What's The Best Way To Raise New Water Temperature?

This is probably an obvious question to anyone who's owned an aquarium, but I'm new and stupid, and have only ever had to worry about water being safe to drink for animals. \(°ヮ°)/

I have a 20L (5.2gal) tank with silk plants, a cave, and gravel for a (soon to be) Betta. My tank is currently in the first day of cycling so I haven't thought about this yet, but now that I am, I'm a little puzzled.

I add new water to my tank via the water filter in my kitchen. This filters out chlorine (but I still add Prime to be safe). However, because it's designed to be drunk by people the water comes out chilled from the filter in the fridge. I need my water to be between 25.5°C and 26.5°C (78°F and 80°F) when I add it, and it will not get to this by coming to room temperature. The tank water currently (which has come to the correct heat) is warmer than room temperature, I can tell just by touch.

So, my question is:
What is the best way to bring new tank water to the tank's temperature before adding it to the tank?

Should I just like... Microwave it for a bit and wait for it to cool to the right temperature when I stick a thermometer in it? Surely there's a more efficient way that I'm not thinking of. It hasn't been a problem yet because obviously there's been no fish there to care about cold water going straight into the tank, but I'm aware that sudden temperature fluctuations are very bad for the fish, just like any other fluctuation.

Any help is appreciated! ( ´ ▽ ` )b

 

Get a second heater and put it in a bucket of the new water

 

I’ve never thought about this so you raise a great point... I’d experiment with “heating X amount of water for Y amount of time brings it to Z degrees.” I’d heat it over a stove just to make the process quicker and to control the temperature more. It won’t be too hard for small water changes but if you upgrade your tank size it’ll be interesting

 

My best recommendation is to let the water sit in a container for an hour before adding it into the tank. It will not be at the same temperature as the aquarium, but it will be fairly close. Adding room-temperature water into a fish tank is generally fine as long as it is poured in fairly slowly. This gives the fish time to adjust and minimize the temperature swing.

I would not trust the water filter to accommodate all of your conditioning needs. There are many additives within drinking water that can be potentially harmful to the fish. I would recommend using a standard water conditioner and follow the instructions according to the manufacturer.

 

My best recommendation is to let the water sit in a container for an hour before adding it into the tank. It will not be at the same temperature as the aquarium, but it will be fairly close. Adding room-temperature water into a fish tank is generally fine as long as it is poured in fairly slowly. This gives the fish time to adjust and minimize the temperature swing.

I would not trust the water filter to accommodate all of your conditioning needs. There are many additives within drinking water that can be potentially harmful to the fish. I would recommend using a standard water conditioner and follow the instructions according to the manufacturer.

As noted in the original post I still treat the water with Prime before adding it to my tank! (๑꧆◡꧆๑)
I may be an idiot when it comes to fish keeping, but I'm not that much of an idiot, haha.
Thank you for the advice about slowly adding it to the tank however! If I add it slowly enough the fish should acclimate to the slow shift in temperature, correct?

 

As noted in the original post I still treat the water with Prime before adding it to my tank! (๑꧆◡꧆๑)
I may be an idiot when it comes to fish keeping, but I'm not that much of an idiot, haha.
Thank you for the advice about slowly adding it to the tank however! If I add it slowly enough the fish should acclimate to the slow shift in temperature, correct?

Yes, it should work. I find in many ways that simpler is often better.

I am aware you spoke about prime in the original post. In most cases, I try to be as descriptive as possible when giving advice to beginners. This is because there is a massive spectrum of beginning fish keepers that enter the hobby with different levels of knowledge on the subject. We've all been there.

As for the tank, keep us posted. I'd love to see some pics of the aquarium at some point when it is completed. Bettas have great personality, and I still find them full of surprises!

 

I tend to get the opposite issue, my waters too warm sometimes. Usually letting it sit out on in a bucket for ~1hr in the room does the trick.

Question about that filter though, do you know if it filters out the minerals/ dissolved solids in your water? That's just something to take into consideration for the hardness of water in your tank

 

Question about that filter though, do you know if it filters out the minerals/ dissolved solids in your water? That's just something to take into consideration for the hardness of water in your tank

Where I live, our city's source water comes from underground that's been there for decades, so it's very soft regardless of the filter.

Cool Water Info Stuff:
1 g/m³ = 1ppm
pH: 7.8
pH after aeration: 8.2
Acidity to pH 8.3 (as CO3): 1 g/m³
Total alkalinity to pH 4.5 as HCO3: 52 g/m³
Turbidity (NTU): Less than 1
Nitrate Nitrogen: 1 g/m³
Sulphate: 5.0 g/m³
Chloride: 5.0 g/m³
Calcium: 12.0 g/m³
Fluoride: < 0.1 g/m³
Magnesium: 1.5 g/m³
Potassium: 1 g/m³
Sodium: 6.1 g/m³
Reactive silica (as SO2): 16.0 g/m³
Total hardness (as CaCO3): 45 g/m³

This is before it gets treated with a small amount of Chlorine (the earthquakes we had here 7 years ago have raised concerns over the water), hence why I treat it with Prime. (o´▽`o)

I've yet to buy a KH test kit thing, but I'm getting onto it soon!