Salt or not (plants and fish)

[Zaffy]

I chose all the answers because non-inclusive poll options irritate me.

 

[jpappy789]

I chose all the answers because non-inclusive poll options irritate me.

:rofl:

 

[thebrandon]

I add hamburgers to my water. Fish love hamburgers and it makes them feel happy, and provides an already present amount of electrolytes to their life. I've also recorded an interesting color mutation while adding hamburger to the water.

Before I added hamburger to the water, my fish were fine, perfectly happy and healthy as can be. Now that I add hamburger I notice that my fish are colored differently, swim and behave differently.

I suggest that everyone who doesn't add hamburger to please try it out. There are no studies thus far that say it is bad to add hamburger, and in my experience, it has done wonders. Not to mention how daily feeding has dropped down to never feeding because the hamburger provides other needed and un-needed nutrients as well

The best way to introduce aquarium hamburger into the water is to blend it up, put it in an eye dropper and when fish swim by you shoot it out in there eye.

 

[DGC]

Hello all, thanks its been fun reading, could Zaffy advise how to make this pole inclusive when the topic seems to be non specific or scientific.

I had a tanks about 15 years ago and used salt, no problems and community did well no diseas, plants grew normaly (no co2 or ferts in those days for me)

To date i have not used salt and in a 3 month period i got white spots.

I understand there is a whole lot more to the equation than just salt or not

without sending too many people off the deep end i suppose following opinions of experience with success would be safer than macdonalds options.

time, effort and cash mixed with fish floating upside down would be worse than knowing should i or should i not be using a touch of salt.

Thanks to all who shared some light

 

[thebrandon]

without sending too many people off the deep end i suppose following opinions of experience with success would be safer than macdonalds options.

I beg to differ:grinno:

To be fair though, small amounts of salt have been used for a very long time in countless tanks. Many pet stores, chain stores and small mom and pop type deals, use salt and recommend it. Many also will tell you you don't need it. To this day I have not heard of people losing fish, or fish living shorter lives because of the use of salt on a regular basis. At the same time though, I have not heard of people losing fish, or fish living shorter lives because of them NOT using salt on a regular basis.

This is a topic that simply can not end with a right or wrong answer in my opinion. Everything has its own application. Salt in many cases can be beneficial depending on your source water. At the same time, it can be completely un-necessary for what seems like the majority of people(like myself).

 

[KarlTh]

My own belief is that fish are far more adaptable than we give them credit for and at the sort of levels salt is generally recommended at by the believers it does pretty much naff all one way or the other.

Incidently, here's my water analysis: http://www.stwater.co.uk/server.php?postcode=s44+5ay&show=nav.5635&btnWaterQualitySubmit=

Chloride and Sodium are both at around 25-30 ppm. I am pretty sure that's more than enough for non-brackish fish. Total NaCl 55ppm, which is .05 grams in a litre, or around 0.175g per US gallon, equivalent to adding around 10 grams to my 55 gallon tank if I filled it with RO water.

To put this in perspective, most salty believers talk about 1tablespoon per 5 gallons, or 11 tablespoons in a 55 gallon tank. A tablespoon of salt weighs around 30 grams, because the bulk density of salt is around 1 g/ml, so they're recommending 330 grams of salt - some thirty times as much.

The question here is how much salt is there in say the Amazon? Is it closer to my tapwater's 55ppm, or the salty believers' recommendation which is around thirty times as much. I know which my money's on, and so I'm not adding any salt.

 

[DGC]

This is a topic that simply can not end with a right or wrong answer in my opinion. Everything has its own application. Salt in many cases can be beneficial depending on your source water. At the same time, it can be completely un-necessary for what seems like the majority of people(like myself).[/QUOTE]

it is then fair to say there is no answer to this question and it should not be a concern.

Quote from my wife yesterday "can we get a dog now?"

thanks for the links and advise.

 

[Star_Rider]

opcorn:opcorn:

 

[trigiver01]

I am also not seeing why salt is good...you say that it helps your fish "look" better, but how do you know it is from the salt and not from having good water quality in terms of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

Actually, I said that they were thriving. I define this by three standards:

(1) my fish are larger
(2) my fish are more colorful
(3) my fish are more active

Than fish from the same stock at my lfs that are swimming in water from the same treatment company treated by the same dechlorinator and fed the same food. All other parameters (ammonia, nitrites at 0 and nitrates < 20) are comparative between the two.

I add hamburgers to my water. Fish love hamburgers and it makes them feel happy, and provides an already present amount of electrolytes to their life. I've also recorded an interesting color mutation while adding hamburger to the water.

Before I added hamburger to the water, my fish were fine, perfectly happy and healthy as can be. Now that I add hamburger I notice that my fish are colored differently, swim and behave differently.

I suggest that everyone who doesn't add hamburger to please try it out. There are no studies thus far that say it is bad to add hamburger, and in my experience, it has done wonders. Not to mention how daily feeding has dropped down to never feeding because the hamburger provides other needed and un-needed nutrients as well

The best way to introduce aquarium hamburger into the water is to blend it up, put it in an eye dropper and when fish swim by you shoot it out in there eye.

Nice farce, but you can make fun of my argument all you want without doing anything to debunk it...

And note (I posted this before...) that I add NaCl at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. Not five, three, or even two as were mentioned here...

 

[jpappy789]

Are the tanks stocked similarly at your LFS compared to a normal community tank?

I find it hard to believe that a LFS does not technically overstock tanks that are not just for display...and that can make a HUGE difference.

I personally don't find the comparison between LFS tanks and hobbyist tanks to be valid, but maybe thats just me...