Is my tank running too hot?

[froodyzoa]

Since I switched tanks and actually started running the heater, the temp has been hovering around 82 degrees. I have an aqueon mini heater for a two gallon reef tank (fairly new). I know this is on the hotter end, but the mushroom, Duncan, and palys all seem fine, with the exception of a bleached zoa colony from a different stress event. Should I invest in a new heater, leave it be, or cut it off entirely?

[Thrassian Atoll]

I think the biggest thing is just making sure it’s stable.  Is it staying at 82 all day and night?  Are you testing the temp with multiple temp probes?

[froodyzoa]

5 minutes ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

I think the biggest thing is just making sure it’s stable.  Is it staying at 82 all day and night?  Are you testing the temp with multiple temp probes?

Not multiple temp probes, but it does seem stable in the morning and afternoon. 

[Elizabeth94]

Personally that is a bit high. I run my tanks at 78. I like to leave some room incase the tank unexpectedly overheats in the summer.   Kind of a buffer. 
 

Im sure there are people that run their tanks in the 80s.m with success. But I though I read somewhere that 84 is the temp that starts killing things. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

24 minutes ago, froodyzoa said:

Not multiple temp probes, but it does seem stable in the morning and afternoon. 

When I setup my apex I like to use multiple temp probes to get the average temperature.  I have had heaters say my temp was 85 when in reality it was 78 with other thermometers or temp probes.  I actually have 2 of the same digital thermometers that are 1.5 degrees different.  It’s just safe getting an average of a few but as long s it’s stable it should be fine, but you don’t want it to get any warmer than you are.

[froodyzoa]

59 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Personally that is a bit high. I run my tanks at 78. I like to leave some room incase the tank unexpectedly overheats in the summer.   Kind of a buffer. 
 

Im sure there are people that run their tanks in the 80s.m with success. But I though I read somewhere that 84 is the temp that starts killing things. 

If I did want to lower the temp by shutting off the heater or getting a smaller one, would I do that all at once? Would the temp change be too sudden?

[Thrassian Atoll]

1 minute ago, froodyzoa said:

If I did want to lower the temp by shutting off the heater or getting a smaller one, would I do that all at once? Would the temp change be too sudden?

So your heater is either on or off?  No adjustment?

[Elizabeth94]

Sounds like you need a temp controller. I recommend the Inkbird. But make sure you get the one with the black rubber probe. Cant get it on amazon. 

[froodyzoa]

46 minutes ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

So your heater is either on or off?  No adjustment?

Unfortunately yes, I may follow the advice on here and get a controller

[Thrassian Atoll]

3 minutes ago, froodyzoa said:

Unfortunately yes, I may follow the advice on here and get a controller

Yeah, inkbirds are pretty cheap.

[Candymancan]

Temps in the oceon arent stable they can change in the shallows at night and heat up in the day.

 

Also the average temps in the great barrier reef are in the mid 80s..  with temps getting to 86+ sometimes.

 

I keep my tank around 80f but during the summer they can get to 84-86 and i dont really pay attention to it.  I rarely check temperatures.

[Candymancan]

2 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Personally that is a bit high. I run my tanks at 78. I like to leave some room incase the tank unexpectedly overheats in the summer.   Kind of a buffer. 
 

Im sure there are people that run their tanks in the 80s.m with success. But I though I read somewhere that 84 is the temp that starts killing things. 

 

 

Youre wrong on all accounts. Dont spread missinformation.  Please its like the plague in this hobby.

 

78f is near winter temps in the great barrier reef.  And 86f is the average summer temps.    

 

In fact this youtube channle updates weekly on the great barrier reef temperatures and so forth.

 

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Isn’t the Great Barrier Reef dying from increased water temps?

[Elizabeth94]

2 hours ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

Isn’t the Great Barrier Reef dying from increased water temps?

 Yes! 
 

 

2 hours ago, Candymancan said:

 

 

Youre wrong on all accounts. Dont spread missinformation.  Please its like the plague in this hobby.

 

78f is near winter temps in the great barrier reef.  And 86f is the average summer temps.    

 

In fact this youtube channle updates weekly on the great barrier reef temperatures and so forth.

 

 

Sorry sir, but I think you need to check up on how things are going in actual articles. Not youtube. 
 

In fact if you like Reef Builders, they suggest a temperature of 77f as well. 

[DSA65PRO]

Why don’t you get an Aquaeon 50 watt preset. It’s set at 78F, they are small, I have two 50 watt and one 150 watt, and the temperatures vary from 77.2 F to 78.4 F over several days of checking. BTW If you have a submersible pump, and say it’s 23 watts, you are putting 23 watts of heat into the aquarium, whenever it is running. 

[A.m.P]

Neither or both of you are wrong, take your pick, people run tanks down to almost 72 and up past 84 - there was a featured article a few years back by a major coral farm which insisted the "ideal temp" was 82-84.

 

There are multiple enormous threads on R2R about this issue and a surprising number of folks have success with tanks much warmer than most would feel comfortable with.

 

That said rapid swings in either direction have a penchant for killing corals, corals can supposedly grow faster in higher temperatures but better-adapt over time to cooler temperatures which give them more room for warm-swings without damage.

 

A few of the often overlooked major contributors to bleaching events are spikes in P04 and N03 from runoff or storm currents and ocean acidification, both of which can cause more damage far more quickly than reasonable temperature swings. (Though the latter may contribute to the spread of disease)

 

@ The OP, 82 is okay but I wouldn't personally let it get too much hotter and if the issue is with your heater it's definitely best to correct the problem before it gets more out-of-hand.

 

 

Here's a bigger, but older thread with some context and successful tanks, the cold water bit was from a study which is likely easily found on Google still.

 

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

[mcarroll]

Why temperature is important in the first place?

 

Temperature is extremely important to almost every organism.

 

Corals (for one example) dispose of excess light as heat in order to prevent sun damage. 

 

If water temps are too hot, then there's no place for the coral's waste heat to go and this aspect of light acclimation becomes less useful or even completely useless to them.  They then have to rely on other less capable, more energy intensive mechanisms to prevent light damage, which may impact their well being.

 

The GBR is a cooler reef, not entirely tropical, much like Hawaii.

 

You can see the location of the GBR (map, below right), and its position in the ocean (map, below left).....at it's top edge, it's just on hot zone and at it's southern edge it ends at 30 deg lat. where cool, temperate waters technically begin.

 

You can also see Hawaii in the northern edge of the hot band off the left coast of the USA/Mexico. 

 

Temps in Hawaii and the GBR may PEAK in the mid-80's....higher temps are very exceptional and why corals there have such a tough time with bleaching when temp's go over that...they aren't adapted for the hot water like corals in the Coral triangle (or even corals from the Caribbean) seem to be.

 

That NOAA map tops out at 94 degrees F in the red zones, BTW.  The GBR appears to be in a zone that's +/- 75 degrees F. 

 

 

 

Really tropical reefs peak from the mid-to-high 80's, even into the low 90's (in deg F).

 

You can see the Coral Triangle in this picture...and comparing with the world map above, you can see it's more or less smack in the middle of the hot zone.

 

 

 

(Hope that made sense....sorry it's so long.)

[Candymancan]

12 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said:

 Yes! 
 

 

Sorry sir, but I think you need to check up on how things are going in actual articles. Not youtube. 
 

In fact if you like Reef Builders, they suggest a temperature of 77f as well. 

 

No they arent really dying due to temperatures. Their dying due to acidicty in the oceans, they are turning acidic and ph has dropped almost 2 points in most areas, theyre are also reefs dying due to lack of flow in some areas where macroalgae has taken over.  Pests are also killing corals.  Vermitid snails in the wild are killing corals.  Look it up   Also The youtube channle i linked is an offical channle from australia of scientists who monitor the great barrier reef.  If you took the time to learn anything youd know.

 

77f is on the low end.  Sorry ill listen to scientists and look at stastistics from the actual ocean over what some coral seller recomends.  Im also going by years and years of average hot and cold temperatures.   In the fall and winter months the GBR is 75f.  In the summer its in the 86f range, with a median temp of 80f

 

Also i have 70+ corals in my tank.  Half are sps and non have (died) from temps in the 86f range in the summer.  My 135g tank is in my bedroom on my 3rd lvl of my house so its always hot up here.  Never had a coral bleach.