I have the same problem with my 55 gal. tank.* When the weather was warm, I'd use a water hose connected by my front door where the tank is located in the house. I would refill with the hose straight into the tank with no problems. But....now that the weather is turning cooler, I'm having to warm the water a bit from my kitchen sink, and tote the 2 gal. buckets thru my house. It's not tooo bad since I have two of these buckets and I let one be filling up while pouring the other into the tank. This works okay. I don't fill the buckets all the way to the top so I don't have alot of spillage. I'm thinking of getting a python myself eventually. When I fill from the water hose, I add the conditioner afterwards. No fish lost yet. :
P.S. I've got my water changes down to once a month now. But then, they've already been cycled.