Temporary high phosphates for SPS?

[H2o2]

Grab a good used chiller at a reasonalbe price on here and plug in if weather gets hot unplug if it doesnt

[marie]

My tank goes from 78 to 84 degrees every day.......I don't recommend that big of a daily temp swing but the corals in my tank seem ok with it

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by H2o2

Grab a good used chiller at a reasonalbe price on here and plug in if weather gets hot unplug if it doesnt

Well, I was hoping my phosphates would come down faster, so I can combine the tanks, like last year, to use a single sump and chiller. I thought of getting another chiller, even just as a back up, so I do have my eyes open for one. But I want another good one, like I have now.

Originally Posted by marie

My tank goes from 78 to 84 degrees every day.......I don't recommend that big of a daily temp swing but the corals in my tank seem ok with it

Wow, that is a pretty high temp, and a large swing. I am surprised your fish are OK with that. Did you notice their gills breathing faster? Even at 81, I thought some of my fish were breathing quite fast, and I became a little concerned.

[marie]

Non of my fish are bothered. Even when my bowfront hit 86 a few years ago the fish were fine.... I did turn the lights off though, I wasn't comfortable with 86 temp even if the fish coped with it

[fishytime]

put a fan on the basement tank on a timer(to coincide with your lights).....this will drop the tank probably three degrees.....personally I wouldnt waste money on a chiller....if your thinking about going that route then consider a portable AC unit for that room, then both you and the tank are comfortable

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by fishytime

put a fan on the basement tank on a timer(to coincide with your lights).....this will drop the tank probably three degrees.....personally I wouldnt waste money on a chiller....if your thinking about going that route then consider a portable AC unit for that room, then both you and the tank are comfortable

Yeah, I do have some further options to keep my tank temp down. We actually have central AC, so the room temp isn't a problem. But I do have canopies and covers on my tanks, so that is really what keeps them on the warm side. I can open the door on the canopy and remove the tank cover. I am sure those will help.

My real question, though, had to do with the effect of higher phosphates on SPS that are used to zero in my main tank, and also how high heat my fish and corals can handle in my downstairs tank.

I am still hoping my phosphates will continue to fall in my downstairs tank with the GFO, and would like to hold off having to combine the tanks as long as possible. I know once summer hits, I will need the chiller for the downstairs tank too, as I don't want to make the temporary aids (like canopy open and tank cover off) permanent.

[Aquattro]

My 150 went from 80 to 89/90 daily for about two months during a summer when my chiller died. The fish all did fine and on the hottest day (91), I lost all of one species (5 different pieces of it throughout the tank), but nothing else. I probably lost some of my lifespan stressing about it, but the tank did fine. I wouldn't recommend it, but going to 84 shouldn't hurt much, unless you have a huge fish load. Then O2 might come into it. But if you've got good surface movement and a good skimmer, O2 should stay in the safe range.

As for PO4, I would expect a sudden shift in levels (either direction) might not be really good.

[daniella3d]

wow, what type of corals do you keep at 84 and 86? because many sensitive acroporas and SPS would surely RTN at this high temperature, especially the deep water.

Originally Posted by marie

Non of my fish are bothered. Even when my bowfront hit 86 a few years ago the fish were fine.... I did turn the lights off though, I wasn't comfortable with 86 temp even if the fish coped with it

[marie]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

wow, what type of corals do you keep at 84 and 86? because many sensitive acroporas and SPS would surely RTN at this high temperature, especially the deep water.

This is the tank that went up to 86 a few years ago


The tank I have now has a mix of sps, lps and softies

[Reef Pilot]

Well, I've got my phosphates down to .03 on the other tank, with the help of Foz Down. The stuff works pretty well.

But my nitrates are still at 20 -30 ppm. When I combine the tanks to one sump, I am assuming the nitrates should be cut in half or more, and then with the bio pellets running on that sump, should take care of the rest.

Do you think the SPS will mind temporarily high nitrates? They have been used to zero nitrates and phosphates for some time now.