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fishfever
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« Thread Started on Nov 6, 2009, 3:57pm » | |
First, this is not a whether to use or not use salt question. I do use it in the tank, hospital tank as well as baths and have been experimenting for a while with the very cheap water softener salt available at hardware stores. If you use salt and want to save money on aquarium salt, this might be helpful.
The only kind of water softener salt that I've found locally are the 40 lb bags with mostly huge crystals for about $5/bag. So once I figured out what 1 tablespoon of water softener salt weighs (I took a bunch of salt and crushed them to aquarium salt size in a thick bag and put it on a scale) I know that 1.XX ounces (forgot what XX is now) of uncrushed salt is the equivalent of 1 tablespoon of normal sized aquarium salt. So I adjusted the zero control on my scale with a container on it so that when I put 1.XX ounces or 1 tablespoon of uncrushed crystals it reads exactly 2 ounces. This way I don't have to measure 1.XX ounces, I just put enough crystals in the container to line it up with the 2 ounce line. Now I have all these clean jars (about 5 of them). I put 1 tablespoon of uncrushed salt in each except for the large container in which I put 2 tablespoons of uncrushed salt. Fill them with water and let them sit. I could agitate to speed this up but I don't bother since I have plenty of jars and there are always jars with fully dissolved salt. I use the big jar when I'm doing a larger water change and I know there are 2 tablespoons for dissolved salt in it by the jar size. Every time I use a jar I fill it back up with salt and water and rotate it to the back of the line.
I don't know how much salt I've used so far but the bag looks almost as full as the day I bought it so it's possible I'll never have to buy salt again. LOL
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goldenpuon
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« Reply #1 on Nov 7, 2009, 4:30pm » | |
Very informative post Fishfever.
This is very helpful epecially for people like myself who would like a cheaper alternative to pet store-bought aquarium salt.
(I hope I misidentified this as not being a question. If so, sorry about that.)
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fishfever
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« Reply #2 on Nov 8, 2009, 8:12pm » | |
Thanks goldenpuon, I experiment a good bit and this turned out to be one that turned out well. I'm always interested in doing things better, lowering costs, saving time, etc. and this one covers a little of everything.
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Carl
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goldenpuon
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« Reply #4 on Nov 9, 2009, 4:49pm » | |
Great idea! XD
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Growing bigger everyday, the goldfish are now eating hands instead of fingers. Soon they'll get so big I am eaten whole... All in the name of the love for food.... |
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parker002
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« Reply #5 on Nov 10, 2009, 11:19am » | |
What types of fish are you using the salt with?
The family-owned LFS I go to doesn't really recommend using salt.
I noticed that the Petsmart/Petco-type places all have salt in their freshwater livebearer tanks, and the little tags say to "use salt".
I don't think I've ever put salt in my tank (I have catfish), is that bad?
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bikeguy33
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« Reply #6 on Nov 10, 2009, 1:04pm » | |
while working on a fish farm....we used watersoftener salt as well. salting a million gallons of water would have been un-feasible any other way.
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goldenpuon
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« Reply #7 on Nov 11, 2009, 8:15pm » | |
As far as I know, catfish are very sensitive to salt. But they can handle it small doses or for short amounts of time such as during disease treatment.
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Growing bigger everyday, the goldfish are now eating hands instead of fingers. Soon they'll get so big I am eaten whole... All in the name of the love for food.... |
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fishfever
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« Reply #8 on Nov 12, 2009, 7:50am » | |
You can read more about salt use in freshwater setups in Carl's article (I believe in the fish illness section). Since I have cory cats and tetras in my 26g I use only 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. Since each of my jars of dissolved water softener salt have 1 tablespoon, I normally use 1/3 bottle per 5-6 gallon water change. So at any time I may have some full bottles, 2/3 full bottles or 1/3 full bottles ready to be used. In my fry tank I use a full tablespoon per 5g since it only has livebearers (platys/mollies). I also sometimes increase the salt in the 26g to as much as 1 tablespoon or slightly more when treating for disease or a problem that is helped by salt over the short term (maybe 1-3 weeks). Then when I am done treating I can ratchet it back down to 1 teaspoon/5g by either making a larger water change with no salt added or a series of smaller water changes over a normal schedule with no salt added. Then it's back to 1 teaspoon/5g on future water changes.
I also note that since my tap water is extremely soft (no detectable hardness on my water test kits) I use Wonder shells to add the important missing minerals in my tap water.
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parker002
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« Reply #9 on Nov 12, 2009, 5:44pm » | |
My tap water is extremely hard so I'm sure that offsets the fact that I haven't added salt.
From reading Carl's info, it looks like I should probably add at least a little.
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parker002
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« Reply #10 on Nov 12, 2009, 5:52pm » | |
As an aside for anyone that's looking for cheaper salt alternatives and doesn't have access to the water softener stuff mentioned already, there is another option.
Canning/pickling salt also contains no additives. My ENT prescribed it to me in lieu of using the $15 pre-packaged sinus rinse product.
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