Temperature Swings
 

How much of a temperature swing during a 24 hours period is acceptable . My 185 gal tanks presently runs 77.5 degrees at nite but once the MH lites kick in and temp of the day increases the temp in the tank goes up to 80.5 . Is that degree of swing acceptable or should I consider buying a chiller. If a chiller was used what variation in swing would I expect :wink:

thats a fine swing. I've had mine swing much more than than and never lost anything.

That's not too bad but if you want to decrease your swing try maintaining your temperature a little higher say 79 or even 80.

But how hot is 2 hot? My tank swings like that, 78-81. I put fan on it, but now evap is almost double

84 is probably the highest you want to go. It also depends on the maintained temp. For example if your tank is kept at 80, 84 isn't that bad. If your tank is kept at 78, 84 is a little worse since it's a hole 6 degrees warmer.

I regularly hit 90 for an entire summer, the swing covering 9 degrees within 24 hour period. Once it hit 91 and one of my SPS RTN'ed. Nothing else was bothered. So, 91 is too hot.
A swing from high 70s to low 80's is not something to worry about.
My current tank hits 85 or 86 daily. Normally it would sit at 80

Man you're crazy :shocked!:

I agree with Brad.

My SPS tank hits 85 daily right now and has been fluctuating between 78 and 86 for the past 3 months without problem. In fact, with this recent hot-spell my SPS have looked slightly better than they have in the last month (but that could also be due to starting to add some amino acids so I won't suggest a causal link).

I was going crazy at first, but after a few weeks realized that nothing was stressed. Now I'm not suggesting tht this doesn't matter, because I certainly think stability is key, but my tank went the entire summer like this. This was also a heavily stocked SPS tank, and I would think would be the most susceptible to problems. Again, the only thing stressed was me.

Here is a pic taken that summer, as you can see, nothing bad was happening

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...f/fulljune.jpg

SPS will survive better during higher temps as they come from higher parts of the reef and are even sometimes exposed directly to the baking sun. However for proper color and growth you'll want a stable temperature.

Lower light corals, most fish and crustaceans will not do well at such high temps.

Aquattro, have you checked your thermometer? 89 degress cooked my fish and shrimp!

Many many times...

haha, crazy!

Thanks for the input I guess in a nutshell Im not doing too bad and I wont worry about the swings.

Cheers

I think its important to mention here that a slow swing is what is important. I think the cooked tanks result from a tank going to normal temp to the high 80s or into the 90s within a few hours. I think the same summer Brad remarked that his was hitting the 90s mine was as well with no problems at all. Granted I didn't have any fabulous colors but everything was still alive. I think the temperatures were harder on me and I bought a chiller that year. When the chiller fuse blew that first time I lost a lot of stuff. Mostly because my tank went from a cool 78F to about 91 in the space of only a few hours. :neutral:

I don't think mine ever went higher than 86.5 but I'm always worried anyways.
My sump is in a different room and the window in that room is always open even in the winter so I can maintain my pH so the temp does go up and down everyday. So far I haven't seen anything go wrong but I would love to stop worrying about it :razz:

so what is the highest you would want to maintain with a mostly lps tank 84?

Are you better to maintain a constant 84 or swing from 80 up to 84 everyday?