Warming Top Off

[saltynoob]

Ok, dont rake me across the coals on this question. I know it is gonna be a little out there but.....
Is there any harm in heating my top off r/o water by taking half of it (2.5 gallons) and heating it up using the microwave just to warm the adding it to the other 2.5 gallons??
Just curious.

 

[dragonzim]

If its just fresh top off water then I really cant see how that could cause a problem. I usually top off about a gallon a day. My water is stored in my basement, which is about 50 degrees or so. If I am only adding 1 gallon to my 75 gallon tank I usually dont even bother to heat that up at all since adding that little an amount of water wont effect the temp of the whole tank that I am adding it to.

 

[zman1]

How hot (cold) is your 5 gals of RO water?

 

[saltynoob]

R/O water is around 60 to 65 degrees or so. I didnt know if that would somehow harm my inverts, peppermint shrimp, yellow goby-watchmen or chromis that I have.
I have a 20 gallon tank and I am topping off evaporated water. Looks to be about 2 to 3 gallons total need.

 

[gwh57]

If you top off slowly the temp difference should not be an issue. If you are topping off manually just let the top off get to room temp and do it a little at the time.

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by SaltyNoob
R/O water is around 60 to 65 degrees or so. I didnt know if that would somehow harm my inverts, peppermint shrimp, yellow goby-watchmen or chromis that I have.
I have a 20 gallon tank and I am topping off evaporated water. Looks to be about 2 to 3 gallons total need.
Just a suggestion, but you may want to keep a closer eye on evaporation and top-off more often to prevent swings in SG/Salinity, which may be bothersome to the livestock. As I'm sure you know, as water evaporates, salinity increases because the amount of salt stays the same, but the amount of water decreases.
2 gallons in a 20g is 10% (And 3 gallons would be 15%), that's what many people do for a water change. I usually have to do about 1 gallon a day for my 90g. The water is stored in an uninsulated converted garage and while 1 gallon of cool water may not have an impact, I still warm it it bit by placing the refill jug in the sink with several inches of hot water until it's at least close to the tank temp (Using the highly calibrated ol' Mark 1 Finger test).