Question: Tap Water Ice Cubes?

[officerPuckles]

Officer Puckles, a female GFP leucustic, has a normal tank temperature (between 68-70 degrees) We use distilled/purified water for her tank, but is it ok if we pop a couple tap water made ice cubes in her tank to make it a bit cooler? Or will those conditions make it unstable for her?

 

[tusken raider]

I would make the ice cubes out of your tank water say when you do a water change as its treated and de-chlorinated. By using tap water your introducing some chlorine/chloramines and anything else thats in tap water. I've never tried using ice cubes to cool the water so i can't make that call but i don't think it would drastically change the temp

 

[Kaysie]

Are you adding aquarium salt to your RO/distilled before putting it in the tank? Purified water lacks all minerals and can stress an animal from ion loss.

 

[Jan]

Regarding the use of distilled/purified water, please review this article: Caudata Culture Articles - Bottled Water for Amphibians As Kaysie said, its use without modification is dangerous.

As for cooling, an easy method is to use frozen water bottles that have been filled with declorinated water (in case they leak/break). For other cooling options, see this article: Caudata Culture Articles - Cooling