Cali Kid Corals

How much do you let your tank temp swing?

R

richiev

Supporting Member
BARcard
My frag tank I'm using a reef pi to control an outlet; it stays within around 0.1°F. My peninsula I'm using an inkbird; since installing a bigger 3rd heater it is cycling from 77.2 to 79.2 over 2 hours then another 2 hours back to 77.2. Measured by a reef pi on that tank

That swing makes me uncomfortable, but I'm not sure it matters. I don't understand why the Inkbird is doing that. The min switching threshold is 1°F so I'm using that. The Inkbird wifi app UI chart is only showing a point every 15 minutes, and is saying around
77°F. When I actually do point in time comparisons, they seem to align.

Should I care about this?
 
richiev said:
My frag tank I'm using a reef pi to control an outlet; it stays within around 0.1°F. My peninsula I'm using an inkbird; since installing a bigger 3rd heater it is cycling from 77.2 to 79.2 over 2 hours then another 2 hours back to 77.2. Measured by a reef pi on that tank

That swing makes me uncomfortable, but I'm not sure it matters. I don't understand why the Inkbird is doing that. The min switching threshold is 1°F so I'm using that. The Inkbird wifi app UI chart is only showing a point every 15 minutes, and is saying around
77°F. When I actually do point in time comparisons, they seem to align.

Should I care about this?
Click to expand...

Meh…..I probably wouldn’t worry about a degree. Two is a little annoying, but it’s likely not to cause any problems. I’m around a one degree swing.

1F241CE5-9278-41B8-8F0D-23F995426022.png
 
I think there's something janky with this Inkbird. My temp went down to below 76 before I reset everything last night.

I also learned that if you switch it to Celsius you get 0.1° temp settings and can set a min trigger threshold of 0.3°. I reset all my settings to C and am going to keep an eye on it.

Luckily it has an alarm that's working, and I have my reef pi also reading temps. Though yesterday that also freaked out.......
 
I never worry about small swings. Snorkeling on the reef you can feel cold pockets or upwellings often which are a much bigger shift than a degree or two.

There are studies that suggest corals grow better and display better metabolic plasticity with some temperature variation.

I'm not going to go cycle my tank temps based on this, bit I'm also not going to fret over keeping it within 0.5.
 
Do you have a build in thermostat on the heater? If yes, you could try using the heater thermostat as the primary control and inkbird as fail safe.

I don’t think 1 degree swing matters.
 
newfly said:
Do you have a build in thermostat on the heater? If yes, you could try using the heater thermostat as the primary control and inkbird as fail safe.

I don’t think 1 degree swing matters.
Click to expand...
I have a mix of titanium (no temp) and glass (temp) on this tank. Currently using the Inkbird as the primary.

CaptainB said:
I never worry about small swings. Snorkeling on the reef you can feel cold pockets or upwellings often which are a much bigger shift than a degree or two.

There are studies that suggest corals grow better and display better metabolic plasticity with some temperature variation.

I'm not going to go cycle my tank temps based on this, bit I'm also not going to fret over keeping it within 0.5.
Click to expand...
Any chance you have a citation for that?

I'm also curious what @Thales does in his spawning tanks.
 
richiev said:
I have a mix of titanium (no temp) and glass (temp) on this tank. Currently using the Inkbird as the primary.


Any chance you have a citation for that?

I'm also curious what @Thales does in his spawning tanks.
Click to expand...
www.nature.com

Temporal variation in daily temperature minima in coral reefs of Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan - Scientific Reports

Temporal variation in seawater temperature plays a crucial role in coral reef ecology. Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan is home to well-developed coral reefs, which frequently experience cold-water intrusions caused by internal wave-induced upwelling, that manifest in distinct daily temperature...
www.nature.com www.nature.com
 
CaptainB said:
www.nature.com

Temporal variation in daily temperature minima in coral reefs of Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan - Scientific Reports

Temporal variation in seawater temperature plays a crucial role in coral reef ecology. Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan is home to well-developed coral reefs, which frequently experience cold-water intrusions caused by internal wave-induced upwelling, that manifest in distinct daily temperature...
www.nature.com www.nature.com
Click to expand...
Thanks! When I skim through that it seems to be saying the opposite of what we're discussing here. That cold water is helping buffer against hot water events, where those hot water events would've otherwise caused bleaching. Effectively that the cold water helped avoid temp variations, at least when I read it.

What's your read?
 
richiev said:
Thanks! When I skim through that it seems to be saying the opposite of what we're discussing here. That cold water is helping buffer against hot water events, where those hot water events would've otherwise caused bleaching. Effectively that the cold water helped avoid temp variations, at least when I read it.

What's your read?
Click to expand...
As I understood the hot events still happened. It's not like the cold water balanced it out. Corals in areas of periodic cold are not as affected by hot events as those that are held more constant.

The corals which are accustomed to fluctuating temperatures have more vigor. Whether that's nature vs nurture I don't see addressed.
 
CaptainB said:
I never worry about small swings. Snorkeling on the reef you can feel cold pockets or upwellings often which are a much bigger shift than a degree or two.

There are studies that suggest corals grow better and display better metabolic plasticity with some temperature variation.

I'm not going to go cycle my tank temps based on this, bit I'm also not going to fret over keeping it within 0.5.
Click to expand...
This was a surprise to me since we try to keep our temps so consistent. Last time I was snorkeling in Kauai, there were noticeable fluctuations in the water temperature.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top