Temperature Fluctuation

[Myka]

Psst! Hey Brad, his swing is 2.0 degrees...

Personally, I wouldn't want any more than 2 degree fahrenheit swing, and yours is about 3.6. I would not find that acceptable. Your daytime temperature is already up to 81.5 degrees, and I wouldn't want it going much higher than that. If I were you I would add a good sized fan blowing across the top of the water and/or onto the bulbs. I would keep a close eye on it as the weather warms up, as I think you are going to have troubles keeping the temperature down if it's already that high now.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Myka

Psst! Hey Brad, his swing is 2.0 degrees...

I gotta be good at math now too? Sheesh

Ideally no swing is desireable, however having had a tnak that would swing 10 degrees everyday for an entire summer with no ill effects taught me that 2, or 2.5, doesn't really matter a lot.

[whatcaneyedo]

10º?? Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit? I've had heaters crap out on me and become stuck on or off causing one of my tanks to heat or cool by that much for a day. The fish began gasping and most of the coral closed up. What were you keeping in that system?

[Snaz]

25.5 ºC = 77.9 ºF
27.5 ºC = 81.5 ºF

= 3.6 degrees swing in Farenheight over one daylight photo period. I would try and stabilize this if it was my tank.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

10º?? Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit? I've had heaters crap out on me and become stuck on or off causing one of my tanks to heat or cool by that much for a day. The fish began gasping and most of the coral closed up. What were you keeping in that system?

10F. I would go from 80 to 90 each day, all summer long. The first week, I thought I would have a stroke, I panicked every second of the day. It was a fully stocked mature SPS tank, and I only lost one species. I had several pieces of it, they all RTN'ed. Other than that, the tank was fine. I wasn't, but I got over it. Now, I don't recommend this, and I did end up getting a chiller, but 3 degrees daily will not harm anything.

[marie]

[ Temperature : Actually quite variable, but only variable within a set range. Which for this reef can be a low of 80 to a high of 90. The factors that determine any given temperature involves :
Seasonal Fluctuations, Which for the tropics involves only two. A wet cloudy, thus cooler season, and a dry cloudless, much warmer season. On a seasonal average, I would say that during the wet season, the daily average is 80 F. While during the dry season, the daily average is 84 F. With an overall yearly average right at 82 F. Water depth and proximity to deeper water currents also greatly effect the day to day temperature swings.
In the shallow grass beds, during a lull in the tides and on a sunny day, the temperature can easily reach 90 F. On that same day, the deeper, coral reef can reach 84 F. Yet when a low tide flushes the much warmer water out into the deeper reefs, the temperature climbs quickly to 86 F. The reverse happens when a high tide brings in cooler water from the much deeper open ocean. Going from 84 F. to 80 F. in a matter of hours. Night time temperature drops usually deducts about 4 degrees from the daytime average.

This was taken from Charles Raabe website, he has been studying the coral reefs in his area in the phillipines
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/reeftour.html

I try to keep the temp of my tank at 82F but in reality the temp goes from 79 in the morning up to 84 at night

[sphelps]

Try keeping your tank at 26.5C instead of 25.5C. You should notice a smaller fluctuation. Probably will still only reach 27.5C max.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Try keeping your tank at 26.5C instead of 25.5C. You should notice a smaller fluctuation. Probably will still only reach 27.5C max.

I found this also on my current tank, it would only hit 82 ,regardless whether my initial temp was 78 or 80

[sitandwatch]

Thanks for the help, I have raised my base temp to about 26 and will monitor it for a while.