The Puffer Forum

Hey all, I live in satan's butthole called good ol' arizona. I do my weekly water changes on my puffer tank. 150 gallon. The issue is now at this time of year when i go to fill up the tank, my coldest faucet water is 90 degrees!!!! The tank stays around 78-80 degrees but when i refill it hits 87 degrees with the water change. I change the water towards the night and i put in an air stone and turn a fan on the tank. By morning it is back to 78-80.

I am just wondering if this would warrant a chiller for refilling. They are pretty pricy and i want to make sure the benefit weighs in the cost for the only time it will be used is when i am refilling. My puffer seems unaffected by the temp change as the redtail shark also but i don't know if i am causing and health issues doing it this way. What are y'alls opinions on this matter?

Could you add ice cubes to the water before adding? Or ice packs to bring it down a little, that is a serious temp swing for a fish to take.

If you got one of those large brute trash that others use to mix salt water in you could fill it a day before the wc throw in ice cubes or have a fan blowing across the top to cool it off.

+1 to puffykid's comment above. I find it a lot easier to store the water a day or two with a circulation pump which can be used to transfer the aged/tempered and treated water to the display tank. It uses a lot less power than a chiller and is far lower cost. In fact, this is what I do with and for all of my water for partials, and have for decades. I don't like using un-aged water. I want all pretreatments and tempering done in the water-safe containers instead of in the display tanks. It is safer and gentler for the fish.