Aquarium salt

[Ttw]

Does anyone use aquarium salt in their apisto tanks? I never have but have recently read that this is recommended even for soft water fish.

 

[tjudy]

Not when I am trying to breed them, but I use a mix of salts in all my aquariums unless I want really soft water. I use an adulterated aquarium salt. Most 'aquarium salt' is just NaCl, but other salts have been proven to be beneficial. Magnesium sulfate in particular. I use a mix of 1 part Kent Marine R/O Right (which has a lot of different salts in it) and 2 parts magnesium sulfate (epsom salts).

To determine how much salt to use I have a conductivity meter. For my 'softwater' fish that I am adding theraputic salt to, I do not want the conductivity to be over 300 ppm. All my Central American fish have their TDS adjusted up to 500 ppm. All my rift lake fish get 800-1000 ppm.

My tap water is about 250 ppm and contains a LOT of carbonate hardness, therefore I do not add any alkalinity buffers other than the very little that is in R/O Right. What I do is mix my salt well and keep it in a jar. It is too hard to figure out the exact gallons I changes with my flow-through water change system, so I have used trial an error to know how much 1 Tbs of salt mix will affect the TDS in each size tank. For example, in a 75 gallon 1 Tbs. will increase TDS by 45 ppm. In a 20 gallon a Tbs increases it by 55 ppm. (those numbers are approximate). All I do is measure the TDS and add the number of Tbs I need to increase hardness to the level I want.

The main reason I use salts even with soft water fish is that hard water is more stable. Our aquariums are not like wild conditions where water is changing constantly as the current flows by, the volume of water is huge and fish density is comparatively low. Hard water is also a deterrent to the soft water parasite that causes velvet, and the magnesium sulfate is proven effective at hold down hexamita parasite infestations.

 

[Mike Wise]

Since I only keep soft water species, I only use salt in my fish room for the brine shrimp hatcheries. I use a mix of kosher salt and epsom salt for this, since my tap water is pretty soft.