Habitat - Indoor :: Water Temperature Fluctuations?????

[mcoffman]

I'm fairly new at the turtle thing, but I think I've done pretty well with her habitate so far. However, the water temperature seems to fluctuate drastically between day and night.
At night it cools to about 78 degrees which is good. But during the day, with the lights shining in the aquarium, the temp is getting up to 88 or so. Is that too hot? I'm thinking it is. But if she needs the lights on during the day, how am I supposed to keep them from warming the water??
Help!!

[stray_647]

88 is quite hot, ideal is between 75-78.

How big is your tank?
what do you use for UVA, UVB, heat source?
How far do you keep your light sources form the baskig platform/water?
Do you have a heater?
is the tank by a window getting direct sunlight?

[grey goose]

88F is a bit too hot. Sounds like your lights are heating the water somehow. Make sure your heat lamp is not shining directly on the water, adjust it so it shines directly on the basking ramp and not on the water.

[Kallistos]

Basically what they said, if your basking area is so small that the light shines all around it you may want to buy or construct a larger basking area.

[marisa]

The lights can heat the water quite a bit if the tank is small and/or there isn't much water in it.

How big is the tank and how much water do you have in it?

If the water is getting that warm with the lights on, what's the temp of the basking area with them on?

[mcoffman]

I only have a 10 gallon aquarium, but my turtle is only about 2 inches around. So I thought the size was sufficient...maybe not.
The lights I am using is a uvb bulb in one of those clamp lights, and the other bulb is a household bulb for warmth. They are about 10-12 inches from the basking area, and they do also shine on the water. So I know thats why it's getting so hot, but how to I fix it????
I mean my turtle seems to have plenty of room to swim as well as a basking area, do I really need to get a bigger aquarium now?

[marisa]

How much water is in the tank? What's the temp of the basking are if you check it with a thermometer? (Leave a thermometer on the basking area where your turtle basks for about 20 min.) If it's really warm (into the 90's), you could try a lower wattage light bulb. Is the light bulb in any kind of dome fixture? If not, you could put it in a little one one (can be hard to position in a 10-gallon tank) and try to aim it more over just the basking area. The flourescent UVB light doesn't really give off heat, so that's not a concern.

Your RES is two inches around---what's the shell length (measure down the spine and don't include the curve of the shell)?

A larger tank would give more options...

[Bumby's Mom]

Turn off the heat bulb if the water is getting that warm. The UVB might be warm enough that it is all you need. In the summer time the UVB made the basking area 86 degrees so there was no need for a heat bulb. Check the basking temp with just the UVB and see what it is at.