Water change

[Vi_ha1]

I want to know what does everyone uses when adding new water in the tank? I usually add aquarium salt, stress coat, proper ph, and easy balance. I'm wondering if I need to add anything else or I'm adding too much...


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[vance1013]

All you need to add is your water conditioner messing with your ph can throw your tank out of balance, imo aquarium salt is not needed

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[dragon14]

Conditioner absolutely.

I would NOT do salt unless the fish are ill and you want to try to help them get better that way. Using salt all the time in a fish tank would be like you taking antibiotics all the time to avoid getting sick. Resistance to its medicinal effects can occur and it's not good. I recently used salt twice for my betta for some fit rot he had. You have to be really careful with it too -- more than 10 days in a row of usage can damage their internal organs and cause premature death. It should be avoided unless needed in freshwater fish.

Not sure what easy balance is, but, I second the NO altering your ph! If you must change your ph, there are natural ways, such as rock or coral to bring it up, or driftwood to bring it down. Those items should be bought from a pet/fish store though, don't go in your backyard and throw in some wood lol.

For both the salt as medicine and the ph alterings -- if you want to know more about it, do some research, but that is some good information I came across in my learning about fish and water quality.

 

[mikem691]

Prime and temp matched tap water that's it.

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[enrgizerbunny]

Tap water that had been aerated for at least 8 hours.

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[jetajockey]

I use sodium thiosulfate, that's it.

 

[Delapool]

Basic water conditioner or sometimes prime.

 

[gilpi]

Unless your tap water is extremely off regarding pH and other parameters, I would use nothing but a conditioner/de-chlorinator, nothing else, no salt and definitely no pH adjuster.


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[BBradbury]

Tank Water Prep

I want to know what does everyone uses when adding new water in the tank? I usually add aquarium salt, stress coat, proper ph, and easy balance. I'm wondering if I need to add anything else or I'm adding too much...

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Hello Vi...

I use Seachem's "Safe" to remove the chemicals the public water people put into the water to make it safe to drink. That's all that's needed to make the tap water safe for the fish. I'm a fan of adding a bit of standard aquarium salt too. I add a bit more than a teaspoon to every 5 gallons of new, treated tap water. I keep Platys, Plecos, Danios, Guppies and Corydoras.

B

 

[MICEY]

I use well water , which is soft and has a ph or 7 so thats it
if I have africans in the tank the ph and salt need to be adjusted
and if I have livebearers so salt is added (mollies love salt and can live in saltwater)

 

[jetajockey]

Just wanted to note that Mollies like brackish water. Adding aquarium salt alone does not accomplish this, to do it correctly you would apply a marine salt mix.

Aquarium salt really has no documented purpose other than as a temporary treatment/medication for fish issues.

Just trying to quell some of the salt mythology.

 

[Delapool]

Ah ha, I've been waiting for ages to ask this

As sea water is apparently 85% sodium chloride, does it make much difference which would be used? Assuming you did dose salt (I don't so it's out of interest on why a marine salt would be better - is it to have a better gh)?

http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/02ocean/swcomposition.htm

 

[jetajockey]

Saltwater is mostly salt...of course. The main point I'm trying to make is that these kind of vague statements are what perpetuates the mythology around salt use. It's just one of those old wives tales that won't die thanks to die hard old timer LFS owners who don't care to know or understand more about fish biology. It's true that some LFS use salt in their tanks. They also get new stressed fish in every week, so their tanks are a virtual bus station for fish, so it's a far different situation from what we deal with in our home aquariums.

Would a reefkeeper or fowlr keeper use straight aquarium salt for their tank? Of course not, so why would someone who is trying to meet the needs of their brackish fish use straight aquarium salt either??

Here's a good chart for comparisons.

Fresh Water, Natural Composition of - seawater, river, sea, freshwater, temperature, salt, types, source, marine, oxygen, human

 

[Brookster123]

I add kosher salt to my scrambled eggs and prime to my temp matched water for changes. I'm curious as to the difference between aquarium salt and the kosher sea salt I use for food??

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[bud29]

There is no difference between kosher table salt and aquarium salt, they are both straight NaCl.

 

[PB_Smith]

Ah ha, I've been waiting for ages to ask this

As sea water is apparently 85% sodium chloride, does it make much difference which would be used? Assuming you did dose salt (I don't so it's out of interest on why a marine salt would be better - is it to have a better gh)?

Seawater: Composition

Without being completely positive about it, I would make the assumption that in the case of brackish water fish it would be better to use a marine salt mix as it would also provide the trace elements and minerals in the proper amounts that these fish would encounter in their natural environment.
I would further assume that the same would also hold true for non-brackish fish, yet probably not as vital as it is for brackish water critters.

If you are going to use salt in your freshwater tank, I can't think of any solid reasons to not use marine salt mix.
I would avoid mixes intended for reef tanks though, as they usually have higher levels of certain elements that could cumulatively impact water quality as those elements would not be utilized by living critters such as coral and would accumulate over time and increase the TDS of the water.

 

[bud29]

If you are going to use salt in your freshwater tank, I can't think of any solid reasons to not use marine salt mix.

When treating something like ich with salt, (one of the few reasons to ever put salt in a FW tank) it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to go out and buy marine salt when you can just use table salt that you probably have on hand already.

ETA: Just speculation, but considering the kh and ph buffering that marine salt does, I would think that may be another reason not to use marine salt when doing a salt treatment. The parameter shifts may cause some unnecessary stress to the already sick fish.

 

[PB_Smith]

When treating something like ich with salt, (one of the few reasons to ever put salt in a FW tank) it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to go out and buy marine salt when you can just use table salt that you probably have on hand already.

ETA: Just speculation, but considering the kh and ph buffering that marine salt does, I would think that may be another reason not to use marine salt when doing a salt treatment. The parameter shifts may cause some unnecessary stress to the already sick fish.

I was responding to the thoughts concerning brackish tanks.
In context of the posts on this page, my answer is apropos and expounds on the logic presented by jetajockey regarding the type of salt to use in a brackish tank.
I apologize if that was cause for confusion.

 

[bud29]

I was responding to the thoughts concerning brackish tanks.
In context of the posts on this page, my answer is apropos and expounds on the logic presented by jetajockey regarding the type of salt to use in a brackish tank.
I apologize if that was cause for confusion.

I see - I would agree with you then. The phrase "If you are going to use salt in your freshwater tank, I can't think of any solid reasons to not use marine salt mix" just made me think you were addressing all situations involving salt and FW tanks, not just brackish. Sorry if I misinterpreted that.

 

[Delapool]

Without being completely positive about it, I would make the assumption that in the case of brackish water fish it would be better to use a marine salt mix as it would also provide the trace elements and minerals in the proper amounts that these fish would encounter in their natural environment.
I would further assume that the same would also hold true for non-brackish fish, yet probably not as vital as it is for brackish water critters.

If you are going to use salt in your freshwater tank, I can't think of any solid reasons to not use marine salt mix.
I would avoid mixes intended for reef tanks though, as they usually have higher levels of certain elements that could cumulatively impact water quality as those elements would not be utilized by living critters such as coral and would accumulate over time and increase the TDS of the water.

Hi all, many thanks for the replies and information.