Should I or not add some salt?
 

The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.

I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
say to add salt and those that say no way.

My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
quantity.

So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
plants.
Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
hoping not affect the other fish and plants?

Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
live plants. :)

Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've read
that neon tetras and salt don't mix well.
I'd definitely suggest waiting until someone here says it would be
fine.

-m

On 25 Apr 2005 11:24:42 -0700, "
wrote:

The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.

I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
say to add salt and those that say no way.

My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
quantity.

So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
plants.
Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
hoping not affect the other fish and plants?

Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
live plants. :)

Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.

"m" wrote in message
...
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've read
that neon tetras and salt don't mix well.
I'd definitely suggest waiting until someone here says it would be
fine.

-m

On 25 Apr 2005 11:24:42 -0700, "
wrote:

The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.

I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
say to add salt and those that say no way.

My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
quantity.

So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
plants.
Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
hoping not affect the other fish and plants?

Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
live plants. :)

Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.


My Neons (with the exception of one) have coped well with the salt I've been
using for the Ick treatment but the salt that I have added has been very
small (half dose).

My question would be unless there was a medical reason for adding salt (like
the Ick outbreak on my Clowns) why add anything additional to your water
conditioning and plant fertiliser?

Mainly because of the red crabs that I have. They look fine with the
current water, but from the information I have been gathering they like
brackish conditions. So I figure that adding a small amount of salt to
the tank, just enough that it wouldn't affect the fish and be
beneficial for the crab.

Oh yes, I am not adding anything to the water, even when I do water
changes.

The only thing I am putting is just a capfull of plant gro (plant
fertilizer, mainly Iron) once a week nothing else.

wrote:
The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.

I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
say to add salt and those that say no way.

My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
quantity.

So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
plants.
Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
hoping not affect the other fish and plants?

Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
live plants. :)

Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.

One tsp of salt for 30 gallons of water will hurt nothing in your tank.
It's simply too tiny of an amount to bother plants or even the many
sof****er fish you have. It may help the crabs, guppies and mollies.

You'll want to add one drop of reef iodine once a week to help the crabs
molt, and possibly use sal****er tank salt mix rather than regular salt
if your tapwater is soft.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Thanks Elaine, you are a well of info. :)

My water is hard, and I did get aquarium salt from the lfs.
Can't remember right now what brand it is but it is salt for freshwater
tanks. :)

I will start droping a tbs every two weeks along with my water change...

wrote:
Thanks Elaine, you are a well of info. :)

My water is hard, and I did get aquarium salt from the lfs.
Can't remember right now what brand it is but it is salt for freshwater
tanks. :)

I will start droping a tbs every two weeks along with my water change...

Careful there - if you want to stay at a tsp/30 gallons then when you
change 25% of the water, you only add 25% of the salt - 1/4 tsp.
Otherwise the salt concentration will creep up. Also, top off for
evaporation with unsalted water.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

You are right... lets say then a tbs every month... :)

wrote:
You are right... lets say then a tbs every month... :)

You're gonna have to use less to stabilize to one tbsp/30 gallons.
You're removing about 56% of a tbsp in 2 water changes and putting a
whole tbsp back. :-| You'll have to do the math 'cause I'm too lazy -
I just add the correct amount of salt with each water change.

Anyway, it's better for your fish if you add at each water change so
they always live in the same salt concentration. It's like matching pH,
temps and everyting else. Remember, your sof****er fish have to adjust
a bit to live in salt and you don't want to stress them by changing it
more than necessary.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com