Water temp?

[leon1972]

Ok so I came across an article by hapenstance that stated 79 degrees was too low and a myth for saltwater tanks. They should be between 81 - 84 degrees. I did further research and am now confused. What is the ideal temp for a reef tank?

 

[Northstar24]

Most will tell you to aim for 72-78 but warmer is okay but personally anything over 80 and it's time to start asking questions

Also stability of temp is far more important than actual temp, another reason to aim for mid 70's is that it's easier to maintain a stable temp there

 

[kbuser92]

Mine goes roughly 79.5ish all the way to 81. I know my swings are a lot but nothing is bothered. It usually stays 80, +/-1/2°.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

i keep my tank at 77.8 to 78.3

 

[phastroh]

Dang luckily mine is almost always 78.5-79

I do not really know more than keeping it at that. The only spike I ever get is after a water change because even though I turn the heater in my mixing water to 75 and turn it off about 20 minutes before I add it into the tank I guess being closed in a brute can makes it reach well beyond the 75 I set it at.

I lowered it to 75 because with it set to match the tank I would get 83 on my digital temp gauge. Of course it takes about 2 hours to get back down to 78.5.

I say stay lower.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

with my water changing station i have
i have a 45 Gallon trash can with 40-44 gallons of RODI water
it has a ball vave on the side neer the bottle so i can fill a 15 gallon bucket on rollers
i put in the salt mix (that i pre mesure) in the bucket befor i fill up
in 4 min i can do a 15 gallon water change. if i wanted to.
I have a heater in the RODI trashcan set to 76-77 degrees. the highest spick i get when i change water is 79.3

 

[leon1972]

I set it to 80 before I left for work and my fish now seem to be happier. They seem to be more active than when it was 78.

 

[Northstar24]

Fish are cold blooded, so naturally increasing the temp would cause them to be more active.....

 

[JustinsReefTank]

Mine stays between 79.3 and 79.8. That's all with the swings.

 

[leon1972]

Well I think I'm going to keep mine at 80.5 and see what happens when I add corals

 

[ZyberGoby]

According to my Digital temp my tank is 79.1* but if I went by the OTG thermometer my tank is 82* so I will say my tank is 80*

 

[JustinsReefTank]

According to my Digital temp my tank is 79.1* but if I went by the OTG thermometer my tank is 82* so I will say my tank is 80*

Lol. Sounds good anyway.... :sfish:

 

[ZyberGoby]

Lol. Sounds good anyway.... :sfish:

to be accurate i will do this take the 79.1+82+ my guess of 80 divide it by 3and have a temp average of 80.36666666666667 :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: to save face i'll round up to 80.4 hahahaha

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

well i will try 80 degrees and see what happens. but i may just stay at 79 lol

 

[Bifferwine]

Temperature stability is really more important than what it is at. You want to minimize temp swings to stay within 1 to 2 degrees over a 24 hour period. I keep my tank at 83 to 84. I live in a hot state (Arizona), and I don't use a chiller. Keeping it at 83/84 is much healthier than having it at, say 83 during the day, then it dropping to 78 at night.

 

[ZyberGoby]

Temperature stability is really more important than what it is at. You want to minimize temp swings to stay within 1 to 2 degrees over a 24 hour period. I keep my tank at 83 to 84. I live in a hot state (Arizona), and I don't use a chiller. Keeping it at 83/84 is much healthier than having it at, say 83 during the day, then it dropping to 78 at night.

I use two thermometers a sticky on my glass and a digi the digi never go's to far over 80 or drops below 79.1 I tend to more so go by that than the sticky. I feel the on the glass is picking up the room temp more than the tank temp even the laser temp of the tank is 79-80. So accurately getting your temp is key. So Sarah would you say use a float or digi vs sticky? I mean I would, I personally love my digi since I got it. I feel I'm reading my temp for what it is vs what it could be.

 

[Bifferwine]

I use the cheap $2 alcohol-based thermometer from the pet store (the glass tube kind with the red liquid). I've had the sticky kind and the digital kind before too, and I think they are more prone to mistakes. It's hard to go wrong with something as simple as an alcohol-based thermometer. Most people keep an extra one on hand to verify their readings.

 

[ZyberGoby]

I use the cheap $2 alcohol-based thermometer from the pet store (the glass tube kind with the red liquid). I've had the sticky kind and the digital kind before too, and I think they are more prone to mistakes. It's hard to go wrong with something as simple as an alcohol-based thermometer. Most people keep an extra one on hand to verify their readings.

Ok hmmm I'll look oh to a float and see I I know digi's can From time to time fall out of synk I had that issue with the room thermometer. That has a factory reset button. I think imma going to get a float tonight and see how accurate my temp is

 

[leon1972]

I've a tally got all 3. Lol. The sticky and digital both read the same tmp at 2 degrees lower tan the float