How much is too much? (1 Viewer)

[below radar]

What's the most you want the temperature of the tank to swing in a 24 hour period? Mine moved 1.8° F We keep our house rather cold at night...like 67. I tried something different last night and set my 200w heater to come on at 77.5 and the 300w to come on at 77 to try and save a little power. That didn't work because my 200 couldn't even hold 77.5 at night. It kept dropping until the 300 kicked on and then slowly recovered. I changed my settings back to original which is both come on at 77.5.

Anyway, I just really wanted to know the allowable swing before I need a chiller. Min temp was 77 (middle of the night) and max was 78.8 (mid day)

 

[below radar]

I may flip flop it and see if the 300 can handle it.

 

[Diesel]

We have the house at 74 as when it drops to 73 it's to cold for me.
My heater came on in 2015 only 12 times.
Tank temp is during night 77.5 and day 79 but never higher than 79.5.
Don't run a chiller but have two fans that kick on at 79.
I have seen tanks with swing at 4 or 5 degrees and livestock doesn't look bothered by it.

 

[FarmerTy]

You're fine, 1.8 degrees is nothing. I had a 3 degree temp swing daily from my old 400-watt halides for 2 years with ill effect.

 

[reeftopia]

It has concerned me that I have 5 degree temperature swings during extreme temps but my fish have never been
bothered and many of my corals are growing out of the water. Ive read what the experts say but I think most marine
animals are ok with a 5 degree swing. Its the price I pay for having my tanks in an outdoor building.

 

[d2mini]

There is nothing wrong with swings as long as either end stays within safe temps.
I've always felt that having a daily swing of a few degrees is beneficial in the case of a power outage or something that causes a more drastic swing... everything will already be somewhat used to it and the effects won't be as detrimental.
It's a theory anyway.
Plus, the temps in nature are not constant.

 

[d2mini]

We have the house at 74 as when it drops to 73 it's to cold for me.
My heater came on in 2015 only 12 times.
Tank temp is during night 77.5 and day 79 but never higher than 79.5.
Don't run a chiller but have two fans that kick on at 79.
I have seen tanks with swing at 4 or 5 degrees and livestock doesn't look bothered by it.

Your blood must be thinning, old man!

 

[Fish Keeper82]

Reminded me of a incedent that happend to my Quarentine Tank a few months back. A heater got stuck on and raised the temp to 94 degrees in what i estimate about 8 hrs time.
All i had to cool it down was a 6 pack of beer in the fidge.
Both the yellow watchan goby and banded high fin goby made it thru and did not even looked stressed and are now in my DT.
Of course 94 is not safe temp but it did make me feel better about my ocational 3 degree temp swings in my day tank.

 

[Diesel]

Your blood must be thinning, old man!

Time to settle down, I had enough temp swings in my life.
The biggest was in '84 when I ran a half Marathon in Germany and we started with light freezing temps around 25F but have way throughout the race it dropped to 10F and by the time I finished after 1hr and 15min it was close to 0.
My hat was frozen to my hair and my running shoes were clumps of ice.

 

[d2mini]

my running shoes were clumps of ice.

I didn't know Dutch wood could freeze!

 

[Diesel]

I didn't know Dutch wood could freeze!

Bro you don't know Dutch wood.........

And yes I wore them and still have two pair in storage from when I moved here.

 

[reeftopia]

oh my aching feet. cant sneak up on any body with them on

 

[Reefahholic]

What brand of heaters are you running? Neo therm's are accurate and precise.

 

[below radar]

What brand of heaters are you running? Neo therm's are accurate and precise.

I run 2 Eheims through my APEX

 

[Diesel]

Eheim are reliable units but hobbyist should know to calibrate your controllers temp probe with a medical grade temperature unit.
My two temperature probes were off by more than 0.8 degrees.
Not sure about other brands of controllers but the APEX has that feature to calibrate them.