What Salt? Not Sure If Right Section

[pippoodle]

I want to breed my amano shrimps and need salt water - i know how much i need but really can't afford the expensive marine salt for the bit i need to use just as an experiment on breeding shrimp
i have the thing to measure the salt content of the water
do i actully need to use marine salt - it's so expensive

and whats the difference between table salt , sea salt and marine salt

thanks Sarah x

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Table salt is just pure sodium chloride(NaCl). Marine salt has several other things in it that replicate the ocean water.

I would say you have to use the marine salt.

 

[three-fingers]

Yep, and sea salt will be mainly that too, but I don't know if it's refined it any way or if any important minerals are lost.

A small pack of marine salt should cost around £8 if I remember correctly, I got some Sera stuff a while ago planning to breed bamboo shrimp, and that's enough to do 10gals. I think my lfs has some smaller packs of marine salt for around £4.99, to do 5gals I think.

If you cant get small packs of proper marine salt, you could try proper sea salt I guess (check the ingredients) , but I'd make sure to fill the tank with shells and calcium carbonate containing rocks to buffer that pH just to make sure. Would be interesting to see if it worked, probably will just for raising shrimp larvae, but I wouldent bother trying to use it in an actual marine tank .

Could also take a trip to the sea and collect some water from there if you live near an unpolluted coastline, would have other goodies like phyto in it too. High possibility of it containing larvae of other things that could compete with the shrimp though.

 

[pippoodle]

thanks for the replys looks like marine salt then
got to increase the salinity level slowly once the female has released the larvae
i'm definately going to give it a try when i get back from hols in june - couldn't leave babies unattended while i went away lol
i'm already going to take fish fry with me in a little tank m but i think hubby would draw the line at shrimp larvae lmao

 

[three-fingers]

Lol . I've taken Triops larvae with me on holiday before, I am odd though .

From what I've read, it's perfectly safe just to put them straight into salt water, and is probably better because then there's less of a delay in getting them to full marine .

Some places even recommend adding the salt straight into the tank (and had great success with it), but I wouldn't go that far, since it's meant to burn fish, and if you dissolve marine salt on your hands, it gets strangely hot .

 

[Truck]

salt water doesnt burn any fish, it is said to burn catfish but it doesnt, they have plates which act as a physical barrier between the salt and the layer of skin underneath, the only thing salt will do to some catfish which are truly freshwater is ruin their gills, kidneys and liver.

 

[three-fingers]

salt water doesnt burn any fish, it is said to burn catfish but it doesnt, they have plates which act as a physical barrier between the salt and the layer of skin underneath, the only thing salt will do to some catfish which are truly freshwater is ruin their gills, kidneys and liver.

Think about what I said truck .

 

[Truck]

since it's meant to burn fish,

do you mean, when they touch the salt? or when its diluted?

 

[three-fingers]

When a salt crystal is in the process of dissolving in the water.

Hence the "some places even recommend adding the salt straight into the tank" and the "if you dissolve marine salt on your hands".

 

[RadaR]

Yummy endothermic reaction.