Opinions wanted.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by reefwithareefer

In the cooler months I can maintain within a degree, but this type of weather causes it to fluctuate 2 or 3 degrees. It is 80.2 now and by morning it will be 77ish.
Halides give off alot of heat, then add in 320 watts of T5s inside a canopy and it keeps the chiller running...

If that's the case, then bump up the night temp to 79 so that you have a smaller swing. IME, it's the swing that bothers them more than the actual number. My SPS tank ran at 84F with halides and T5s and it did pretty good. Our house temperature doesn't change much from summer to winter, so that temperature was maintained all year. I had fans to keep it that "cool".

[reefwithareefer]

So bumping the temp up has helped level it off. I have it 78. It bumps up to 80.2 during the day.

I also changed the T5s to the ATI actinics that I had. Not big improvements to coral pop, but it is a nicer color overall. Should I have used the super blues?

[reefwithareefer]

After all the reading and info gleaned from others, I came to realize that I had not realized the simple concept of what role salt can play in a tank.

Did not realize that different brands had different parms, some made water cloudy etc etc. how it affected my dosing regiment and the fact I have never tested a fresh batch of salt for Ca, mag or alk. I just threw it in the 55 gal tank with water, check temp and salinity and was done. Boy, do I feel stupid , missing something so basic.

The salt polling thread made me aware of my ignorance.