Temp Question

[Koddie Doo]

I have been running my tank at 78-79 degrees. I spent a couple min. looking up what LiveAqua says my fish temperature ranges. And all the fish I have ever supposed to be between 72 and 78 degrees.

What besides electricity would be advantages of lowering my temperature a couple degrees?


Am I really going to notice a difference if I drop at the Max temp to be 76°?

[Andrew D]

in my experience, no, unless you want to keep such things as seahorses which require lower temperatures. Fish metabolism slows with cooler temperatures, so you don't have to feed as much although I'm not sure how much of a difference 2 degrees makes. The biggest advantage is that cooler regular temperatures gives you more of a buffer against the temperature spike caused by an errant heater or higher ambient temperatures in the summer.

[thegrun]

After years of keeping my tanks at a minimum of 78 degrees I decided to let the tanks drop to 75 two winters ago at the advice of three trusted friends, two of which are Tank of the Month recipients. Their argument is why spend the money needlessly heating a tank to 78 when your fish and corals will do fine at lower temperatures. They let their tanks drop to 74 in the winter, but I chose 75 degrees. I have not seen any changes in the corals (SPS dominated mixed reef with a wide variety of corals). My clown fish do seem to breed a little less frequently in the winter with the cooler water, but honestly I see that as a good thing.

[snorvich]

Increase dissolved oxygen. I keep mine at 75F

[cloak]

My tank varies between 76-85 throughout the year without any problems... Stability is key, but I've been to Hawaii a few times and is goes from hot to cold in the blink of an eye sometimes. (pockets here, pockets there) Go figure...

[jmm]

Went from 78° to 74° and noticed much less evaporation.

[billdogg]

After years of keeping my tanks at a minimum of 78 degrees I decided to let the tanks drop to 75 two winters ago at the advice of three trusted friends, two of which are Tank of the Month recipients. Their argument is why spend the money needlessly heating a tank to 78 when your fish and corals will do fine at lower temperatures. They let their tanks drop to 74 in the winter, but I chose 75 degrees. I have not seen any changes in the corals (SPS dominated mixed reef with a wide variety of corals). My clown fish do seem to breed a little less frequently in the winter with the cooler water, but honestly I see that as a good thing.

Increase dissolved oxygen. I keep mine at 75F

Went from 78° to 74° and noticed much less evaporation.

All of the above. 75-76 for me year around

[cloak]

Just out of curiosty, are you afraid of the variation? There are limits, no doubt, but a world standing still is just that, standing still... JMO, GL.

[cloak]

Increase dissolved oxygen. I keep mine at 75F

Just out of curiosity, (again) what are the limits? (+/-) Different, but the same?

[Koddie Doo]

Went from 78° to 74° and noticed much less evaporation.

Anything else?

[jmm]

Anything else?

I went over 40 years of salt water aquarium keeping without a heater. I only recently started using them and one of them shorted out, shocked the bejeezus out of me and caused my fish to lose color and hide. I removed the heater and the fish got their color back and stopped hiding. The temperature dropped from 78° to 74° and was stable (central heat and air). The ATO has to be refilled less often and I don't notice anything different about fish behavior. One less electrical plug, one less thing to go wrong, one less thing to worry about.