Aquarium salt
- Thread starter mag125
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Many people do not believe in adding salt to a fresh water tank. Most smooth skin fish like otos and cories do not tolerate it nor do life plants. Here is a link you could read before making a decision:
Aquaworld Aquarium - Adding Salt to a Freshwater Aquarium
Remember, too, salt does not evaporate, so you would have a difficult time controlling salinity, I would think, without frequent testing if you continued to do it. I had not heard that salt kills bacteria, it does kill parasites. The most frequent remedy for ich that members on this site recommend it simply turning up the heat to about 82 and daily vacuuming to pick up the spores for at least two weeks. I have never used any salt in any of my tanks and have had no problems. Also there are different types of salt and you need to be aware of that.
Aquaworld Aquarium - Adding Salt to a Freshwater Aquarium
Remember, too, salt does not evaporate, so you would have a difficult time controlling salinity, I would think, without frequent testing if you continued to do it. I had not heard that salt kills bacteria, it does kill parasites. The most frequent remedy for ich that members on this site recommend it simply turning up the heat to about 82 and daily vacuuming to pick up the spores for at least two weeks. I have never used any salt in any of my tanks and have had no problems. Also there are different types of salt and you need to be aware of that.
Hello; A bit of caution about salt. Many fish need some salt and a lot do fine with some in the water. There are some species that do not tolerate salt well at all. Do a little checking on the fish that you have or plan to get.
Also salt does not leave a tank during evaporation, so once a proper amount is in a tank more will not have to be added. For example if you have a ten gallon tank and have to top it off with a gallon of water you do not have to add any more salt.
At water changes you will only need to add salt for the amount of water changed. Say you siphon out four gallons and put five gallons back, you only need new salt for the four gallons plus a tad. My thinking is the salt concentration in the four gallons removed should be concentrated a bit due to evaporation, so over a lot of water changes the salt concentration will be affected. I do not have any idea how to calculate this. There use to be an insrtrument that measured salt concentrations, I do not know what is used today.
All that said, I do not add salt as a matter of course. Some of my fish do not do do well with it.
I am not aware of any serious impact on biofilters at levels used in freshwater tanks. Others may have better info.
Also salt does not leave a tank during evaporation, so once a proper amount is in a tank more will not have to be added. For example if you have a ten gallon tank and have to top it off with a gallon of water you do not have to add any more salt.
At water changes you will only need to add salt for the amount of water changed. Say you siphon out four gallons and put five gallons back, you only need new salt for the four gallons plus a tad. My thinking is the salt concentration in the four gallons removed should be concentrated a bit due to evaporation, so over a lot of water changes the salt concentration will be affected. I do not have any idea how to calculate this. There use to be an insrtrument that measured salt concentrations, I do not know what is used today.
All that said, I do not add salt as a matter of course. Some of my fish do not do do well with it.
I am not aware of any serious impact on biofilters at levels used in freshwater tanks. Others may have better info.
It can kill off some of your biofilter in large amounts, but the bacteria can adapt and reproduce over time.
Aquarium salt is not the same as salt for a marine tank. You will not see a significant increase in salinity. They do not affect ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels.
I've never used aquarium salt except in an emergency for a friend that had a bad nitrite spike after a long weekend with no power in his house. It can help fish take in oxygen to offset nitrite poisoning.
Aquarium salt is not the same as salt for a marine tank. You will not see a significant increase in salinity. They do not affect ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels.
I've never used aquarium salt except in an emergency for a friend that had a bad nitrite spike after a long weekend with no power in his house. It can help fish take in oxygen to offset nitrite poisoning.
Thyra, I have otos and I had salt in the tank before I got them. They're doing fine and all of my fish are healthy. I don't add a whole bunch of salt, but like I said, my fish are doing fine. I guess everyone's experience is different. For example, the last fish that died on me was my 4 neons and that was in the summer time. They all had bent spines except for the one that's still alive. I'm planning to get more soon, but that's after I get at least a 30 gallon.
In all my research I found salt isn't necessary. Plus the more experienced members on this forum don't use it. Because smooth skin fish don't tolerate it doesn't mean they drop dead immediately, I am guessing it is just an irritation that shortens their life span. They are called "fresh water fish" for a reason. Seeing as how it really does nothing, I just wouldn't want to take a chance of its long term effect.
i dont use any salt. as others have said it irritates and burns the skin of scaleless fish. that being said i do think it can be beneficial in different freshwater situations. it really is completely dependent on what you've got in your tank.
in a 15 gallon a group of 5 khulis would already fill up half of your stocking capacity. so ya as lauraf said the bigger the better
in a 15 gallon a group of 5 khulis would already fill up half of your stocking capacity. so ya as lauraf said the bigger the better
I use salt in all my tanks. it's a small amount like a table spoon per gallon. the stuff i use is called bosmans fish tonic, it's a blue granular salt mix my lfs sells in ziplock bags with instructions taped to the outside of the bag. i know it don't seem very professional but the stuff works great or at least seems to in my overstocked tanks.
I use instant ocean, baking soda, and Epsom salt to create the proper pH and natural conditions for my African 75G. I do weekly changes at about 70% rates. About every 4-6th water change I need to cut way down on the instant ocean because the salt level will get to almost 1.002. So if you are using salt you should get a test gauge for salt water to be sure your level does not go up.
Hello; I do know that pure water is the standard with regard to density which is 1. ( I think it is 1 gram per cubic centimeter ) Anything that floats in water has a density of less that 1 gram per cubic centimeter and anything that sinks has a density of more than gram per cubic centimeter. I had at one point a device (hygrometer?) that floated in water with a scale on it. Salt water will have a slightly higher density than pure fresh water and caused the device to float slightly higher than in fresh water and the salts concentration could be read on the scale.
This type device is also used when making homemade wine. I do not recall if it can be accurate enough to read very low concentrations of salt.
Marine species need concentrations of salts similar to oceans. Brackish species from estuaries, bays, river mouths and such where fresh and sea water mix often need smaller concentrations of salts. ( American Flag fish comes to mind) Some fish are able to deal with either brackish or fresh water. (Mollies fit this if I recall corectly.) Some freshwater tropicals do not tolerate salt well at all over time so should not have salt added.
Most water companies get the water from surface sources that have some very small amounts of dissolved ground minerals and salts. This may affect the pH of tap water a bit and/or affect the hardness of the water, I believe. Well water can have more stuff dissolved in it due to the water being in contact with subsurface minerals for a long time. Some ground water has been in aquifiers for thousands of years.
I repeat what has been posted by others. It mainly depends on the type of fish you are keeping. I have loaches and am not able to keep fish that need salt with them.
This type device is also used when making homemade wine. I do not recall if it can be accurate enough to read very low concentrations of salt.
Marine species need concentrations of salts similar to oceans. Brackish species from estuaries, bays, river mouths and such where fresh and sea water mix often need smaller concentrations of salts. ( American Flag fish comes to mind) Some fish are able to deal with either brackish or fresh water. (Mollies fit this if I recall corectly.) Some freshwater tropicals do not tolerate salt well at all over time so should not have salt added.
Most water companies get the water from surface sources that have some very small amounts of dissolved ground minerals and salts. This may affect the pH of tap water a bit and/or affect the hardness of the water, I believe. Well water can have more stuff dissolved in it due to the water being in contact with subsurface minerals for a long time. Some ground water has been in aquifiers for thousands of years.
I repeat what has been posted by others. It mainly depends on the type of fish you are keeping. I have loaches and am not able to keep fish that need salt with them.
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I have a catfish in every tank except my salt and 30 gallon and they seem to do just fine with salt in the tank. i use well water and bypass my water softener for my tanks. but all my tanks have africans in them which they love hard water and lots of minerals in the water so i think thats y they do so well.
Hello; It is my understanding that it is possible for wells in the same area to have different quality of water. On way this may happen is that the depth of the wells may be different and the intake winds up positioned in different layers of porous rock. Some of the wells in my area have a lot of sulfur or iron while others not so much. It left red stains on the toilets and tubs over time from my past well but did not taste very much and was fine for the tanks.
It may be possible to determine where a level of good water exists and drill from your surface elevation to that level. I also, for some reason, think that if your well passes thru a layer of bad water that the shaft can be sealed to prevent that poor water.
Another way to get non-tap water could be a cistern. There have been some threads about this on the monster fish keepers forum. Might be more cost effective.
It may be possible to determine where a level of good water exists and drill from your surface elevation to that level. I also, for some reason, think that if your well passes thru a layer of bad water that the shaft can be sealed to prevent that poor water.
Another way to get non-tap water could be a cistern. There have been some threads about this on the monster fish keepers forum. Might be more cost effective.