Running Reef tank at 72 Degrees?

[JoeR]

With no heater, my pico has been running at 72 degrees constantly, day and night. I’m debating staying heater-less, keeping it super low tech and cord free. I’m worried about the heater I have overheating the tank since it’s only half a gallon. I’ve not heard of many people keeping tanks at this temp as some people claim it slows coral growth and fish metabolism, but this may actually be a good thing in a pico? The only resident, a snail, is thriving, but I’m thinking it may be a bit too low for Corals. I don’t have the experience to know for sure, but the majority of common coral and fish on liveaquaria for example are listed as comfortable in 72-78. If anyone has any experience or wisdom on keeping tanks at 72 it is greatly appreciated!

 

P.S. yes I know most people keep their tanks at roughly 76 or 74-82

[weston.bechtold]

A cold water temp does stunt fish and coral growth, but this is because stress and stress in the #1 killer of fish. 78 to 82 is where its at like you said.  The tank sounds interesting Id love to see some pics!

 

[Pjanssen]

Sometimes I think people stress too much over temp. I Dive in Florida and the temp fluctuates from around 70-72 degrees in the winter to 86-88 degrees in the summer. No, we don't have SPS growing here, but the gorgs, leathers, 'shrooms, and zoas do well. Maybe try a few hardy corals.

[1.0reef]

Many people who've kept deep water fish like Ventralis anthias often lower their tank's temp to the low 70's range without issue.

[RayWhisperer]

Caribbean corals will do fine at that temp. It’s close to the low threshold of their temperature tolerance, but within it.

[JoeR]

6 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Sometimes I think people stress too much over temp. I Dive in Florida and the temp fluctuates from around 70-72 degrees in the winter to 86-88 degrees in the summer. No, we don't have SPS growing here, but the gorgs, leathers, 'shrooms, and zoas do well. Maybe try a few hardy corals.

This is kind of how I feel, I think most things in the ocean today are very resilient and are much more adaptable than people give credit. I’m curious what temperature facilities like liveaquaria keep their stock tanks at.

12 hours ago, weston.bechtold said:

A cold water temp does stunt fish and coral growth, but this is because stress and stress in the #1 killer of fish. 78 to 82 is where its at like you said.  The tank sounds interesting Id love to see some pics!

 

I’ll have some up very shortly!

[RayWhisperer]

I’m an old codger, it’s been a long time since I was in school. However, biologists have a term, I seem to remember it being something like radial density. Anyway, the term, whatever it is, is simply a way of describing an organisms living conditions. In the ideal conditions, the organism is abundant. As you get further from those conditions, there are fewer and fewer of the described organism present. Until, once outside of the organisms conditions, none are present. I would imagine 72 degrees might be on the outer limits of most tropical corals, if not, slightly below it. So, at best you could expect limited growth from most species pulled from tropical reefs. By using species collected from the gulf, or the Caribbean, you’d get much better results.

[Subsea]

#10 to what Ray said.

 

I get diver collected live rock uncured from offshore Tampa Bay in 30’ of water.  Temperatures fluctuate and seasons change.  Differrent macros flourish during differrent seasons.  

 

I got a shipment of 100lbs in the middle of September and cured it in three 150G Rubbermade tanks buried in the ground.  During the cure, using 600W of resistive heat temperature  > 68 degrees.  

 

Now that I have removed this rock to inside tanks, I will pursue my original plan to grow live food for marine aquarium in these outside tubs and to evaluate economic feasibility of a sustainable product line for AQR.  For that task, I have lowered operating temperature to 55 degrees.   For macro algae, I have selected Grape Caulerpa, Caulerpa Prolifera and Chaetomorphy.  The mainstay of live food will be Ghost Shrimp, Green Mollies, Sheepshead Minnows and the Pod Brothers, Amphipods & Copepods.  All of the above can be collected at Mustang Island near Corpus Christie.  My younger brother and I gave each other kayaks for Christmas.  We will combine critter collection with fishing the inland grass flats for red fish and trout.

[n00b_nuvo]

consistency is more important

[Wtfareyousmoking]

On 12/22/2017 at 10:26 PM, JoeR said:

With no heater, my pico......       dude    Is this a joke????   Half a gallon? LMFAO      what is this a glass of water?