Habitat - Indoor :: Water Change Temperature

[evlock]

Our winter is officially over. Temps are in the low 100's daily. In another couple of weeks, the water coming out of the cold water tap will be warm enough to bathe in without adding any hot water to the mix. I do not have a place in which I can keep a large enough trash can full of water to chill in the house for water changes. My reading on chillers leads me to believe they are used to drop the temps a few degrees, not 20. Am I confused? Would it be dangerous for me to put the water in and add ice to reduce the temp a healthy for turtle level? Do any of you have suggestions?

[FLhaven4strays]

Hmmm...and I thought summers here in Florida were bad.

I wouldn't see why adding ice to water that's too warm would be a problem...as long as you don't put the turtle back in until the water is stable at an acceptable temp.

[jenaero]

Last year the summer was particularly warm here. I froze bottles of water and put them in the tank to cool the water while the turts were in there. It won't drop the temp drastically though, and the ice would melt in a matter of moments.

[TheComputerGremlin]

I don't think you'll be able to change the water often enough to combat 100 degree temps. I'd recommend the frozen water bottle route, that way, you won't have to continually change out the water (which will disrupt your bacteria anyhow). Also, I remember someone saying having a fan blowing at the water surface helps out too. And honestly, contrary to what people might think, regular wild RES would live in places that got to 90-100 during the day, granted, they can escape the heat by going into deeper water, but that's only for brief times anyhow because they'd need to breathe.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Blowing a fan across the water helps too because it helps the water evaporate more quickly which subsequently cools the water.

I like the ice bottle route too.

[megcornell]

My apartment last year was in the attic of an old brick house. Subsequently, my room was an oven. I used water bottles, but found that the effect wasn't that great and didn't last very long.
The best technique I found was frequent water changes with cooler water.
I imagine the fan idea could be useful too.

[evlock]

Thanks everyone. Temps in the summer range from 115F to 140F with lows in the low 100's. Thankfully, we are fully air conditioned, with A/C repair considered an emergency service. Once I get his water at temp, he's all set...I was just concerned about those pesky water changes with cleaning, when I would be introducing such hot water. Today, the water change raised the water temp to 80F from 76F. I put in a gallon of ice cubes, which brought it back down to 77F. That at least gives me a place to start. It will be a balancing act for a while.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yikes! Good luck to you! I love the summer heat, but I can't imagine 140 degrees!! I'm always amazed that people can live in such extremes, like where you are or up in the very very cold polar regions. And my husband complains when it gets to be upper 80s here (which I love!).

[evlock]

We moved here after my husband had just finished a 6 year stint in Siberia. I asked him if he didn't want to try for a normal climate...no such luck!

[Rottie_mom]

Good grief, talk about going from one extreme to the other. Have to admit I hate the cold so prefer it to be hot LOL

[marisa]

I've used the frozen water bottles, but you can't use a fair amount of them (i.e., the tank isn't that large), to me, they weren't that effective (and whatever effect they had wasn't that long).

In the summer, in addition to the ice cubes, I've kept gallons of chilled water in the fridge that I would add when I did a partial water change (which was quite frequent when it got really warm). AC will help, but make sure your turtle isn't in the line of any of the vents or gets exposed to any cold drafts when you have it on.

[snazzy]

evlock - we live in Dubai so we have similar issues as you. Can you turn off your hot water heater? If you turn off your hot water heater, wait about an hour (for the element to cool), drain the tank completely then it will cool off your water to room temperature (assuming it is inside the A/C'd walls of your place). This is what we do starting in about a month. This helps in the shower too because our 'cold' water in the summer is too hot to shower with after exercising! It is just hard at first to remember hot means cold and cold means hot on the taps.

The only thing I don't know about is.....I remember a previous post about how we should not use the hot water heater water to pre-heat the water because of saudering (sp?) in the lines near/in the tank. I don't know if this is still an issue if cold water is in the tank but lots of things are more dissolvable in hot water rather than cold. So my question would be to someone that knows more about it than me....does the saudering (sp?) dissolve just as easily in cold water or is it still safe to use the hot water tank as a room temperature water tank?

[SpotsMama]

I cannot even imagine such climates! I won't whine about our Texas summers any more.

What happens in hot water tanks is that, over time, the inside will rust. When the rust gets bad, the water begins to get an orangy look which gradually gets worse and worse. This would happen with cold water as well as hot. I think if your hot water tank is new and of good quality, then it shouldn't be a problem for you for quite a while. Keep an eye on it, though.

[evlock]

Snazzy, that is a good idea. I was looking at the water heater when I did the water change, (because the sweet water tap I use for the tank is in the A/C room with the water heater) and noticed that the bottom of the tank is really rusted. I need to call Maintenance to have them get it replaced before it floods the kitchen.

[snazzy]

Well, if it is quite rusted then it is probably out as a cool water storage tank in the summer for you turtle water. Ours is relatively new so I will go with that this summer. One thing that will help a little bit is to make a spray into the tank when you fill it rather than just putting the end of the hose in the water to fill it. A spray will get better heat exchange with your room and go in cooler (only a bit though) than just pouring it in, especially if the hose end is under water!

Also, for cooling the tank down faster, remove all plastic lids from the top of the tank. I can change my tank water temperature by about 1 degree (I know not much but when cooling it down every little bit helps) by just removing the lid to the back half of the tank. I have to keep the front half closed so they don't get out but eventually will get a 1/2" mesh there for the summer and the plastic tank lid (with holes cut out for lights) for winter.