Lol I had the opposite problem using distilled made my fixer go cloudy.

That coffee can method @lewis.diana mentioned is exactly the kind of thing I used to roll my eyes at. Thought it was just lazy old timer stuff. But last year my temp controller died and I had to develop a roll of Tri-X in a changing bag with a used gatorade bottle and tap water. Turned out better than half the stuff I'd done with my fancy gear. Really made me rethink everything. The whole sledgehammer to crack a nut thing is dead on. We get so caught up in perfect tools we forget the process is pretty simple if you just pay attention.

Wait, his arms went numb from pull-starting it, @jesseb20? That's insane, I'd switch too just to keep my hands working.

Man I had almost the exact same problem with my build last year. I got a vertical mount kit for my Fractal Terra and instantly saw CPU temps shoot up by 7 or 8 degrees just like you. The card was basically pressed right up against the glass and choked off all the airflow to the top fan. I tried it for two weeks because I really wanted that clean look but ended up switching back to standard mount when my GPU started hitting 83 degrees during gaming sessions. Airflow in these small cases is just too precious to waste on looks. Standard mount every time for a daily driver, no question about it.

Used to think heat was always best but your method makes total sense for sensitive skin.