Salt?

[crawgator]

can you use aquarium salt with africans? or is there a different type of salt?

 

[kj23502]

Aquarium salt. I don't think you should use it if you have scaleless fish(ie. catfish commonly kept w/africans). It's bad for those.

 

[raptorrex]

can you use aquarium salt with africans? or is there a different type of salt?

i dont think you should use it at all!!!!!! it has uses as a "treatment", but freshwater is freshwater, which means no salt. save your money for the bus trip to a better LFS

 

[Mark777]

can you use aquarium salt with africans? or is there a different type of salt?

You would be better suited using a standard marine salt. 1 TBL spoon per 10 gallons. I've been doing this for years with my Haps and Peacocks to help duplicate the elements in the Malawi lakes. I also use the African Cichlid trace elements by API. Remember to only use RO water or distilled water when topping off you tanks. The salts and elements do not evaporate...they stay in the tank.

 

[kj23502]

I wouldn't use marine salt. I'd use the lake buffers before those. Buffers like:

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=4198

or

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=4192

 

[raptorrex]

there must be better things to use than salt to prop up the ph, as kj23502 links

 

[kj23502]

why do you want to use salt?

 

[ParsonsD]

there must be better things to use than salt to prop up the ph, as kj23502 links

Boboboy and any others out there.. Quick tip..
Forget all your expensive salts and buffers out there, online or from your lfs.. I use a standard home stuff.. To raise your hardness, i put some pebbles, and seashells in that i found off the local beach (obviously boil them first).. And to raise PH in my tank, i use bicarbonate of soda. You do need to remember that your fish are sensitive to rapid, random changes in ph, so go easy..
What i did to start, is take a litre of water out of my tank, add a teaspoon of b.soda, mix well, then put back in my tank. And tested the ph the next morning. And just kept my eye on it until ph had leveled out and i knew how much to put in per the week.
So thanks to tesco and its 69p tub, my fish and its contents are very happy! =] just give it a try, it will not go wrong. (unless you put too much in) Just do it little by little, patience is a virtue, and believe me.. Its worth the wait =] (and saves you big money)

 

[kj23502]

there must be better things to use than salt to prop up the ph, as kj23502 links

Boboboy and any others out there.. Quick tip..
Forget all your expensive salts and buffers out there, online or from your lfs.. I use a standard home stuff.. To raise your hardness, i put some pebbles, and seashells in that i found off the local beach (obviously boil them first).. And to raise PH in my tank, i use bicarbonate of soda. You do need to remember that your fish are sensitive to rapid, random changes in ph, so go easy..
What i did to start, is take a litre of water out of my tank, add a teaspoon of b.soda, mix well, then put back in my tank. And tested the ph the next morning. And just kept my eye on it until ph had leveled out and i knew how much to put in per the week.
So thanks to tesco and its 69p tub, my fish and its contents are very happy! =] just give it a try, it will not go wrong. (unless you put too much in) Just do it little by little, patience is a virtue, and believe me.. Its worth the wait =] (and saves you big money)

I know. I was going to tell him that if he was trying to do something w/the ph and stuff. I first want to find out why he wants to add plain aquarium salt before I go any further than I already have.

 

[raptorrex]

there must be better things to use than salt to prop up the ph, as kj23502 links

Boboboy and any others out there.. Quick tip..
Forget all your expensive salts and buffers out there, online or from your lfs.. I use a standard home stuff.. To raise your hardness, i put some pebbles, and seashells in that i found off the local beach (obviously boil them first).. And to raise PH in my tank, i use bicarbonate of soda. You do need to remember that your fish are sensitive to rapid, random changes in ph, so go easy..
What i did to start, is take a litre of water out of my tank, add a teaspoon of b.soda, mix well, then put back in my tank. And tested the ph the next morning. And just kept my eye on it until ph had leveled out and i knew how much to put in per the week.
So thanks to tesco and its 69p tub, my fish and its contents are very happy! =] just give it a try, it will not go wrong. (unless you put too much in) Just do it little by little, patience is a virtue, and believe me.. Its worth the wait =] (and saves you big money)

oddly i knew that, as i said there must be better ways than using salt. i used the link posted as an example, not a recommendation. whilst you need to be careful, fish are nowhere near as sensitive to swings (of anything) as people believe.
still need to know why the OP wants to use salt, my reason for suggesting it may be ph control, was to chivvy the OP into giving us his reasons.