General Care Discussion :: how to cool off water?

[RESCHIU]

Hi, I've never have problem of water being too warm till I move to Vegas , since now it's summer time, the water inside my turtle tank is usually about 82~84, I'm worry that it may cause her to shed too much. I bought this heater and was hoping it could adjust the water down to a prefered lower temperature, but it doesn't work that way it seems. does anyone know a good/sufficient way to cool down the water other than turn on the AC?

[marisa]

Some people have put frozen plastic water bottles in the tank to help cool the water. I've done this in the past, but with larger tanks the temp never went down more than a degree or two and with smaller tanks the bottles took up too much room. Last summer during a heat wave I added ice cubes to the tanks (I have a lot of ice cube trays) and kept some gallons of chilled water in the fridge to add to the tank when I did partial water changes (which I did frequently to help cool the water as well).

If you aimed it over the water and not the basking area, you could try using a little fan. Some people have said that this helps.

[steve]

I have to resort to partial water changes during the hottest part of the summer. The water bottle stuff just didn't cut it for me. I think the main thing is trying to keep the room temp down, even without an AC. Blocking the windows and not letting warm air enter the room would be of great help.

[DavidY]

Blowing a fan across the surface of the water will speed up evaporation which will cause the temperature to drop a couple of degrees. Replacing the evaporated water with cooler water will also help keep the temps down. You just need to be careful not to wait to add a large amount of cooler water since you don't want to make the temps drop too much too quickly. Drastic fast temp changes can stress the turtle's immune system.

[industrial_girl_2000]

DavidY is right.....keeping the air circulating is going to help keep the water cooler in the tank. It will simply evaporate faster so you just have to keep adding water (preferably the same temp). I always have to keep water around my house in 3-gal containers for my aquatic frog who requires "stale" water. So his water is always room temperature & dechorinated whenever I change the water.

The plastic bottles I use are actually leftover from my neighbor's kitty litter containers. He buys the 3 gal plastic containers of kitty litter at the store & gave me 3 of these containers. They work GREAT for the partial water changes I do for my frog (or just to add water after it evaporates).

[DavidY]

For those of you who remember your high school physics, the evaporation of water is an endothermic reaction. It actually absorbs heat from its surroundings causing the cooling effect. That's how air conditioners work too.