What temp do you run?

[Scythanith]

78-79 F

[kien]

I think the answer is yes, some of us run a different temperature every day. Myself included. My temperature at night drops to 77 degrees. That's what my heaters are set to. I run halides so during the day my temperature will gradually rise to about 80 degrees. This is during the winter months mind you. During the summer the house is a lot warmer so my upper temperature will go up to 83. As a result I try to remember to raise the lower end of my temp to 79, this way there's less swing.

Having said that, I have no clue what would give "best results". I suppose "best results" can be variable as well. For me "best results" is when things don't die.

[mikellini]

I think the key is consistency, and I don't mean necessarily one temperature. For example, if you consistently have a 2-3 degree temp swing, that's probably OK, but the problem is when your AC breaks or something else happens to make the temp swing larger (or perhaps smaller).

I actually think there's something to be said about small regular temp swings. I was thinking about programming one into my apex, to hit a low of 77.5 in the middle of the night (2AM) and 78.5 at 2PM. Currently it's set to 77.7-77.8, and fluctuates from 77.6-78...

[aquatechy]

Originally Posted by mikellini

I think the key is consistency, and I don't mean necessarily one temperature. For example, if you consistently have a 2-3 degree temp swing, that's probably OK, but the problem is when your AC breaks or something else happens to make the temp swing larger (or perhaps smaller).

+1 on this. The actual temperature is not that big a deal, provided it is within a healthy range. Keeping it consistent is more important.

[MitchM]

Temperature IS important.

From the article I posted:

The most rapid growth of most corals is generally around 27°C to 29°C (80.6°F to 84.2°F) (Barnes et al., 1995; Clausen and Roth, 1975; Weber and White 1976; Coles and Jokiel, 1977, 1978; Highsmith, 1979a, b; Highsmith, et al., 1983).

and..


A recent study shows how differences of only a couple of degrees Celsius determine the distribution of Montastrea annularis populations in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea, proper ( Carricart-Ganivet, 2004 ). In this case, the no growth lower limit of zero calcification occurred at 23.7°C (74.7°F) in corals from the Gulf of Mexico and at 25.5°C (77.9°F) in corals from the Caribbean Sea.

[Jordon]

I run at 80 degrees. Some of my Zoas close at 82. Not sure if it's just me, or anyone else has seen a physical response from a small difference in temp?

[mike31154]

Never been to the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean & I'm trying to convert my critters to more northern latitude conditions. Depending on which of my 3 or 4 thermometers I look at, I'm running at a cool as a cucumber 23.7 to 24.7 degrees C. My montipora cap doesn't seem to care about slow growth statistics published by very well educated scientists, it insists on growing like the dickens. Not sure I want my coral to grow too fast anyhow, my little box full of water has only so much space! The fish aren't hibernating either. Perhaps it's the elevated dissolved oxygen level that goes with running so cool? My critters are all on an oxygen high! Anyhow, works for me & I save a bit of electricity. I wouldn't recommend anyone with valuable sps to start experimenting with temps at the low end of the scale though.