Adding Aquarium Salt

I had a local pet store test my water which is constantly cloudy and they
told me my pH was high and to add aquarium salt. I was wondering what the
typical procedure is for adding salt. The Pet store gave me a little
plastic bowl with a lid with holes in it to put the salt into. They said to
change the salt every day, but that is not what I am reading online.
Unfortunately instruction online are very vague. I was hoping for some
guidance here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

--

Scott Baker
Keiser Design Group, Inc.
Architecture | Design
T 614.562.7761 F 614.751.0153
www.KeiserDesignGroup.com

Tennis4you.com wrote:
I had a local pet store test my water which is constantly cloudy and they
told me my pH was high and to add aquarium salt. I was wondering what the
typical procedure is for adding salt. The Pet store gave me a little
plastic bowl with a lid with holes in it to put the salt into. They said to
change the salt every day, but that is not what I am reading online.
Unfortunately instruction online are very vague. I was hoping for some
guidance here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


Hi,
Please post some information as to how big is the aquarium, how many
fish and type/ size of fish, how long the aquarium's been set up... Then
folks here may possibly help further with the cloudiness.

Please do not use chemicals to lower pH, because that can hurt the fish.
Common tapwater pH of 6.5 to 8 is fine for most aquaroium fish.

If you must add salt, just add perhaps 1/2 teaspoon for each gallon of
water in the aquarium, but do it as part of a partial water change. The
salt is not necessary in my experience.

Cloudy water is common during the "cycle" or break-in phase of an
aquarium, while healthy bacteria get established. That's usually the
first month.

Here's are links to more aquarium information than you probably wanted
to know :

http://faq.thekrib.com/
http://www.thekrib.com/
http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/home.html - the author of the
puregold pages posts here as Dr. Solo.

cloudy water is the biobacteria looking for a home. you need to:
1. increase the amount of filter biomedia, polyester batting is very good to tuck
into most filters
2. increase the SIZE of the filter. a whisper filter rated for a 40 gallon is
typical on a 20 gallon tank with 2 goldfish.
3. increase the temp to 76oF. biobugs like warmer water. every time I forgot to
replug mine in after water changes my water would get cloudy (white cloudy)
4. test your NITRATES and keep em below 20 ppm
5. biobugs actually like higher pH, but you can add some salt. Add 1 teaspoon of
salt per 5 gallons. Use rock salt with no additives.
6. if you have more than 1 GF per 10 gallons you need to look for a larger tank.
dont overstock, change 30% of the water at least once a week.
Ingrid

"Tennis4you.com" wrote:

I had a local pet store test my water which is constantly cloudy and they
told me my pH was high and to add aquarium salt. I was wondering what the
typical procedure is for adding salt. The Pet store gave me a little
plastic bowl with a lid with holes in it to put the salt into. They said to
change the salt every day, but that is not what I am reading online.
Unfortunately instruction online are very vague. I was hoping for some
guidance here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

If the water is alkalineand cloudy, there are two parts to the
situation -
1. Why is the water alkaline
2. Why is the water cloudy

Those might be separate situations, or it might be one. Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria need a place to live. Chunks of lava rock or decorative pieces
of rock and wood are sold for that - they look nice, but the bacteria
living on them is an important part or the ecology of a tank.

I'm wondering why the water is alkaline. Treating the symptom is great,
but it might not stop the process from happeing again. I hope you find
a solution.