aquarium salts

[snakeskinner]

I recently decided to salt my freshwater tank do to the many advantages salt advertises. By the time I made it to the aquarium store I use, it was closed. The LFS was closed as well. The only store open to get anything I needed was a 24 hour Wal Mart (department store). They have a pet supply section with basic freshwater fish. They had this "milk carton" of "aquarium salt" by Doc Wellfish. It states "All Natural-made from evaporated sea water" which sounded pretty good to me so I bought it and added the recommended amount to the tank. When I made it to the aquarium store the next day for some other things, he acts like I'm an idiot and gives me this story about how when the water evaporates it leaves behind an impure salt that is bad for the aquarium and he sells me Jungle Aquarium salt. Has anyone heard this before? Or was the guy just feeding me a line. The guy is really full of himself and makes you feel like a moron every time you go in. I'm hoping to find another store with the variety of fish they have. I'm no expert but I'm no idiot either. thanks for the input, Kyle

[JSchmidt]

If you're really sold on adding salt (which I don't understand; these are freshwater fish, no?) why don't you just add Morton's table salt? At least you'd know what you're putting in your tank...

Before you get all nuts about using salt, you really ought to read RTR's well-written article on salt use in aquaria. It will tell you 1000 times more about whether you need salt than the ninny who works at the LFS...

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/salt.shtml

Jim

[Slappy*McFish]

ninny...lol

Sometimes I just want to scream.

....bgujrhnvkghskdg!!!!1!one

[snakeskinner]

so what I'm reading in this article is that most everything sold to maintain fishtanks is a lie? Now I'm really confused as to what to do or follow. He sounds very knowledgable on what he's saying but he's basically completely opposite of most LFS employees, common aquarium hobbyists, books and product manufacturers. Who do I listen to? On one hand I want to follow everyone else and keep adding buffers, salt and medication. On the other hand, I want to listen to this guy and just leave the water be and let the fish adapt to it instead of making the water adapt to them...........Kyle

[JSchmidt]

You have to ask yourself: who is trying to sell you stuff and who is providing information based on years (decades, actually) with no expectation of getting anything in return? Do an author search on these forums for RTR (use the search button in the upper right corner of the screen); he's a regular here and he wrote the salt article, and many others, too. See for yourself if you think he's sufficiently knowledgeable. (He is.)

LFS employees come in all varieties: the truly clueless, who will make up anything just to sell you their stock; the 'experts' who have a little bit of knowledge (but often incomplete or outdated knowledge) and are doctrinaire in their fishkeeping; and the true gurus, who keep and breed fish themselves, who don't push snake oil products too much, and who expect to make money off you by having you become a lifelong customer.

It's hard for a beginning (or even intermediate level) aquarist to know which of these folks you're dealing with. Some things to consider: anyone who insists that you need a particular type and brand of water conditioner (other than dechlorinator/dechloriminator) to successfully keep X species of fish is probably selling you a bill of goods. 99% of the preparations sold in an LFS are not needed, and many of those that are useful (e.g., pH buffers/salts for african Rift Lakes) can be made much more cheaply from readily available stuff.

Your best aid in keeping fish successfully is not going to be an LFS employee, in most cases. This forum, and others like it, provide outstanding info and lots of experienced folks who are more than willing to help. They/we have nothing to gain, other than the satisfaction of making this hobby more enjoyable for another person.

Ultimately, it will be your decision re: whose help to seek. We're always here and we don't charge a penny...

Jim

[Dwarfnut]

Very well put Jim, I'll just add what I can to re-inforce what has already been said.

First off, fish live in the wild in their natural habitats and there is no caretaker constantly taking water samples and adding this or that to the water. Fish are adaptable to many different conditions, but keep in mind that nothing usually changes very fast in nature... it's a slow process. The best we can hope for is to re-produce some 'optimal' conditions for the fish and to keep those conditions stable. This is what is best for the fish. The problem with most chemicals is that they can change the conditions almost instantaneously which is really not good for the fish, even tho we are trying to help. Next, these additives are often short-lived and can get expensive. So now you get into a cycle of having to maintain the additives, or once again, you stress out the fish with a drastic change in water parameters. Plus, you are now spending lots of money.

Finally, the 'best', most natural tanks in which I believe the fish do their best are the ones in balance. There is a natural balance in nature that can be re-produced without a lot of chemicals being added and requires a lot less work overall and is cheaper overall. A well desined and maintained tank should not need any chemicals added to it (save for things like ferts for plants and such) and will make you much happier overall. I also strongly agree that there is so much great advise given on this and other forums that you should strongly take it into consideration. The people here are not trying to sell you anything, most, if not all, are experienced in fish-keeping, all most important have the experience of having gone thru exactly what you are going thru and can help you thru it. That's what makes this place so great.

that's about it for my 2 cents...

PS. If you are set on adding salt, please DO NOT use ordinary table salt as it will be the 'iodized' variety meaning it contains added iodine. This will build up quickly and kill everything in the tank. Make sure you are adding pure sodium chloride which is pure salt such as the 'aquarium salt' or like rock salt. There are many saltwater aquarium salts that contain additives and buffers for salt-water aquariums that you should not use in a FW tank. Sounds like that is what you may have gotten on the first go-round. Read the lable and make sure it's just plain old 100% salt.

[TKOS]

Actually it isn't the iodine in salt that is bad but usually the anti-clumping agents which make salt not stick together.

I can't remember but I believe it is RTR that actually adds iodine to his tank for the health of freshwater shrimp. All living things need a little iodine to live, that is why they added it to table salt in the first place.

[OrionGirl]

Originally posted by Dwarfnut
PS. If you are set on adding salt, please DO NOT use ordinary table salt as it will be the 'iodized' variety meaning it contains added iodine. This will build up quickly and kill everything in the tank. Make sure you are adding pure sodium chloride which is pure salt such as the 'aquarium salt' or like rock salt. There are many saltwater aquarium salts that contain additives and buffers for salt-water aquariums that you should not use in a FW tank. Sounds like that is what you may have gotten on the first go-round. Read the lable and make sure it's just plain old 100% salt.

And a quick correction on this--one pointed out in RTR's article linked above...

Iodized salt is fine. It will not harm your fish. The amount of iodine in table salt is minute. So, while too much iodine is a problem, iodine is in fact an essential nutrient for every living thing around. The amount included in table salt is harmless, unless you are adding enough salt to actually pickle the fish--at which point, iodine is moot.

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by Dwarfnut


PS. If you are set on adding salt, please DO NOT use ordinary table salt as it will be the 'iodized' variety meaning it contains added iodine. This will build up quickly and kill everything in the tank. Make sure you are adding pure sodium chloride which is pure salt such as the 'aquarium salt' or like rock salt. There are many saltwater aquarium salts that contain additives and buffers for salt-water aquariums that you should not use in a FW tank. Sounds like that is what you may have gotten on the first go-round. Read the lable and make sure it's just plain old 100% salt.


Aaaaaaaaaagggghhhh! Not the old "dangers of iodized salt" myth! Read the article! Iodized salt will not harm your fish!
:thud:

Jim

[snakeskinner]

I do value the experience of the people on the forums and figure you all are probably a better source than the LFS. It's just difficult whether to decide if I should follow person X or person Y. On one hand I agree with the article about letting the water be and keep it constant. This is fine and dandy as long as you have everything set right so that it maintains itself constant (fish per plants per filter, etc.). I guess I just need to figure out for myself who I want to follow and go from there. Just too many opinions and not enough experience or knowledge for myself. thanks for the advice, Kyle

[slipknottin]

Originally posted by TKOS
Actually it isn't the iodine in salt that is bad but usually the anti-clumping agents which make salt not stick together.


" sodium chloride, is hydroscopic- exposed to air of more than Sahara-at-midday humidity, it will pick up moisture from the air on the surfaces of the individual crystals, which melt at the surface and cement themselves together- in short, they clump. The salt shaker does not work with clumpy salt, so additives are used to block the clumping. Arrowroot is common for this purpose, but others are possible. Again, as with iodine, quantities are small (but larger than with iodine), and are food-safe and fish-safe"