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How hot is too hot for the water temp?

I recently moved apartments and upgraded to a 50 gallon tank. I have yet to plug my water heater in b/c the water temp stays at 82. My bedroom has very poor ac circulation so the warm room keeps the water temp up.

Just curious if I should be worried and if there was such a thing as a water cooler?

depends on the age/health of the turtle. 82 is about right for a sick turtle. 80 should be the max for a hatchling. 75-78 is usually better. Water being too warm will assist in rapid growth and excessive shedding. I've never had this problem, but I know several people on this board fill a pop bottle with water, freeze it, and drop it in the tank to fix that problem.

They sell "chillers" which are very expensive, although after this summer I'd might consider it. If water changes are out, then there is the idea of using a styrofoam cooler to put a canister filter in - then adding ice. You'd just need to make sure your filter will fit into it and you can get the lid closed. But it wont work on a big tank, do you have your 50g filled up?
I've been resorting to the iced bottles and I have about 15 of them ready to go

Steve, I'm imagining your turts will be ducking icebergs in their tank.

LOL, I never thought of that. Fortunately the basking area is large enough that I can hide the bottles underneath it.

marisa wrote:Steve, I'm imagining your turts will be ducking icebergs in their tank.

I don't know, I heard about this one boat that couldn't dodge an iceberg.

Well, let's hope the turts have swifter reflexes.

ooo good ideas. thanks guys.