Inverts temperature

[pinda]

I have a 55g tank. During the day the temperature is usually between 80 - 82 degress. Is this too hot to have inverts such as shrimp in my tank?

 

[melosu58]

No it is not too Hot. The name of the game when it comes to temps is stability. I keep my tank at 74-75 degrees all day long. You will have just as good results if you keep yours stable at 82 degrees all day long. Where is not as important as stable.

 

[chizzle]

When we first started our tank we kept our temp. between 80-82 & couldn't figure out why our snails werent living more than a few days. Someone suggested temp & we now keep it around 75. Needless to say our snails are now going strong. HTH

 

[pinda]

So far I have 2 conflicting explanations. I will try one snail and see how that goes.

 

[chizzle]

I think melosu was referring to just the shrimp part of the question, because I think melosu was actually the person that suggested to me to lower my temp. when dealing with the snail issue.

But, as stated before, stability is the most important. Our tank is on the second floor with MHs for lighting & in order to keep our temp stable (& lower), we have to use two table-side fans on either side of the tank, blowing over the surface. In addition, VA weather doesnt help any. One day you need the AC on full blast & the next you need the heat on

 

[Ziggy953]

I'm with you on the wonderful weather of VA...Warrenton here..

The name of the game is stability...78-82 is a good range for a reef tank, but as you can see people have success at the low and high end of that scale. Me personaly, my tank stays at about 80.

 

[tecwzrd]

Shrimp/hermits/Sea Stars will do fine at that temp but snails in particular IME do better at temps maintained below 80 degrees. Non of the inverts tolerate rapid changes though in temp/ph/sg and personally I wouldn't add shrimp till your tank is at least 3+ months old and make sure you drip acclimate all inverts for 2+ hours before adding to the main. Or better yet a QT for 6 weeks to avoid ich which inverts aren't affected by but can carry into the main.

 

[melosu58]

I think melosu was referring to just the shrimp part of the question, because I think melosu was actually the person that suggested to me to lower my temp. when dealing with the snail issue.

Yes I did recommend that for snails and that is true IMO but I was speaking on the tank in general when I answered the first time. There are some warm water snails out there too. When it comes to tank temps in general. They can be from 72 to wherever just as long as they are stable.

 

[tangster]

No it is not too Hot. The name of the game when it comes to temps is stability. I keep my tank at 74-75 degrees all day long. You will have just as good results if you keep yours stable at 82 degrees all day long. Where is not as important as stable.

what's the total fluctuation over 24 hours. A two degree temp variation is ok--again I agree with everyone else--its the total variation that might be a problem.
FYI the average temperature of sea water around a reef is 85%.
No one has every been able to give me a satisfactory answer why 78 became the norm for our tanks---other then it works 8) ---and experiene is the best teacher.
Tangster

 

[melosu58]

I just try to maintain my tank where it will remain stable. It stays stable around 75 degrees so that`s where we keep it at. To me where is not as important as stable.

 

[pinda]

[qoute]
what's the total fluctuation over 24 hours. A two degree temp variation is ok--again I agree with everyone else--its the total variation that might be a problem.
FYI the average temperature of sea water around a reef is 85%.
No one has every been able to give me a satisfactory answer why 78 became the norm for our tanks---other then it works 8) ---and experiene is the best teacher.
Tangster[/quote]
I will try one crab since my fluctuation is only 2 degress. I am currently floating a bottle during the day to keep it that way though.

 

[tecwzrd]

FYI the average temperature of sea water around a reef is 85%.

True that generally reef temperatures can get seasonally higher than what we keep our tanks but with increased heat it's also harder to control other water parameters in a closed environment which isn't an issue in the vast ocean thus the reason why the majority of saltwater literature recommends temperatures in the range of 75-82 degrees.

No one has every been able to give me a satisfactory answer why 78 became the norm for our tanks---other then it works 8)

High temperatures stress the tanks stock in several ways.

First, as the water temperature rises, less oxygen is able to stay in solution, and so the dissolved oxygen concentration in the aquarium water decreases.

Second, the increase in temperature speeds up the metabolism of all organisms present in the system, which can lead to illness and other secondary complications.

Third, if the temperature rises too high (in extreme cases), proteins that make up the cells of organisms can actually begin to denature, or "unravel", which should be inherently avoided.

 

[MT79]

FWIW when things hit ~90 very bad things can start happening very fast, in aquariums at least. The ideal temp for a reef IMO is ~77-82, w/ <2 degree fluctuation daily.
What type of lighting do you have that you need to use cool water bottles already to maintain temp? Is it very warm where you are? There should be a much better option(s) for you, just need some info. Filling out the "my info" button would help us.

 

[pinda]

I am from the caribbean and it gets about 82F daily. It hardly ever gets into the 90s hardly. I am just making sure that in case it gets too hot that it does not go overboard.

 

[MT79]

Ahh, ok. I was assuming you were in the US. It must be nice to be surrounded by tropical ocean! Best of luck to you.

 

[pinda]

Yup it is really nice, I know I have the ocean in my backyard but still wanted one in my house too.