Hello. I recently bought a new water heater for my RES. He is over a year old. Sadly I do not have a thermometer; all I know is that the water was too cold for my turtle before. He has been standing on his dock despite the lamp not emitting too much heat (but still much warmer than the water). After installing the water heater, my turtle seems more comfortable in the water.
However. I've read that having the water too warm may cause a turtle to have excessive growth and other side-effects. How long should I keep the water heater on? All day? Or just at night when he usually goes to sleep?
My dad seems to plan on leaving the water heater on all day, since winter is here and and outside temperatures are dropping. I'm just worried that leaving the water warm all the time might hurt my RES.
Update: My dad now plans to unplug/turn off the water heater in the mornings and only plug it in at night. I'm not sure this is a good choice, because the water temperature will drop in the mornings and rise at night. I checked the label on the box, and it's a Tetra H10 50Watt Submersible water heater. A red light will turn on when water temperature is below 76°F and the heater is in the process of heating. A green light will turn on when water temperature is between 76°F and 80°F and the heater is finished heating.
