salt

I keep reading about salt being added to ponds, but what kind? Is pickling
salt the same as alum?

It is plain NaCl salt but without the additives used to keep table salt from
clumping. Sea salt or Kosher salt, or someone else may suggest some cheaper
kind, just no additives.

--
Jim and Sara Humphries, Victoria, BC
"Carolyn" wrote in message
...
I keep reading about salt being added to ponds, but what kind? Is pickling
salt the same as alum?

it should have no additives.
solar salt is not the same thing as sea salt and sea salt is not recommended for gf
and koi. get the stuff comes in plastic bags for water softeners. make sure it is
crystal, not pellets. it is really cheap for a big bag.
Ingrid

"Carolyn" wrote:

I keep reading about salt being added to ponds, but what kind? Is pickling
salt the same as alum?




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

So should ALL ponds, ALL zones, add salt? Or does it depend on filter
media, fish/no fish, plants, liner or ?????? What are the desirable
quantities, per 100 gals?

--
Totus Tuus
Claudia (take out no spam to reply)
"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:55:00 -0400, "Carolyn" wrote:

I keep reading about salt being added to ponds, but what kind? Is
pickling
salt the same as alum?

Solar salt crystals used in water softeners is the best bargain.
(Found in the water softener department.) Almost pure salt and about
$4 for a 40lb bag at Lowe's. Add .888 pounds of salt per hundred
gallons of pond water for a .1% solution.

Alum is aluminum sulfate, sometimes used to kill algae or make soil
acid. Not for the same purpose.

Regards,

Hal

no. you start by checking the level of salt in your tap water. coastal areas and
others often have pretty high levels of salt in their water and dont need to add any
more. 0.05% is common naturally occurring levels and that is what is fine for winter
level of salt. in spring people bring their salt up to 0.1% and then let it drop
thru water changes. those with significant salt need to check their salt levels if
there is evaporation and topping up going on. the salt level can creep due to
evaporation.
levels of 0.05% dont harm most plants. liner doesnt matter, fish type doesnt matter.

Ingrid

"Claudia" wrote:

So should ALL ponds, ALL zones, add salt? Or does it depend on filter
media, fish/no fish, plants, liner or ?????? What are the desirable
quantities, per 100 gals?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Salt is one of those things that gets fights going. Some say no salt,
except when you need it, since the parasites might become immune to the low
salt levels and then it takes a lot more salt to kill parasites. This has
happened with at least one parasite, since the Japanese maintain heavy salt
levels to keep down the parasites, some have mutated. Others say run 0.1%
year round, stimulates slime coat, eases osmoregulation (the ability of the
fish to maintain the correct water level), and it doesn't hurt plants at
that level. I usually maintain 0.1%, mostly because SO won't let me let it
go to 0.0.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/index.html

"Claudia" wrote in message
news:0fR%c.8380$vI2.5932@trnddc02...
So should ALL ponds, ALL zones, add salt? Or does it depend on filter
media, fish/no fish, plants, liner or ?????? What are the desirable
quantities, per 100 gals?

--
Totus Tuus
Claudia (take out no spam to reply)
"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 08:55:00 -0400, "Carolyn" wrote:

I keep reading about salt being added to ponds, but what kind? Is
pickling
salt the same as alum?

Solar salt crystals used in water softeners is the best bargain.
(Found in the water softener department.) Almost pure salt and about
$4 for a 40lb bag at Lowe's. Add .888 pounds of salt per hundred
gallons of pond water for a .1% solution.

Alum is aluminum sulfate, sometimes used to kill algae or make soil
acid. Not for the same purpose.

Regards,

Hal

That's right RichToyBox! One of the newest, worst
parasites to have become immune to salt is Costia.
Since it is so small it usually has a good foot hold in
the pond and one the fish before the pond keeper
realizes that the fish are sick. It used to be that a
0.1% was enough to kill it, but the mutated variety
needs 0.6% or higher to do it in.

I am one of the nay sayers for constant salt addition.
If you use it as a remedy it is great, but just as
some costia are immune to low levels now there are
probably others.

Leave the salt for your French fries and corn on the
cob and leave it out of you pond. It encourages the
slime coat because salt is an irritate to the fish, so
it is building a barrier against. The crap about the
regulation of osmosis is smoke and mirrors. The fish
does that all by it self, that is part of life for the
fish.

There are three things to keeping your fish health, and
they are 1. Clean water, 2. Clear Water and last but
not least 3. Clean water. Concentrate on keeping your
fish's environment pristine clean and the rest will
take care of itself.

Tom L.L.
---------------------------------
RichToyBox wrote:
Salt is one of those things that gets fights going. Some say no salt,
except when you need it, since the parasites might become immune to the low
salt levels and then it takes a lot more salt to kill parasites. This has
happened with at least one parasite, since the Japanese maintain heavy salt
levels to keep down the parasites, some have mutated. Others say run 0.1%
year round, stimulates slime coat, eases osmoregulation (the ability of the
fish to maintain the correct water level), and it doesn't hurt plants at
that level. I usually maintain 0.1%, mostly because SO won't let me let it
go to 0.0.

"Tom L. La Bron" wrote in message
...
That's right RichToyBox! One of the newest, worst
parasites to have become immune to salt is Costia.
Since it is so small it usually has a good foot hold in
the pond and one the fish before the pond keeper
realizes that the fish are sick. It used to be that a
0.1% was enough to kill it, but the mutated variety
needs 0.6% or higher to do it in.

I am one of the nay sayers for constant salt addition.
If you use it as a remedy it is great, but just as
some costia are immune to low levels now there are
probably others.

Leave the salt for your French fries and corn on the
cob and leave it out of you pond. It encourages the
slime coat because salt is an irritate to the fish, so
it is building a barrier against. The crap about the
regulation of osmosis is smoke and mirrors. The fish
does that all by it self, that is part of life for the
fish.

There are three things to keeping your fish health, and
they are 1. Clean water, 2. Clear Water and last but
not least 3. Clean water. Concentrate on keeping your
fish's environment pristine clean and the rest will
take care of itself.

Tom L.L.
---------------------------------

Not sure I completely agree with all you're saying but:
I agree with the slime coat thing, but the osmotic thing is debatable, if
done gradually then I suppose no problem, but if you took a fish out of your
pond and dipped it straight into RO water then there would be osmotic issues
surely?
Tom, you say the best bet is to have clean pristine water, Agreed, and the
best way to do that would be to look after your water plants, if the plants
are happy the fish and water will be ecstatic Agreed?
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Tom L. La Bron" wrote in message
...

Leave the salt for your French fries and corn on the
cob and leave it out of you pond. It encourages the
slime coat because salt is an irritate to the fish, so

Absolutely.

it is building a barrier against. The crap about the
regulation of osmosis is smoke and mirrors. The fish
does that all by it self, that is part of life for the
fish.

Yeah, and breathing is part of life for us. People manage to live at
altitudes of 15,000 feet, but they have to expend a lot of energy just
breathing. Bring them down to sea level and they win long distance races
easily. With fish it's the same. Much energy is exerted just to maintain
osmotic regulation. Add a little salt and that leaves more resources for
fighting disease.

That said, I'm still not sure I believe in the addition of salt - because
I'm unconvinced the benefits outweigh the costs.
--
derek

what costs? Ingrid

Derek Broughton wrote:
because
I'm unconvinced the benefits outweigh the costs.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.