help with temperature

[mseepman]

I need some advice regarding what to do about raising the temp in my tank.

Due to a faulty thermometer in my mixed reef, my temperature has dropped a lot without me realizing it. I'm not sure of the timeframe but I'm guessing 3 weeks ago when things started to go downhill. I put in one of those cheap Coralife thermometers to get a new reading (purchased this as I don't have any LFS carrying anything better) and have found the temp to be 68F. I've ordered a new pinpoint already but for now I have to start fixing the problem. Amazingly enough, things have gone downhill but nothing has died. A few SPS have started to bleach though.

How fast can I bring it back up? Where does everyone else keep their temp?

Any help would be appreciated.

[mseepman]

Bump...anyone?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

So your temperature reading was faulty...but do you have a heater?

[skylord]

Last year when we were without power for 36 hrs my temps went down to 68, I spent about 24 hrs getting it back to 75 then the next 24 getting it back to 78. No losses. But you have another problem...did your heater also fail?

Scott

[mseepman]

Yes, it did...and with a faulty thermometer I didn't realize it had. I just noticed that when I put my hand in the water for feeding my Sun-Coral that it seemed cool. I thought it might be just my mind but I still looked at the temperature and it read 77 which is close to the 78 that I've always kept it at. I was still suspicious so I grabbed a hand-held one and dipped it in to get a very low reading of about 67. I went to the LFS and grabbed a cheapy coralife and stuck it in to get a new reading of 68. I bought a new Ebo-Jager 200W heater and have slowly been bringing it up (today it's up to 70) but I wasn't sure this was the right thing to do? Is this too fast, too slow?

In reality, is the 78 I usually have right?

[digital-audiophile]

In my tank I get down to 80F overnight and max around 82F in the evening after my lights have been on all day.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Just keep doing what you're doing. Raise the temperature slowly with the heater.

[TeknoPunk]

I keep my temp anywhere between 76 and 78.... I used to keep it around 81-83 but I decided to lower it and see how everything does :)