difference in salt?

[supermazz9]

What is the difference between marine salt or aquarium salt? For that matter, cooking sea salt that's in my cupboard (besides being iodized)?

I've never had to worry about it, hence never looked into it.

Why can't salt just be salt?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Marine salt is salt that is found in the ocean. Aquarium salt is for freshwater tanks and is similar to rock salt. Salt can never be just salt. That would be too easy. Different compounds.

 

[supermazz9]

what is aquarium salt used for?

marine is for marine systems and brackish, right?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yes. Marine is for marine and brackish. Aquarium Salt is used for freshwater tanks. Some use it all the time but it's not necessary. It can be used to treat ich (along with temp of 88 ) or Nitrite poisoning.

 

[ezy33]

Most table or rock salts contain anti-caking agents or other additives(iodide, yellow prussiate of soda, and calcium silicate to name a few.). Aquarium salt is not intended for humans so it's not required to list the ingredients. Use rock salt where "salt" is the only ingredient on the label. I use it like a antibiotic, if I suspect a fish is sick I'll dose the tank with salt as a first defence. If it's ICH I'll rase the temperature too. IMO raising the salinity weakens any parasite, At lease it won't hurt.

P.S. How about filling out "myinfo" to let everyone what you have.

 

[black hills tj]

Most table or rock salts contain anti-caking agents or other additives(iodide, yellow prussiate of soda, and calcium silicate to name a few.). Aquarium salt is not intended for humans so it's not required to list the ingredients. Use rock salt where "salt" is the only ingredient on the label. I use it like a antibiotic, if I suspect a fish is sick I'll dose the tank with salt as a first defence. If it's ICH I'll rase the temperature too. IMO raising the salinity weakens any parasite, At lease it won't hurt.

P.S. How about filling out "myinfo" to let everyone what you have.

This can only be done if you do not have any scaleless fish such as loaches and cories.

 

[papa_bear_21]

Most table or rock salts contain anti-caking agents or other additives(iodide, yellow prussiate of soda, and calcium silicate to name a few.). Aquarium salt is not intended for humans so it's not required to list the ingredients. Use rock salt where "salt" is the only ingredient on the label. I use it like a antibiotic, if I suspect a fish is sick I'll dose the tank with salt as a first defence. If it's ICH I'll rase the temperature too. IMO raising the salinity weakens any parasite, At lease it won't hurt.

P.S. How about filling out "myinfo" to let everyone what you have.

This can only be done if you do not have any scaleless fish such as loaches and cories.

Is the pleco considered scaleless?

 

[rich311k]

Yes, most catfish and loaches are as well. Stay away from the salt unless you have ich or a nitrite spike. You can treat other disease in a QT tank with proper medicine. Keep up water changes and filter cleanings, QT new arrivals and you should have few disease problems.

 

[papa_bear_21]

hmmm...thats the strange thing...before he was not active, whether dark or light...an now he is all play, his color is great, he eats all the time...the only difference, we use the salt...previously, our nitrites just would not drop, now with the salt, they are perfect...maybe thats why he was acting like he was?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Salt alleviates Nitrite poisoning.

 

[7Enigma]

papa_bear_21,

Once your nitrIte spike is over I'd cut out the salt addition. It's not the salt that dropped the nitrIte's it was the bacteria that had to multiply to consume it (and convert it to nitrAte).

The salt's really not needed, and could possibly harm your pleco over time.

 

[Sidi]

I feel like getting a bit geeky, so here's why "salt" and "salt" and "salt" are different.

A salt can be loosely defined as a molecule with an ionic bond. Basically, it's two groups that sort of cluster together until they hit water...then they dissolve rapidly. Once they're in a solution they don't come together.

The one we deal with constantly is table salt. It's sodium chloride...they're so different they split into water instantly, until you get to higher levels. When we buy it, at this point, iodine is added because it was lacking in so many diets (also why old school biblical diets recommend fish every Friday). You can buy the same thing as kosher salt without the iodine (and in a larger crystal size).

The above responses have talked about marine salt and brackish salt. Pretty much the summary is that salt can be one pure compound, one compound with an additive, or many compounds mixed together. Marine salt is, preferrably, a mixture of all the salts in seawater. Even cichlid salt compounds are huge mixes to try to match the chemistry of the African lake your fish came from.

 

[BillD]

I think you will find that the marine mixes are in fact quite different than sea water in the proportion of ingredients in them. Over time they have evolved to better suit the aquarium habitat, which in reality, is quite different from the natural one, regardless of our efforts.

 

[bs6749]

A "salt" as define in chemistry is the product of an acid-base reaction. Any reaction between an acid and a base will yield a salt as a product. There are literally thousands of salts. One of the main differences between the ocean salt and aquarium salt is that the ocean salt contains trace elements such as magnesium and others that are naturally found in quantity in the ocean.