when people say to put salt into a tank, they say aquarium salt. what makes this salt differnt from table salt. waht would the effect of adding table salt instead of aquarium salt be.
salt
- Thread starter loucas6290
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AFAIK, normal salt is iodized and also contains something to keep the salt crystals from clumping together (I guess it's an anticoagulant of some sort). Supposedly, this is bad for the fish, but recently, some people use table salt to no ill effect.
Though, I'm not exactly a big fan of using table salt anyways, as I keep planted tanks.
Though, I'm not exactly a big fan of using table salt anyways, as I keep planted tanks.
Table salt contains additives, but they're minute traces. It's safe to use in your tank. Kosher, pickling, aquarium and table salt are all sodium chloride, and will all do the trick 
"Aquarium salt" is an undefined material - it may be road salt, it may be rock salt, it may be sea salt, goodness only knows what else. Not in my fish tanks.
If you need to use salt as a medication, table salt is fine.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=54
If you need to use salt as a medication, table salt is fine.
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=54
Aquarium salt is a way of seperating you from your money.
I looked at a pack of Aq. Pharm.'s salt at Pets at Home the other day. It's evaporated seawater.
In other words, exactly the same as the sea salt you can buy for a quarter the price at the supermarket.
And who in their right mind would want to add something that would raise TDS, GH, KH and pH to tanks that usually contain fish from waters where all these factors are lower than in most tapwater?
I looked at a pack of Aq. Pharm.'s salt at Pets at Home the other day. It's evaporated seawater.
In other words, exactly the same as the sea salt you can buy for a quarter the price at the supermarket.
And who in their right mind would want to add something that would raise TDS, GH, KH and pH to tanks that usually contain fish from waters where all these factors are lower than in most tapwater?
This is probably all in RTR's article (you should read any/all of his articles that you can find btw, excellent reading with excellent info), but here goes anyway...
I recently did a little research into table salt for a presentation I gave at our local aquarium society, here's what I found:
The FDA guidelines for table salt require it to be at least 97.5% NaCl.
Most table salt is closer to 99% NaCl.
Between 0.01% and 0.06% of table salt is KI (potassium iodide) to prevent goiters in inland dwellers
About 0.04% is dextrose, a specific shape of glucose, which keeps the KI from turning into I2 (iodine) and evaporating.
Finally about 0.5% is CaSiO4 (Calcium Silicate), an anti-caking agent. Since salt absorbs water from the air, it will tend to clump, this helps prevent it.
There are other anti-caking agents as well.
None of these are harmful to your fish. A little bit of iodide would probably even do them some good. The amount of sugar is dietetically insignificant.
I recently did a little research into table salt for a presentation I gave at our local aquarium society, here's what I found:
The FDA guidelines for table salt require it to be at least 97.5% NaCl.
Most table salt is closer to 99% NaCl.
Between 0.01% and 0.06% of table salt is KI (potassium iodide) to prevent goiters in inland dwellers
About 0.04% is dextrose, a specific shape of glucose, which keeps the KI from turning into I2 (iodine) and evaporating.
Finally about 0.5% is CaSiO4 (Calcium Silicate), an anti-caking agent. Since salt absorbs water from the air, it will tend to clump, this helps prevent it.
There are other anti-caking agents as well.
None of these are harmful to your fish. A little bit of iodide would probably even do them some good. The amount of sugar is dietetically insignificant.