"right" temperature?

[Anonymous]

although walt smith is definitely a 'dumb coral farmer'

(his very own words!)



anyone see his new version of fiji 'miracle mud' yet??!!!!! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

although walt smith is definitely a 'dumb coral farmer'

I think not obviously but his statement has assisted the idea that going from cool to hot is a lot more damaging that going from warm to hot.

 

[Anonymous]

doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that ANY great change in any parameter will always have a greater effect on the inhabitants than a smaller change will whether for better, or worse


and i was just teasing walt, because of his new 'miracle' product, which is abit too 'weiss-esque' for me to take even remotely seriously

 

[ChrisRD]

From the National Oceanographic Data Center's site:

 

[delbeek]

any CONSTANT temp up to 84-85° should be just fine and dandy-it's above 84-85 that the dissolved O2 content begins to drop, anything up to that point just increases metabolism-as long as the energy input (food, light) matches the increase-no probem at all

Sorry but the above makes no sense ... oxygen levels are inversely related to temperature ... as temp goes up [O2] goes down ... it doesn't just start to drop after a certain temp is reached.

One myth that needs to be addressed is that the reef is fixed at one temperature. This is most definitely incorrect ... there are seasonal temperature variations on just about any reef you care to mention ... this does not include "hot" spots or cold water upwellings, which can occur at any time. I find it ironic that those who mandate that reef tanks should be kept at 82 or 84 since this is "natural" seem to imply that one keep it there which is most certainly NOT "natural".

If one is going to argue that we need to "mimic" nature, you can't pick and choose which factors you will "mimic" and ignore others; they ALL work together in a synergistic manner in my opinion. To advocate keeping high temps but ignoring the other factors e.g. water motion, species composition, light levels, nutritional levels, water chemistry, and daily/seasonal variations in ALL of these is missing the forest for the trees ... you are going to get variable results ... hence, those that seem to be able to keep high temp systems and those that cannot.

[getting off soapbox]

JCD

 

[K9coral]

78-82

 

[Bojangles]

Mine stays around 80-82 as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, we cannot mimic nature 100%. It would be easier if we could. The temperature fluctuations that occur in nature would and do give us problems in our tanks. Our tanks are smaller, so the fluctuations are faster and have more negative effects. Certainly, none of us would advocate fluctuating the temperature in our tanks in order to be more natural, since we have all at least figured out that ich usually accompanies such things....but hey, parasitism is also natural :lol:

I think the best advice is to find the temp that works best with your particular corals and tank, and keep it stable. Personally, I have experienced all temps. The same species of coral in a tank at 78 will do just as well in a tank of 84, given all other parameters are taken care of. I am not about to count centimetres of growth per hour for comparison, I figure a healthy coral growing at relatively decent rate should be good enough for most of us to be happy with.

 

[delbeek]

Unfortunately, we cannot mimic nature 100%. It would be easier if we could. The temperature fluctuations that occur in nature would and do give us problems in our tanks. Our tanks are smaller, so the fluctuations are faster and have more negative effects. Certainly, none of us would advocate fluctuating the temperature in our tanks in order to be more natural, since we have all at least figured out that ich usually accompanies such things....but hey, parasitism is also natural

Which is exactly my point ... if we can not mimic nature 100%, then advocating keeping temps in the mid-80s as some do, is placing a coral under stress when it is already being kept in an "unnatural" environment and it may not be able to deal with it in the same manner that they can in the wild.

There is nothing wrong with SEASONAL temperature fluctuations (which is what I am talking about) ... increased or decreased over weeks, rapid fluctuations should be avoided for the obvious reasons. Natural seasonal temperature changes are an important cue for many reef organisms for breeding.

----
JCD

 

[Unarce]

It's also important to remember that our tanks are not the ocean.

Matt,

Do you remember if it was Paletta that told us 76° was the average? He wished it was around 80°, so that the divers could stay down there longer.

 

[delbeek]

Since Mr. Paletta has never dove in the south Pacific, I wonder how he knows this? :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

It's also important to remember that our tanks are not the ocean.

Matt,

Do you remember if it was Paletta that told us 76° was the average? He wished it was around 80°, so that the divers could stay down there longer.

Karl,

Dunno. I missed Mike's talk. :?

 

[Unarce]

Doh, I thought you were at that one.

You could be right, delbeek. Might have been Steve (cortezmarine) that said that.

 

[EVO]

I got hilides about 3 months ago... first thing that happened was my water was regularily getting into the mid 80s. I noticed that I had to buffer the dKh constantly and the fish were getting spots. I treated the fish with copper in a QT tank and got a chiller. Since then I'e been running about 77 constantly. I don't have to buffer dKh so much, water looks cleaner, fish have no spots Only think I notice is the green polyps arn't open as much. I think I prefer the water being stable at the lower temp.