Ideal water temperature? - Reef aquarium temp and dr. shimek

W

Whit

[Hi,

My name is Whit and I am an "intermediate" level reef aquarist. I noticed that there are a lot of books for sale by Dr. Ron Shimek and, being pretty new to the hobby, was wondering what most people think of him.

The reason I ask is that the first real "reef" book I bought was "The Coral Reef Aquarium" by Dr. Shimek and I basically built up my first big tank (100g) according to his advice. Quoting from p. 67 of that book, Dr. Shimek wrote:

"Numerous scientific studies have shown that coral grows most rapidly in water temperatures ranging from 82 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit. All coral reef algae and animals thrive at that temperature range, and it is ideal for the home aquarium."

Not knowing any better at the time I followed the advice of this author and set my heater to 83 degrees. This seemed fine up until the point when my tank matured enough to start adding corals and other inverts. Temperature aside, my water quality was and remains pristine...nothing but RO/DI water with Instant Ocean salt, no ammonia, no nitrite, just a trace of nitrate, no copper, pH right at 8.2, alkalinity in ideal range, scheduled trace elements, and calcium maintained at about 420 mg/l with a Kalkwasser drip. I do 10% water changes religiously every week. I use the "natural" filtration method and have plenty of cured, cultured live rock, a 3 to 4 inch deep sand bed with plenty of "critters", and a 30g sump tank with a good foam fractionator. I don't have metal halides, but power compacts and VHOs out the wazzoo in a balance of daylight and blue actinic...plenty of wattage, I am told, to support anything save clams and a few other light-greedy species.

I only have 6 small fish in this 100g tank (all very reef safe), and no fish have died since the early stages of cycling. So after 9-12 months maturity I started adding coral, one at a time, picking what are supposed to be the easiest to keep...pulsing Xenias (3 of them in all at $25 to $35 a pop), a gorgonian (about $45), mushrooms (relatively inexpensive, and some simple sea mats and polyp colonies. Except for the polyps, which were still looking like they were in shock, everything died within two weeks of addition. And yes, I practice thorough acclimation procedures and researched the lighting and water current preferences of each.

Finally, I started adding to my library and noticed that everyone else was saying that temperatures above 78 degrees over extended time periods is pretty much lethal to all corals in home aquaria. I followed this up by asking all of my local LFS contacts what temp they try to maintain. Again...78 degrees max. I told them all about what Dr. Shimek recommended and they were shocked. So I ratcheted down the heater and started monitoring the water temp both mechanically and digitally to ensure that the temp ranged between 75 and 78 degrees. Whaddayaknow...no more dying corals. They are all doing great now.

I figure this cost me about $300 not including the expense and time of preparing the proper invert food, and cost the corals their lives.

So what's the deal? Why does he suggest this apparently ridiculous temperature? Has anyone else out there ever maintained a healthy reef tank at 83 degrees?

Disgruntled Reef Keeper in Texas]
 
[Temp does not sound like your problem. Ideal temp is largely opinion but I keep mine at 80-82 and I know many many sucessful tanks that run in that range! 83 would not be to high in my opinion unless your heater was allowing it to get up to at least 86.

So basically I'm saying I have no clue :p but I would not think temp was the only factor here.]
 
[Hi Whit,

Welcome to the board. I at one time maintained a very healthy reef aquarium where the temperature ranged on a daily basis from 81 to 83 degrees. No chiller on this tank, heat from lights and pumps maintained this temp range with very little assistance from my heater. Over the course of 2 years It was a very successful reef tank. I currently keep a chiller on my current tanks, and maintain an average temp of 78.3 degrees. My controller turns the chiller on at 79.2 and the heater on at 77.6.
You termed Xenia, and grogorian as easy to maintain corals, but I do not agree. Those are both very difficult corals. The grogorian is a pure filter feeder, and if not fed regularly will shurely perish.
I hope this helps to any degree for you.

Kevin

PS: Is it possible that you might have some unwanted critters devouring your prized corals?]



Edited By chevytrks on 1110687084
 
[My tank currently runs at about 82 deg. In the summer I expect it to creep up to 84 or so. So far no problems with SPS, LPS or soft corals. I can't comment about the growth rate. Stability is more important that absolute value as long as you don't get too high in temperature. I once had my tank reach 90 for a couple of days. The tang developed ick and the corals closed up but nothing died. I'm sure that if I hadn't remedied it, something would have though.

This is just anectdoal (sp?) evidence. Every tank is different. Most people that I know of try to keep 84 deg as their high value.

I agree with keith that you had some other problem and not temperature. Or maybe it was temperature but it was fluctuating a lot over the course of the day.]
 
[If the temperature you say the tank was at, was the only problem. There would be no corals a live in any tropical reef. Which in the summer time almost every one has water temperature that high or higher. It was not the constant water temperature of 84 doing any damage. Now if you were going from 84 during the day, to 78 at night. Then you had a problem, but it was the constant temperature swing, not the high point. Maybe now you have the high being 78 during the day, you are not getting the wide swing daily that you were. :idea:]
 
[For years I did my best to keep my tank at 78F. Over time, I gradually worked my way up to 80F with good results.

Last year I bought a Ritteri anemone, and was told I needed to keep the tank at 85F with lots of flow. 85F!!! Here's another heat loving beast:
http://melevsreef.com/id/gigantea.html

So I tried it for about 2 weeks, and the reef did fine. However, the anemone did not survive, and I was happy to bring the tank back down in temperature. I try to keep the tank between 80 and 82F daily. It varies a tad.

Now, something that does come to mind is that you stated you set the heater to 83F. I have yet to find a heater that can be set to the temperature you want and have it match. I've had heaters turn off at 80F when they were set at 72-73F. I'm wondering if your tank has gotten hotter than you thought.]
 
[I agree with the prevoius posts. I have tried to keep my tank below 80* and I can not. It maintains 80* - 82* and it seems all is fine.
I am going to have to really watch it this summer, but as of now I have no outside means to cool it (Fans, Chiller ect) so anything I add this summer should help.
My first tank I was able to maintain 78* - 80* and it was fine also.
Still no help to you just my .02]
 
[When i added a chiller to my tank and reduced my avg temp by 2-3 deg the majority of my zoos colors washed out, so I've bumped it back up and they're recovering now. Trial and error when it comes to temp imo.]
 
[I, too, always aim for 80. It gets to 82 at night.

I'm also going to have to add more fans this summer.

I can't imagine that the ocean would get to 85 in the deeper water, where the corals are, though. That seems a little high to me. But then, I've only been along the shore, and I suppose it depends on where the CORALS are from.]
 
[Welcome to the board :)

I think 77-78 is ideal. 80 is fine. I wouldn't go much higher then 82 as a constant. A lot will depend on the type or coral you want to keep, a coral found at 60 feet will likely require a cooler temperature then one found in a shallow lagoon on the equator. I have been diving in the Caribbean, in summer, and the water was only about 76-77. A lot of variables. Then again the ocean isn't an aquarium. At 88 in an aquarium there would be much less dissolved O2 in the water.

In this hobby its best to get as much info as you can, from as many sources as you can, and dig through the BS, outdated materials, and marketting. Then decide what you think is the right choice. Keep in mind, a HUGE part of this hobby is still "unknown" and happens via magic.

I prefer Bob Fenner, Anthony Calfo and crew. Some of the people they have answering thier email have given what I thought to be bad advice, but in my opinion anything by Bob, Anthony, or Steven Pro is sound advice, all have been keeping aquariums for 20+ years professionally, in the industry. Not on an island studying inverts in the ocean and teaching zoology, BIG difference there IMO. Both very useful in thier own respects, it depends what type of advice you want and what you want to know.

Check out
http://www.reef.crc.org.au/discove....apt.htm]
 
[i was just at the Shedd aquarium the other day, and noticed that mot of their display reeftanks run at 75'F, and are very very nice!
:cool grin:]
 
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