# Water change temperature?



## JET (Dec 20, 2008)

When the water is changed in the aquarium, is it is best to keep the temperature of the water you are putting back in close to temperature that the aquarium normally runs at? I read that using hot water to accomplish this is a bad thing to do. It might put some metal traces into the water that could affect shrimp? So what do you do, put 50% of the water back in at what ever the temperature happens to be out of the tap? Wouldn’t a 10° or so change in the water temperature hurt the fish and or shrimp?


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## cbwmn (Dec 18, 2007)

Jet
I keep my WC water in one gallon jugs 
(Arizona ice tea jugs). 
I treat each jug with Prime and when I do the WC, 
I put the jugs in the bathtub with warm water. 
I try to match the temp to the tank water. 
It works for me.

Charles


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## JET (Dec 20, 2008)

I like the idea, but I have a 72g bowfront.


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## cbwmn (Dec 18, 2007)

JET said:


> I like the idea, but I have a 72g bowfront.


That would be a little harder. MY biggest tank is only a 46 BF. I have 38 gallons
stored under a table and bunk bed in a spare bedroom. 
A lot of folks use a Python but I've been relunctant because of the temp difference & chlorine/chloromines that most city water contains. 
It's hard to lug 30+ bottles of water for a large water change.
But I do it at least twice a week. If I had a tank larger than 60 or so, 
I'd probably invest in a Python. 
Good luck

Charles


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I keep my water change water in a brute trash can with a airstone and a heater. the heater is set at 75, my tank is 77-78 depend on rather or not the halide is on.


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## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

I use a Python; I don't worry at all about 'stuff' from the hot water tank. Been doing it this way for 3+ years. I don't think I've ever had any fish (or shrimp) deaths that I can attribute to this.

I try to match the temp of the water as close as possible to what's in the tank. I just feel it with my hand. It's better to be one to two degrees cooler, than warmer, for the fish. So, if I'm wavering in my estimation, I'll choose just a tad cooler. Just always remember to add your dechlor as you begin to refill the tank. And I do use a proper measuring device here, no guessing w/ Prime!

Perhaps the jug or storage container works if you've one or two tanks. My tanks number over a dozen. I have a Python and don't look back. Half of my tanks are for keeping and breeding Dwarf Cichlids. I've got _Apistogrammas_, _Dicrosus filamentosus_, _Laetacara dorsigera_, GBR, _Pelvicachromis taenieatus_, _Nanochromis_ etc. Doesn't seem to bother these guys, or their fry either!

If you're still worried you can always take a nice hot shower, using up most of the water from the hot water tank. You're fish will probably appreciate your sticking clean arms and no underarm deodorant in their tank anyways! Let the water tank warm back up then do your H2O changes.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I'm not sure how this will affect shrimp, but when I do a major water change, I stick a water hose in my tank and crank it on. I pour the dechlorinator in at that moment. The hose water is always several degrees cooler than what the tank is, but my fish seem to enjoy it. No problems in over a year.

-Dave


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

i store r/o water in 5 gallon jugs... 10 of them to be exact. if i need to warm them they go in a bathtub or i stick heaters in them... i always add water thet is a few degrees cooler than tank water. after water change discus frolic and tail slap.


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

I don't pay too much attention to the temp of the new water when I do a water change. I typically do a 35 - 50 % water change once per week. After I have siphoned out all the water, I take two 1 gallon plastic pitchers and drop in 4 drops of prime each and then fill them from the tap. I use water that isn't set all the way to cold, but I don't let it get warm to the touch either. From what I can tell it is around 70F when I pour it into the tank. My tanks are 10 gallon or 17 gallon so I only have to do 4-9 gallons each tank so a few trips back and forth are fine by me. 

I would be hesitant to add a water hose to my tank and pour the water conditioner in as I don't know how well that mixes and I fear a wave of chlorinated/chloramine rich water would wash over my fish, shrimp or through my filter before it could mix.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

dgphelps said:


> I would be hesitant to add a water hose to my tank and pour the water conditioner in as I don't know how well that mixes and I fear a wave of chlorinated/chloramine rich water would wash over my fish, shrimp or through my filter before it could mix.


While I do not doubt what you say here sounds logical I have been doing it that way for years, and on the advice of others who tell me they have been doing such for even longer, with no issues I can tell.


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

I have been known to overthink things.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

dgphelps said:


> I have been known to overthink things.


Oh yeah. I can be that way too. When someone first told me that I said, "Really? Are you sure?"


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Unless it's a very large water change with a drastic temp difference, it is not going to make much of a change in the tank. Someone in Canada doing a 50% WC in January probably has an issue to deal with, but the majority of folks doing 10 to 20% changes in regular weather probably don't unless they don't know how to operate the hot and cold on their tap. Even then a small volume change only has so much of an effect after dilution, a few degrees shift doesn't hurt anything, IME, water column temps in nature can change rapidly with depth.

My change water sits in 5gl bottles and everything is regulated by room temp, an air conditioned house in Florida is pretty consistent year round.


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

jaidexl said:


> IME, water column temps in nature can change rapidly with depth.


That is exactly how I look at it. I am pretty sure fish and shrimp in nature aren't subjected to a extremely stable temperature and depending on many factors; rain, snowmelt coming from mountains, hot sun over a smaller are of water, etc. can experience swings throughout a normal day. Even nightfall brings about a change for them.

As long as it isn't an extremely drastic swing that will take the tank temperatures down or up and outside of survivable temperatures for the species things should be fine.

Also, I should clarify why I don't like to use the hot part of my tap water when doing a water change, this is because commonly hot water goes through copper piping in our houses and I try to limit the water contact with the copper so it doesn't accumulate and kill my shrimp. This may be an old wives tale as I am not certain if just contact with copper would adjust the levels to a point it could kill my shrimp, but I do try to limit it as much as I can.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Long term exposure to the wrong temp can wear on the immune system, too. When someone messes with my AC controls, I like to have them imagine sleeping naked in a tree all night, this is how my fish feel when the water plummets into the low 70s, they have nowhere to run or warm up. 

I don't pay much attention to copper in my pipes, then again I only keep ghost shrimp around and don't expect them to last forever with predators hovering over.  Anyway, they need some amount of copper, in their diet at least, as part of their method of O2 respiration.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

I keep my 46 Gallon BF in the basement and the ambient temperature there can drop to the mid sixties in the winter. I've always used hot water to reach something in the 70's, even in the summer. I have a successfully breeding population of cherry shrimp that don't seem to be bothered by copper or whatever else is in the water. I just dump the water and Prime (amount approximated) into 5 gallon buckets. I use 3 buckets giving me about 30 % water change. The Cardinal Tetras and Hengels seem to enjoy swimming in the current. My guess is that with corrosion, you really wouldn't have pure copper anyway.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I guess I'm old fashioned in my water change approach. I always put water in 1 gallon jugs, add Prime and let them sit for a week. I place them in the sink and bring them to w/in 1/2 a degree. However, in the summer time I will usually allow a cooler temp to help lower the tank temp - but not a huge difference, maybe 5 degrees cooler. The fish seem to enjoy the cooler water. Especially the Guppies.
When I add the water I pour it into a stream of water coming out of the spray bar. I never liked the idea of a Python even thou many people use them w/o incident.


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