acceptable temperature drop from waterchange?

[scott]

what would be considered to be the most the water temp should drop during a waterchange. my r/o is in the basement and it gets rather cold down there this time of year in RI. the most that i've seen the temp drop was about six degrees but it is usually only about 3-4 with a 20% change. i have never given it too much thought before but i currently have 3 tanks with very young fry in them, one being only a 5gal.

 

[tjudy]

Your situation with fry in a 5 is about the only one I would be concerned with. Can you hang a heater in the reservoir? I punched a hole in the top of my reservoir and hange a 300 watt heater in the center... I keep the reservoir water at 23C. I only have to remember to unplug the heater if I am emptying the reservoir below the heater coils.

 

[aspen]

it you don't have a lot of time to heat the water, heat transfer is quite quick if you place your bucket of change water into a sink of hot water. put the thermometer into the bucket and keep an eye on it.

rick