is a 75g system of 4 smaller tanks, Main tank 35G BB with mainly soft corals (xenia, zoas, 'shrooms, yellow toadstool, capnella, cabbage coral, GSP, alantic flowerpot anemone and 2 fish -1 tomato clown -1 damsel fish, and an assortment of HC and snails.) The tank has never looked as good as it has over the last few months, but the growthrate of those things that most say spread quickly are down. GSP and Zoas are not spreading. Nearly lost the Xenia a few weeks ago, after increasing skimming, but it is recovering after moving it to a 'fuge with a SSB, believe the primary problem with the Xenia was that the BB main tank didn't have enough DOC for it, but the SSB with a slower waterflow allows more DOC around the Xenias, but now am wondering if temperature could have played a part in the sudden slide of the xenia, as well as the very slow decline of the GSP (three years no real change, slightly smaller) Else seems to be doing very well. since increasing the skimming, my cpnella hardly closes, even hrs after lights out, where before it would close up after about 5hrs of light.
And before anyone asks:

nitrate : undetectable
Phosphate: undetectable
Ph : 8.3
Dkh : 8-9
Ca :400ppm
SG : 1.024
light : 175 MH (6hrs) +80w multi spectrum flourescent lights (10hrs)
Flow :800gph through, 500gph internal PH
LR for Biofilter, this tank 7 years old.


Thanks for any thoughts about temp.
Chris

 

Chris,
I would have to question your thermometer. If you don't have a chiller and your room temperature is around 75 there's no way your tank temperature is 5 degrees cooler than ambient especially with metal halide lighting???

Now If I am wrong, because I don't have all the information ( Entirely Possible ;D) I would say that a temperature swing with wide variations is more detrimental than a constant cooler temp than the corals and animals are used to. The Gulf of Mexico has many corals and animals in it. It has a high of 86 in the summer and a low of about 59 in the winter. But, it never varies by more than a couple of degrees at any one time. Enjoy!

Jim

 

If you don't have a chiller and your room temperature is around 75 there's no way your tank temperature is 5 degrees cooler than ambient especially with metal halide lighting???

I would tend to agree with one exception: If the tank is against an outer wall that isn't well insultated. The cold wall could, in effect, chill the back glass of the tank and keep that water temp around 70, but that's a long shot.

Are you using a digital thermometer? If so, I would HIGHLY question it. The pumps alone in a 75 degree room will run the temp up a degree or two. Typically, my house stays around 76 degrees during the summer, so I turn my heaters off and the tanks stay around 78 to 80 degrees on pumps and lighting alone.

That said, if it does actually work out that your tank is somehow at 70 degrees, I would deffinately up that to at least 75 with a good heater. You have to remember that the corals you have come from tropical waters that for the most part never hit anywhere below 74 to 75 degrees.

I still, like Diver, think that one of your thermometers is wrong given what you're telling us. Either the house is colder than you think, or your tanks are warmer than you think.

Regards,
Tom

 

Things that effect my temps

HI,
I wish I would have thought of this sooner, I have A DSB setting on the slab concrete floor and it should have been set up on plywood or some type of additioinal insulation, My floor temps in the winter are rather cool even this may add a heat loss to an already cool situation cause I don't keep my house at a constant temp in the winter , I let it drop to 63 at night a shoot for 68 from 7am-11pm I ve noticed my 400 watt heater isn't keeping that 79 at night 100 %.
Doug

 

djnzlab1,
You're talking about heat loss (conduction) from your deep sand bed to the cool floor of your house, yes? It's going to depend on what your floor is made of and how cold it gets. Concrete and tile will conduct the heat more than wood. Regardless, I suggest sliding a scrap of carpet under the tank, between it and the floor.
If the air near the floor gets chilly at night, you are also going to have heat loss from the sides of the container.
A glass or other fitted lid on the top will minimize heat loss from the surface. I have a glass lid. I used small pieces of plastic wrap to cover the gaps next to where the hoses and spillways enter the tank. That reduced heat loss, evaporation, and salt creep!

 

As long as your tank temperature isn't fluctuating by more than 2 degrees, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it is, that's not really a good thing.

You should consider keeping the house a constant 68. Not just for your tanks sake, but in reality, you're not saving any money at all on your bill. You're only reducing the temperature in the house for 7 hours. The cost of fuel/electricity to bring the house back up to 68 from 63 after only a 7 hour layover is actually more money than it would cost to keep the house at 68 the whole time.

Regards,
Tom

 

Obviously the low temp isn't hurting things all that much. Stable temp is much more important. I also find that these animals can take a larger swing into colder temperature than they can into warmer temperatures. For example, a 10 degree swing down to 68 and a coral will more than likely live. A 10 degree swing to 88 is going to have a bigger impact on the corals health.

If you're checking with several different thermometers I don't see much question if their accurate. If your temp really is that low then make sure when you start bringing it up make sure you do it slowly over a few days.

HTH and good luck.

 

For example, a 10 degree swing down to 68 and a coral will more than likely live. A 10 degree swing to 88 is going to have a bigger impact on the corals health.

If your temp really is that low then make sure when you start bringing it up make sure you do it slowly over a few days.

According to the first advice you just gave him, it shouldn't make a difference, right?

10 degree swings are detrimental to anything in the tank, up or down. Be careful which advice you listen to cdemeritt.

No offense JustPhish, but the advice you just gave was detrimental in more ways than just one.

Regards,
Tom

 

Temperature is the most important variable that must be adhered to in a closed reef tank, keeping as constant as possible to the natural thermal tolerance of corals which is around 82-87 degrees! If other parameters are ideal but your temperature is off, your tank will not survive. A captive reef tank should be consistent between 72-78 degrees for the most desireable results and the health of your livestock.
If your temperature is too high, the the solubility for oxygen will be decreasing thus you run the risk of suffocation! A correction to this will be the exposing of your water's surface- environment interface. This will aid in the transfer of carbon dioxide to oxygen in your water due to the aggitation at the waters surface.
One reason for maintaining a lower temperature in closed systems is the fact that tanks kept at higher temperatures will become responsible for the the reproductive cycle of corals and fish... spawning is a major concern as gametes released into the water rapidly consumes oxygen and poisons the water, clogs filters and possible cause skimmers to colapse.

 

Hi,

Ok
It takes my gas furnace about 10 mins to recover to that higher temp, and I have cut my heat bill by over 100 dollars a month this winter with the higher gas rates. Not sure why its works its a honeywell programable thermostat I installed , and I have a monster gas furnace that blow 90+ wamr air in a flash it has 8 stainless steel tubes two staged burners with a efficiency of 96 % you could use PVC for the vent its that efficent, best investment I ever made. It has a two staged burner for fast recovery and then coast on single stage, I don't care for those electric heat pumps up here it just work on those 15 deg nights that can occur in Jan. It paid for it self in as little as 2 winters. And has twice th eBTU of my previous carrier cast iron unit that had completly rusted out in 7 years and cracked. yikes.
Doug

ps I added a second 500 wat heater to the sump problem sovled