Salt, good or bad?

[Ben K]

I asked in the Getting Started forum how much salt is needed. I got a reply saying that the person believes that salt is not needed and bad for live plants. Is this true? I am setting up a 35 gallon tank.

 

[Jchillin]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo salt. Not necessary nor needed. However, it can still be utilized as a therapeutic remedy if the situation called for it.

 

[jsoong]

If you treat with salt, you'll need to remove the fish to a QT & treat there. You should not need salt on a day to day basis unless you have brackish fish.

Salt will kill most aquatic plants, although some will tolerate low levels for a time.

 

[flip_lx]

as they said salt for plants is a no no, however you can drop in minute amounts of aquarium salt to the tank once per PWC to ease some of the brackish type fish (my mollies appreciated it) if your using it for treatment setup a QT for a heavier dose of aquarium salt (not the marine salt they are not interchangeable)

 

[Sidi]

One thing to remember, if you do decide to go the salt route (and I wouldn't recommend it either), is to add an amount of salt that matches the amount of water you take out of the tank on your water change, rather than the amount you put back in.

Since salt stays in the tank as the water evaporates, if you keep making up your replacement water to the same salinity the tank will keep increasing in salinity over time.