water temp.

[allen]

is 78.5 - to 81.0 f to hot

 

[ReefLady]

Nope. That's pretty much where it should be.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Generally that's okay. My tank is at 82.

 

[allen]

once on the summer i was up to 84, thats probably to hot

 

[ReefLady]

84 is a little high, but the temp itself is as not as dangerous as the fluctuation. You don't want to fluctuate more than 2 oe 3 degrees/day.

 

[mettjl03]

I keep my tank at about 78.5-80

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

once on the summer i was up to 84, thats probably to hot

Yeah, 82 is my winter temp. During the spring, I bump it up a degree or 2 so that in the summer, it doesn't fluctuate daily.

 

[allen]

ok thanks everyone

 

[funkpolice]

like reeflady said, it's the change in temp that does the most damage. The warmest my tank ever gets is 79. I try to keep it at 77.
bill

 

[allen]

so 2degrees from day to night isn't to bad or should i just increase the temp. a little so it stay steady

 

[funkpolice]

I don't think 2 degrees day to night is bad.

 

[allen]

ok thanks alot

 

[funkpolice]

I've heard that higher temps are conducive to algae growth, but I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. That's one of the main reasons I let my tank run at the temp I do.
bill

 

[allen]

i think my lights are what drives temp up during the day

 

[mettjl03]

could be.... what type of lighting do you have? The lighting might be part of the reason why you have a red algae problem.

 

[JarsOMayonnaise]

What would be in the lights that cause the red algae?????????? I have a small spec of red algae under a rock ledge!

 

[lcstorc]

There are two reasons.
The most common is old bulbs. As bulbs get older the light gradually changes spectrum to one that algae loves.
Next is that algae like most things in the tank uses light as part of it's food supply.

 

[mettjl03]

It is because red algae absorbs blue light and reflects red light... Blue light penetrates deeper than red light, so when the bulbs get old it allows the algae to grow because they perfer low lighting conditions (or blue light)... Bam how do you like that answer Jay?

 

[allen]

my lights are T5's its a 8 bulb fixture with 4 reef white 10000, two reef blues and two fiji purple all are FHO54w