To Add Salt Or Not To A Tropical Tank?

[Bigman]

Hi Guys and Girls,
 
I watched a video on You Tube yesterday, about cleaning your tank. This guy did everything I expected other than he put salt in the last bucket of fresh water when he refilled his tank?
 
He made the comment that some fish keepers like to do this and others don't.
 
Question,  Any ideas why? what are the benefits if any?
 
His fish were all barbs if that makes a difference, and they looked in perfect condition.
 
It just seems a strange thing to do.... add salt to a fresh water aquarium.....
 
Best Regards
to you all
 
Tony

 

[fluttermoth]

It used to be common in 'the old days', before we really understood cycling, as it does mitigate some of the worst effects of nitrite poisoning.
 
Although salt is a very useful medication, in some circumstances, there is absolutely no need to add it as a matter of course.

 

[Bigman]

Hi fluttermoth,
 
Thank you for that. I knew salt had 'medical' properties but did not associate it with freshwater fish..... you learn something everyday with this hobby....
 
Regards
Tony

 

[Discuslove]

it does add some nutrients to the water which helps fish breathe easier. As they breathe in they take in a certain chemical but sometimes aquariums can be low in it and fish find it hard to breathe and get in the nutrients they need and so salt adds this to the aquarium and thus making it easier to breathe. It also heals wounds.

 

[Chad]

Although salt is a very useful medication, in some circumstances, there is absolutely no need to add it as a matter of course.

This is how I feel about it as well. It's very useful when circumstances warrant it. I do not recommend adding it as a matter of course however.

 

[ncguppy830]

yea well  adding salt might benifit Poecialla family which naturaally ocur in brackish areas.

 

[Chad]

Unfortunately aquarium salt is the wrong kind of salt for brackish fish.

 

[ncguppy830]

i never said aquarium salt..maybe i should have been specific.

 

[Chad]

Yes, in a case like this being specific is important.
 
Normally when we talk about adding salt to a FW tank for medical purposes we are talking about aquarium salt.
 
For a brackish tank it takes marine salt. This isn't generally used for medical purposes because it contains a whole lot of other stuff designed to change the water parameters (especially the pH) into marine or brackish conditions.
 
I would not want someone to think they need to buy marine salt for medical treatment and I also wouldn't want someone to set up a brackish tank with aquarium salt!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

A couple of questions here. Salt is NaCl, is this different for the salt in the ocean than my table salt shaker? There may be additional things in marine salt, but those are not salt perse, they are in addition to it? But to date one of the best things I have seen on salt and tanks is by Robert T. Ricketts aka RTR. I had the privilege of chatting with him back in the days when he still did that. He was, withiut out a doubt, one of the most expert aquarists I have ever known, If he stated that putting cement into a tank was good for fish, i would be running out for a bag.

 

TPF Author: Robert T. Ricketts

About the Author
Retired research scientist (biochemistry and physiology, pharmaceutical development) and senior process analyst.
 
Started fishkeeping in the dark ages (1950s), first SW tanks in the mid-60s, first puffers in the early 60s. Started with two tanks and never less than multi-tanked excepting some periods in college and grad school. Specialty if any would be filtration and water management. Primarily species tanks, planted whenever possible/practical and some where it not really practical.
 
Ran something on the order of >150 tank-years* in studying optimum tank conditions for F-8 puffers, the largest tank study I have done. Other studies have been significantly less. Alternate canister use was mid-40s, OERFUG just over 60, veggie filters only about 25 to publication, but still going on less intently. If it had been known that the F-8s would live so long, it probably would not have been started at all.
*One tank-year is one tank for one year.

 
So please have a read here http/theaquariumwiki.com/The_Salt_of_the_Earth
The above can be found reprinted or cited at a lot of the best fish sites.

 

[Chad]

It is different salt. Quite different. Though the base element of what we call salt is the same, the concoction we in the hobby call marine salt is not. What we call salt for marine tanks or brackish is really formula of different components.

 

[Ch4rlie]

What happens if you put in aquarium salts meant for brackish fish?
 
Will that salt have any adverse effects on the fish?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Tcamos, then it seems to me that we are talking not about marine salt but rather marine salts? When one says salt in the singular I think sodium chloride.
 
Marine salt must be more like RO additives in fw then?

 

[becketlady]

remember this is not the salt we use daily for food on our table.   As long as its sea salt and nothing added..................i use it for my fish if sick etc...gills breathing. Also I use aquarium salt too.....not good to use when having plants in the tanks....snails. Its like burning the skin. Its good to use against ick or when the fish is sick. Sometime I add a little salt to keep out diseases and keep the fish healthy. Not everyone use salt in the tanks. 

 

[Chad]

Tcamos, then it seems to me that we are talking not about marine salt but rather marine salts? When one says salt in the singular I think sodium chloride.
 
Marine salt must be more like RO additives in fw then?

 
Yes. But in the vernacular one would never say "salts".

But yes, brackish fish, and marine fish, need a particular kind of environment which is created via the salt mix, we'll call it that. It can contain dozens of ingredients needed to produce the right environment.
 
That's why I posted in your altum thread that there really are similarities between what you must do to keep them and what's needed for marine fish.