Water Temp

[DM-63]

Hi everyone ,looking for the correct water temp ?

[WV Reefer]

1 hour ago, DM-63 said:

Hi everyone ,looking for the correct water temp ?

I shoot for 75-78.  My tanks settle in around 75° 

[Clown79]

Mine are 78-80

[Reef Aquatics]

Mine is between 79-80.. 

 

I think 75 is slightly on the cool side.

[Seadragon]

I try to shoot for 78, but the Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater ends up giving me 77 due to it's 2 degree increments when locking in your temperature.  Weird that it allows you to set it to 66 or 96, something that I will never do.  I'd rather have 1 degree increments +/- from 78 degrees.

[A.m.P]

There's a pretty big acceptable range honestly, you'll likely not have any issues with animals provided you stay above 72 and below 86. 
There's an enormous thread on R2R where people debated higher-temps to boost coral metabolism, some folks run allot warmer than most are comfortable with.

I keep my own tank at 74, doesn't seem to bother corals and can help with the longevity and health of your fish.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1869167

[Joboo]

I keep mine at 78 but like others have said there is an acceptable range. What's even more important than the actual temp is the ability to keep it consistent. 

[Humblefish]

77-78 is what I shoot for

[DM-63]

thanks everyone ,

[mcarroll]

Depends what you're keeping. 

 

Tropical corals and fish (lots of what is available) will probably do better in the mid-to-upper 80's -- even the lower 90's....the slower metabolism they get from lower temperatures will make them more susceptible to pests, diseases and other problems.  Cooler is not better for these guys.

 

Critters from more temperate areas like the Caribbean, Hawaii and Australia will do better in the mid-to-upper 70's....

 

Critters from cooler areas will need water in the lower 70's or even 60's....

[A.m.P]

Supposedly the colder water can help tropical fish with disease, provided it isn't cold enough to cause them stress. It's one of the issues with running mixed reefs and probably why most shoot for mid to upper 70's; some of the fish we prefer to keep in mixed reefs are used to winter temps that can drop down to the 60's or lower and keeping them hot can crush their lifespan and cause metabolic-issues, on the flip-side most corals we keep which aren't explicitly-from cooler reefs in the pacific or, in some cases, the gulf might be adversely-effected by low-temperatures (causing slower-growth, more susceptibility to water-params/disease, etc.).
Others might struggle in warmer temperatures, preliminary-research shows an odd kind of diminishing-return where, IIRC, corals more readily adapt to warmer-water in the short-term but have a low-ceiling and vulnerability to swings, whereas they can, in the long-term, permanently-adapt to cooler waters and still handle temperature-swings.

There are definitely some very real advantages to biotopes.

[Seadragon]

One other consideration... for optimal Coralline algae growth, the tank temperature is recommended to be between 78-82 degrees.  Coralline will grow slower in tanks with temperatures less than 78 degrees.  Source: Atlantic Reef Conservation (ARC Reef)

 

I'm noticing decent growth myself at 77 degrees.  But, if the temperatures are kept too low and this is something you care about, you may not see much growth at all if any assuming that you seeded your tank with Coralline algae to begin with.

[A.m.P]

Save your equipment, keep it cold =p

[mcarroll]

15 hours ago, Amphrites said:

tropical

You are describing subtropical such as those from Hawaii the Caribbean and Australia.

 

Look up what water temperatures are like around Indonesia for example.

 

15 hours ago, Seadragon said:

Coralline will grow slower in tanks with temperatures less than 78 degrees.  Source: Atlantic Reef Conservation (ARC Reef)

The Atlantic is not tropical though. What about coral and algae from the Pacific around Indonesia for example?

 

(upper 70s or lower 80s is probably a good compromise though.)

 

This is actually one of the big downsides of us not knowing where very much of our livestock specifically comes from – we can't even try to target the right temperatures in many many cases.

[Snow_Phoenix]

If you're doing corals from Indo-Pac region, aim for 25'C to 28'C. Anything <22'C or >30'C will cause issues. 

[A.m.P]

Snow has first-hand experience with the animal's and regions in question lol, it's also worth noting that winter temps in some indo reefs do indeed fall below 70F, especially in deeper water.

 

But I was primarily referring to subtropical climates, they're the only regions I have direct experience in/with.

[mcarroll]

I've never seen anybody keep corals outside of those temperatures in an aquarium, but I did keep my aquarium at 82.9° for around five years until I upgraded from halide lighting. No issues there for what it's worth.  But I accidentally left my heaters stay off after maintenance once a few weeks ago and the temperature dropped to 71.1 according to my thermometers and I lost a very large colony.  

[A.m.P]

Yeah, sudden swings are never good, hot or cold. From what I've been able to read it seems corals actually do better with things swinging-hot rather than the other way around as well, awful to hear about the colony...