If you have a refillable media basket or bag or cartridge or whatever, you can put the salt in there and it'll just dissolve in the filter flow.
Rate of Salt addition.....
- Thread starter cohazard
- Start date
CajunCC said:
True, but pre-mixing the salt isn't that difficult anyways. Plus, when you premix the salt solution, I can make sure there's more oxygen in it (by causing lots of surface agitation while mixing).
I just wanted to add my experience with adding salt to treat for ich last night. I usually mix the amount of salt i am going to use in a one or 2 gallon pitcher and dose every hour equal ammunts over a 24 to 48 hour periond while increasing my temperature. However I didn't notice my fish had ick until 10:00 pm last night. And seeing how it is right in the middle of the work week I got kinda lazy. I have net breeders that I use to breed mollies in, I come up with the idea to place that in that tank, turn on my bubble strip and add all 70 teaspoons of salt in it thinking that it would dissolve slowly. To my horror after I dumped all the salt into the net, it took less than 5 minutes for all of the salt to dissolve. Lucky for me and my fish they are alive and well today. I will never take the "lazy" way out again. Its best to dissolve the salt and dose over time than to rely on the salt to slowly dissolve. I have mostly tetras with 1 black fin shark ( his mate died for unknown reason 2 a few weeks ago)( he will be moved to my 75 g later), 1 pleco, some cories and 2 female bettas, the tank is a 40 gallon planted. However you choose to do it is your own preference, bit imo why take the risk. This was a lesson learned for me
beviking - If you a dry salt in any quantity at all, it will make it to the substrate (If the fish do not try to eat it first - another negative). On the substrate it will dissolve, and if any significant quantity is added, you will be able to see a brine layer just above the substrate and FW above that with a meniscus between the two. Ever wondered how the myth started that cory cat cannot handle any salt? Three guesses.
BTW, do not try this experiment with fish in the tank.
BTW, do not try this experiment with fish in the tank.
Certainly salt water is heavier than fresh. But unless your filter is left off, the physical movement of water, along with diffusion will get it spread around right quick. NOW, as for dumping it in, I still add gradually, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per gallon at a time and NOT all at once, but rather a little at a time. I.e. for a 90gal tank, I would add a total of 21 teaspoons, but would add it one tablespoon at a time. Watch it fall, spread around, then dump another tablespoon full at the other end.
I absolutely agree with Dave, discretion is a good thing.
If you add 1 TBSP of salt into a container of water, then add it to the tank, the increase in Cl ions throughout the tank is increased quicker than dumping 1 TBSP directly in.
If you're only adding 1/4tsp per gallon at a time, to me, it makes no difference if you dissolve it beforehand or not...that's all.
I absolutely agree with Dave, discretion is a good thing.
If you add 1 TBSP of salt into a container of water, then add it to the tank, the increase in Cl ions throughout the tank is increased quicker than dumping 1 TBSP directly in.
If you're only adding 1/4tsp per gallon at a time, to me, it makes no difference if you dissolve it beforehand or not...that's all.
beviking said:
Basically, there's several cons to adding the salt directly to the tank.....
1) Most fish will try to eat it....which isn't good for them.
2) It takes longer to get the tank to the desired # of tsp's per gallon. The gentle water flow of a typical fw setup is nothing compared to the whirlpool in a 5g bucket being mixed by hand.
3) If solid salt reaches the bottom of the tank (even if added a tsp. at a time, I'm sure some still gets to the bottom, it's just turned clear at that point), it just sits there not doing any good while it slowly dissolves.
Any one of those reasons alone is enough to convince me that adding salt directly to the tank is not the best way to go about bumping up the salt content of the aquarium water for ich treatment. It's more cumbersome and risks the health of the fish. Where's the debate?
Some ppl like to hang a mesh bag in there tank tank to let the salt slowly dissolve in the water. This elimniates salt getting into the gravel. Fish cannot eat it if put in the aquarium in a mesh bag. Its not cut and dry to some ppl. I posted my experience with using salt in a previous post. Depending on the kind of salt you use will depend on how fast it dissoves. I used Jungle aquarium salt and it took less than 5 minutes for 70 tespoons to fully dissolve (I guess the terms fast dissolving on the label really weren't joking) fully in my tank. Have a nice day !
It is a 40 gallon. I subtracted about 5 gallons due to rocks taking up space. All fish are stilll alive. I do suggest that you dissove the salt first before you put into your tank. I don't know if I just got lucky this time, or if its ok to add this much salt at one time, but I definetly will not try it agin to find out 
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SoCalSunset said:
1) Trying to eat it and actually eating it are two different things.
2) Exactly! A slower gradual increase is less stress to the fish.
3)Slowly dissolves...if you're treating for ich (typically 10-14 day treatment) why does it have to be dissolved instantly?
The mesh bag trick is a good suggestion, again, I wouldn't add it all at once though.
