Brisbane Heat Spike Ahead: Get Your Cooling Sorted This Week
Posted by Gallery Aquatica on
We had a customer from Manly drop into the Brisbane store last February after her SPS colonies bleached out over a single weekend. Her garage tank had no chiller, just a lid fan, and a run of 34 degree days pushed the water past 31 for almost 48 hours straight. That is the kind of loss that happens fast and cannot be undone once the coral has gone. The Bureau is flagging another run of high 20s to low 30s across greater Brisbane this week, and tanks in Manly, Wynnum, Redcliffe, and the western suburbs around Ipswich tend to run hottest because of tin roofs and poor airflow through garages and sheds.
This is not a distant seasonal reminder. It is a this-week problem if your cooling setup has not been tested since last summer.
What actually happens when a reef tank overheats
Above 28 degrees, oxygen holding capacity in water drops and coral metabolism speeds up faster than most filtration can keep pace with. Push past 30 for more than a day and you start seeing bleaching in sensitive SPS, stressed fish gasping at the surface, and algae blooms feeding on the extra bioload. None of this needs a heatwave headline to happen. A closed garage door on a 33 degree day is enough.
Fan or chiller, which one actually helps
| Setup | Typical drop | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Clip-on or sump fan | 1 to 2 degrees | Mild spikes, well insulated rooms |
| Dedicated chiller, e.g. TECO TK 150 | Holds a set target regardless of ambient heat | Reef tanks, exposed garages, sustained heatwaves |
A fan is fine for taking the edge off on a warm afternoon. It will not do much when the room itself is sitting above 30 degrees for days. The TECO TK 150 at 850 AUD is built for exactly this scenario, holding a set point rather than fighting a losing battle against ambient heat.
Things to sort this week
- Pull out your thermometer and check it against a second unit, cheap probes drift over a year of use, browse the thermometer range if yours is unreliable.
- Run your fans for an hour tonight and see what temperature drop you actually get, not what the box promised.
- Look at where your tank sits. A garage with a tin roof and no airflow will always run hotter than the room temperature suggests.
- If you are on the fence about a chiller, check stock levels now in the cooling collection, these units sell through fast once a heatwave hits the news.
- Set a high temperature alert on your controller if you run one, the Apex range can text you before things get bad, not after.
Prices mentioned in this article are accurate at the time of publishing and subject to change. Please check the product page for the current price before purchasing.