Cali Kid Corals

Garage Coral Farm & 10' Reef Tank

Let us know how you manage heat this summer! Chiller?
Got Cody hooked on halides with my tank, with SPS dominant tanks heat isn’t as big of a worry as many think. Calcification occurs faster in higher temperatures, my garage at times gets toasty, water temp can rise up to 82 degrees. If I start to creep up more than that I kick on fans and if I’m home I have 15 rodi bottles of frozen water ready to plop in the sump to curb the heat. Light research has shown that SPS corals can take up to 85 degree temps if acclimated slowly to those levels. Will I run it that high…no but it makes me feel good knowing that at 82 I still have a little bit of wiggle room.
 

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Got Cody hooked on halides with my tank, with SPS dominant tanks heat isn’t as big of a worry as many think. Calcification occurs faster in higher temperatures, my garage at times gets toasty, water temp can rise up to 82 degrees. If I start to creep up more than that I kick on fans and if I’m home I have 15 rodi bottles of frozen water ready to plop in the sump to curb the heat. Light research has shown that SPS corals can take up to 85 degree temps if acclimated slowly to those levels. Will I run it that high…no but it makes me feel good knowing that at 82 I still have a little bit of wiggle room.

Dr. Palumbi, who works at Stanford, does some cool research on coral bleaching, looking at particularly heat-resistant corals, whether corals can acclimate, etc.

In this heat stress experiment, his control tanks - no bleaching - are run at a stable 30c (86f) and his heated tanks peak at 34.5c (94f). I think people are more worried than they need to be about thermal bleaching in hobbyist tanks, especially when they're indoors and you have some basic precautions like a fan or frozen water bottle

 
Dr. Palumbi, who works at Stanford, does some cool research on coral bleaching, looking at particularly heat-resistant corals, whether corals can acclimate, etc.

In this heat stress experiment, his control tanks - no bleaching - are run at a stable 30c (86f) and his heated tanks peak at 34.5c (94f). I think people are more worried than they need to be about thermal bleaching in hobbyist tanks, especially when they're indoors and you have some basic precautions like a fan or frozen water bottle

Exactly, this actually makes me really feel better now and maybe bump my worry meter up to about 83 degrees now. Im blasting my corals with 700 PAR as well, everything is healthy and happy. I see no issues with running warmer tanks but thats just me.
 
Exactly, this actually makes me really feel better now and maybe bump my worry meter up to about 83 degrees now. Im blasting my corals with 700 PAR as well, everything is healthy and happy. I see no issues with running warmer tanks but thats just me.
For what it's worth, this other study (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02505-9) suggests that some coral might become less tolerant of thermal stress following nursery conditions, and most of the papers I've seen mention that coral thermotolerance is highly variable with many potential contributing factors. So this isn't to say "just crank your temps up to 86f" but more so "82 degrees isn't the end of the world" - which your tank shows too

I run also run relatively high light, 600+ par at the top of my rocks, things seem to be liking it. It's LED though, not halides, just because the energy cost and because I don't want my room to get super hot
 
For what it's worth, this other study (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02505-9) suggests that some coral might become less tolerant of thermal stress following nursery conditions, and most of the papers I've seen mention that coral thermotolerance is highly variable with many potential contributing factors. So this isn't to say "just crank your temps up to 86f" but more so "82 degrees isn't the end of the world" - which your tank shows too

I run also run relatively high light, 600+ par at the top of my rocks, things seem to be liking it. It's LED though, not halides, just because the energy cost and because I don't want my room to get super hot
Well crap, I was just unpacking my propane blower from the shed lol j/k. I appreciate the information, been reading that article you linked and checking to see which corals he used as his test subjects. Happy reefing ;)
 
For what it's worth, this other study (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02505-9) suggests that some coral might become less tolerant of thermal stress following nursery conditions, and most of the papers I've seen mention that coral thermotolerance is highly variable with many potential contributing factors. So this isn't to say "just crank your temps up to 86f" but more so "82 degrees isn't the end of the world" - which your tank shows too

I run also run relatively high light, 600+ par at the top of my rocks, things seem to be liking it. It's LED though, not halides, just because the energy cost and because I don't want my room to get super hot
That’s an awesome article! Makes me rest a little easier when I do have days that punch me up to 83°.
 
For what it's worth, this other study (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02505-9) suggests that some coral might become less tolerant of thermal stress following nursery conditions, and most of the papers I've seen mention that coral thermotolerance is highly variable with many potential contributing factors. So this isn't to say "just crank your temps up to 86f" but more so "82 degrees isn't the end of the world" - which your tank shows too

I run also run relatively high light, 600+ par at the top of my rocks, things seem to be liking it. It's LED though, not halides, just because the energy cost and because I don't want my room to get super hot

Same with cooler temperatures, I believe, but 30C should be no issue temporarily, but I would still not intentionally run it that hot if you can just run strong fans and drop the the temp a few degrees.
 
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Same with cooler temperatures, I believe, but 30C should be no issue temporarily, but I would still not intentionally run it that hot if you can just run strong fans and drop the the temp a few degrees.
I find that 80 is a good blend for me, gives enough room for temp probe error and still be able to ride the fence on either side. Blips in summer are gonna happen unfortunately. Give the corals a little stress so they stronger.
 
You running the glass protector shields on the reflectors that slide in ? Hard to see in the video. I’ve lost bulbs instantly that cracked due to a tiny amount of water drops from a spray bottle that splashed up and contacted the bulbs fyi but I can see fish doing the same Luckily the T model bulbs shut down if the glass cracks but just routinely inspect the glass in case don’t wanna get a sunburn or eye issues..Glasses are a good idea if spending alota time under them lights
Wondering if your using magnetic M80 ballasts? which over drives that bulb to around 330 watts for more of a whitish color since not seeing a slight blueish tint. That bulb is actually 270 watts fyi just kinda strange the company recommends the M80 to run them at 330w… Standard electronic ballasts won’t over drive the bulbs so should get about 245w unless you got a select the wattage function/ hqi super lumens to get 270- 300w but then whats the point if so just run m80 or duel ballast m80 to run two lights
Great German bulbs! have used them in the past funny they were never made for the aquarium industry just commercial applications until some reefers tried them and got great results nice their still in production!!
Maybe give plasma lights a try over some corals then you’d have all the bases covered lol
Everything looks great ! Nice work
 
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