Water Temp

[minotaur]

I am in the beginning stages of a 29 Gallon SW setup.
My water temp does not want to come down. I have a 100 watt heater, (1) 300 gph power head, wet/dry filter, protein skimmer. Substrate is in the tank, but no LR yet.


I filled it with freshwater to test the equipment and check for leaks. I had the temp stable at 75 Deg F. With the lights on (dual tube with day and blue actinic/solar), temp climbed to 77.

After I replaced the FW with SW, my temp climbed to 78 with the lights off and 80 with them on. I unplugged the heater and have kept the lights off for two (2) days, and the temp is still at 78.

Room temp is 72. No heat near the tank.

My live rock is coming in tomorrow, i was hoping I would have had the temp stabilized by then.

Any ideas? (please don't mention a chiller, my wife already wants to kill me!)

 

[revhtree]

79, 80, or even 81 is a good spot for your temp.

 

[lando]

80 is not bad. I keep both my reefs at 80 degrees.

 

[malkore]

If you can keep it stable at 80, that'll be ok. Due to the warm summer months creeping in, and a 102 year old house with an older A/C, I've started running my lights during the night (from 9pm to about 8am) to prevent the tank from hitting 85 degrees. My only other option is to add a fan to the top, but that requires 2 gallons of top off a day instead of just one.

The joys of reef-keeping

 

[pearsont74]

if it makes u feel better....mine stays at 83....tryin to bring it down with a fan but not sure if it will
i think the PHs and the topoffs will help some
im tryin to aviod gettin a chiller but being in fla...it will be gettin hotter so i dont know if theres hope.

 

[minotaur]

Wow, I guess I'm not in such bad shape after all.

I have read a dozen books or so, and I know that a stable temp out of range is better than a fluctuating temp within range, but I also read that I should shoot for 75 as the optimum temp.

Guess I'll be happy at a stable 78.

Thanks for all of your help!!!

 

[pearsont74]

nah...most reef set ups should be up there around 79-80

it is a hard concept cause if you think about it...in natural oceans...the temp in tropical waters does change...not daily but depending on the season....it could go anywhere from 70 in the winter and up to mid 80s in the summer.

 

[minotaur]

thanks again

 

[Kam]

I was also confused on the "best temp" to use. Sometimes too much reading is a confusing thing. I finally found that most agreed that stability was #1 and that something +/- a couple from 78-80 was preferred. I picked 79. I dont have AC and will be interested to see what happens once summer kicks in Buffalo, NY.

 

[mjvincent]

I was also confused on the "best temp" to use. Sometimes too much reading is a confusing thing. I finally found that most agreed that stability was #1 and that something +/- a couple from 78-80 was preferred. I picked 79. I dont have AC and will be interested to see what happens once summer kicks in Buffalo, NY.

NO AC! 8O I would be in trouble here (suppose to get to 95 today).

 

[Kam]

Buffalo usually only gets into the high 80's. Low 90's is a bad day, but rare. Todays high is 67.