Pond Salt

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*TJ

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"Pond" salt is a good way to loose your $'s. Water Softening salt is just fine, available in any Home Improvement store or Wal-mart... and it's cheap. Just make sure there is no YPS in the salt. Regular table salt is good in a pinch if you have a very small pond (under 500 gallons).
 

carpediem

Registered Loser
I've been buying a product by Morton called Purex. It is pure salt made from untreated brine and costs about $6.50 for a 50 lb bag. It is food grade salt and has the consistency of table salt (maybe a little bit more coarse). I would NEVER pay money for "pond salt". I was just curious how many people actually did as someone must be buying the stuff.
 

flyfly

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Jan 21, 2005
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this might be a silly question, but why do you salt your ponds?
 

carpediem

Registered Loser
Koi need salt in their bloodstream to survive. If the percentage of salt in the water is less than the percentage of salt needed internally by the koi, then the fish needs to expend extra energy in the form of osmotic pressure in order to hold the salt level higher in their body than in the surrounding water. Salting the water leaves more energy for the fish to combat parasites and disease.
 

*TJ

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Hmmmm yes that is quite true - but to add salt to your system is not necessary if your source water has a salinity level over 0.05% and is more on the alkaline side(above neutral pH 7.0). This is quite sufficent for the fish - higher levels (over 0.1%) can be irritating to the koi long-term and causes them to produce excess mucus - amoung other things. Ideally one should not be adding salt unless one needs to treat for some issue, such as a nitrite spike or certain parasites.

Just for kicks... http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm
 

carpediem

Registered Loser
*TJ said:
Hmmmm yes that is quite true - but to add salt to your system is not necessary if your source water has a salinity level over 0.05% and is more on the alkaline side(above neutral pH 7.0). This is quite sufficent for the fish - higher levels (over 0.1%) can be irritating to the koi long-term and causes them to produce excess mucus - amoung other things. Ideally one should not be adding salt unless one needs to treat for some issue, such as a nitrite spike or certain parasites.

Just for kicks... http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm
Right on...
 

Barkarole

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May 16, 2006
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carpediem said:
Just curious, what do you all use for pond salt? Do you buy the laguna pond salt or do you have your own secret recipe?

You show me yours, I'll show you mine :p:
I've never added salt to mine because I have sunfish in it which are quite tempermental to it. Depending on the fish you have you really have to becareful of adding salt. The only time I used salt for my Koi was when they were ill.
 
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