up up and away, temperature question

[drnsee]

Hello,

Well with my tank's lighting upgrade (even with the better fans) I've caught my temp peaking at 83 degrees. I know 84 is certainly an extreme cut off but my real question is should I be setting my heater to perhaps 80 degrees (it's already set at 79). I'm more concerned there is now a 4 degree change from 79 to 83ish. Wouldn't I be creating a more stable environment if the range was just from 80 to 83? Appreciate any personal methods or opinions!

Danny

 

[mathewkofalk]

still new at this but i caught my tank at 87 and heat is at 81 took me a bit to fine tune it but i will prob add a fan in the near future. Just a fill in to what i have had in my tank as far as temp.... no one died so im not sure if its bad to happen a couple time while figuring out ur setup.

 

[Boo]

I currently have my temp fluctuating between 77.9 and 80.6 in winter and 80 to 81 in summer. The critters seem really happy.

One thing I did notice and have read somewhere before is that even though a small fluctuation is better overall the critters are less tolerant of a sudden bigger temp swing then if the normal swing was a little bit bigger.

 

[aj2656]

Hello,

Well with my tank's lighting upgrade (even with the better fans) I've caught my temp peaking at 83 degrees. I know 84 is certainly an extreme cut off but my real question is should I be setting my heater to perhaps 80 degrees (it's already set at 79). I'm more concerned there is now a 4 degree change from 79 to 83ish. Wouldn't I be creating a more stable environment if the range was just from 80 to 83? Appreciate any personal methods or opinions!

Danny

drsee,
It sounds like your not running any colling on the back of your tank and if you dont run a chiller you will need to have some cooling on the back chambers to keep the temp down.
To answer you question directly "yes" smaller temp swings are much better for your tank but in the long run keeping the temp lower is much better for the inhabitants!
I would get a cheep little desk fan for now and lay it blowing down on the back chamber and you will be suprised what a difference it will make in the temp.
You will see an increase in evaporation after adding a fan.
Allen

 

[drnsee]

Nope, no chiller. I have a small and hardy bio load right now. I have so many pods the glass is plagued by them. I decided to raise the temp to 80 on the heater. Hopefully this stabilizes the temp between 81 and 83 (2 degree change). I'll observe how all my critters do. So far, everything, including corals are looking unaffected. I've done some research that reefers actually keep their tanks at 82 with spikes of 85 in the summer. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[drnsee]

drsee,
It sounds like your not running any colling on the back of your tank and if you dont run a chiller you will need to have some cooling on the back chambers to keep the temp down.
To answer you question directly "yes" smaller temp swings are much better for your tank but in the long run keeping the temp lower is much better for the inhabitants!
I would get a cheep little desk fan for now and lay it blowing down on the back chamber and you will be suprised what a difference it will make in the temp.
You will see an increase in evaporation after adding a fan.
Allen

I actually have a lid that seals the tank (a JBJ setup) so it's difficult for me to have a fan blow right on the water; however, I did put a 4" high velocity fan (from walmart nonetheless) sitting on top of the lid, to blow on the lid itself. Amazingly, it has stabilized the temperature and prevented the temp from rising from ~80 (what the digital thermometer claims at least while the lights are off). So thanks for the suggestion!

 

[drnsee]

PS. While the lights were on, the temp barely rose by one degree (81 supposedly[still looking for an accurate thermometer]). Awesome what a cheapo fan blowing on a lid can do!

 

[TimSchmidt]

Nice!