help with temperature
 

I need some advice regarding what to do about raising the temp in my tank.

Due to a faulty thermometer in my mixed reef, my temperature has dropped a lot without me realizing it. I'm not sure of the timeframe but I'm guessing 3 weeks ago when things started to go downhill. I put in one of those cheap Coralife thermometers to get a new reading (purchased this as I don't have any LFS carrying anything better) and have found the temp to be 68F. I've ordered a new pinpoint already but for now I have to start fixing the problem. Amazingly enough, things have gone downhill but nothing has died. A few SPS have started to bleach though.

How fast can I bring it back up? Where does everyone else keep their temp?

Any help would be appreciated.

Bump...anyone?

So your temperature reading was faulty...but do you have a heater?

Last year when we were without power for 36 hrs my temps went down to 68, I spent about 24 hrs getting it back to 75 then the next 24 getting it back to 78. No losses. But you have another problem...did your heater also fail?

Scott

Yes, it did...and with a faulty thermometer I didn't realize it had. I just noticed that when I put my hand in the water for feeding my Sun-Coral that it seemed cool. I thought it might be just my mind but I still looked at the temperature and it read 77 which is close to the 78 that I've always kept it at. I was still suspicious so I grabbed a hand-held one and dipped it in to get a very low reading of about 67. I went to the LFS and grabbed a cheapy coralife and stuck it in to get a new reading of 68. I bought a new Ebo-Jager 200W heater and have slowly been bringing it up (today it's up to 70) but I wasn't sure this was the right thing to do? Is this too fast, too slow?

In reality, is the 78 I usually have right?

In my tank I get down to 80F overnight and max around 82F in the evening after my lights have been on all day.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Raise the temperature slowly with the heater.

I keep my temp anywhere between 76 and 78.... I used to keep it around 81-83 but I decided to lower it and see how everything does :)