Need Help with Bleaching Corals

[cameron]

I am suprised about the temp fluctuations. I run two 250 MHs, 4 22w T5s, and 2 36w T5s in an enclosed canopy and my temp has yet to get above 79. I know when the house temp and humidity rise in the later months that is going to change, but I have no problem keeping my temp within a degree with just two Vantec fans blowing in.

What lights and fans are you guys running to get these temp swings?

 

[maveri9720]

Cameron, where at is your tank in your home? What's the temp there?

I have a 16" tall canopy with an open back with 1/4" slots above the MH's to vent the air, along with 2 x 5" fans, each blowing 105cfm across the top of my tank, a stand that is open in the back, 2 x 250w MH 14k's w/2 x 110w VHO's with 2 external pumps and 2 Tunze 6000's in tank.

All this in a 120g with a 30g sump, only using about 20g of it, in my living room, which at this time is around 68-70 degrees. The tank also gets late afternoon sun.

Not sure how you keep your temp so low, unless your tank is in a basement or something, or unless you have alot more volume than I do.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Cameron wrote: I am suprised about the temp fluctuations. I run two 250 MHs, 4 22w T5s, and 2 36w T5s in an enclosed canopy and my temp has yet to get above 79. I know when the house temp and humidity rise in the later months that is going to change, but I have no problem keeping my temp within a degree with just two Vantec fans blowing in.

What lights and fans are you guys running to get these temp swings?

I run 2X250 DE, 1X400 DE, and 4X96 PC. I have a small fan blowing on the sump, and the lighting fixture has fans in it, but In the summer, I have one channel of my AC blowing right into the back of the cabinet, so temp is less an issue then. Actually, my worst temp problems are in Spring and Fall, when the A/C may not be running, but the temps can still be reasonable warm.

 

[cameron]

My 120g with 30g sump gets no direct light but it is right in the living room. Temp is usually 70ish and in summers 75ish. I put my RK II on 78 and the fans come on at 78.5. I do run an open eggcrate top inside the canopy. I figure in the Spring and Summer months my temps will rise, but hopefully the chiller sitting in my garage from the PowerBuy will handle that.

 

[maveri9720]

I have my RKII kick the fans on at 80.5. If I set it lower, I am sure I could keep a more stable temp, but anywhere from 77-82 is normal. Also, I side with the people that say if you have some fluctuations in your temp on a daily basis, it makes your tank hardier. So when something does happen, ie heater failure, fan failure, extremely hot day, your tank won't stress out as bad and are more apt to survive, as opposed to people who keep their tank with a 1 degree variance all the time.

 

[kelly3341]

What is an RKII?

 

[maveri9720]

Sorry about that. It's a ReefKeeper II. It's a controller made by Digital Aquatics and it can control alot of things for your tank. Basically, it's a powerstrip with an interface that you can use to turn sockets on and off based on different parameters, such as temp, Ph, timed, etc.

 

[dakota]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish and your corals. Hopefully all are well on the way to a full recovery.

I've always been amazed at how well my corals recover from my mistakes. And almost all of them have suffered from my lack of experience. Most of them have proven themselves tough enough to withstand this hobby's incredibly steep learning curve.

To tell the truth, I just glanced over to see that my Biocube 8 is at 76 degrees, and the heater is still unplugged from a water change on Monday night. I dialed the temp back to 77 degrees, plugged it in, and now the tank reads 78.7 degrees. So much for a gradual increse back to 80 degrees over a few days. Sigh.....

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[cameron]

Maveri9720 wrote: I have my RKII kick the fans on at 80.5. If I set it lower, I am sure I could keep a more stable temp, but anywhere from 77-82 is normal. Also, I side with the people that say if you have some fluctuations in your temp on a daily basis, it makes your tank hardier. So when something does happen, ie heater failure, fan failure, extremely hot day, your tank won't stress out as bad and are more apt to survive, as opposed to people who keep their tank with a 1 degree variance all the time.

I am not going to debate this subject since I haven't read the references to making fish hardier by allowing a 5 degree temp swing. I can say that virtually every expert (as in they wrote a book) I have read encourages a max 1-3 degree swing and no more than 1 degree per hour.

That said, I am quickly learning that what the experts believe and what really works are two different things. Definitely a voodoo to all this.