salt

[kyoshi]

Hello everyone

Today I was at the lfs and over heard one of the sales clerks tell a customer that cichlids salt is really a waste of money , I was shocked

Whats everyones take on adding cichlid salt?

 

[kscichlidfan]

It usually is a waste. Unless dealing with wildcaught or certain species where the ph or hardness/softness has to be a certain level for the eggs to hatch. But thats really only if you are in area of hardwater from the tap. (If you are in an area of softwater you have to buffer with something. I personally would go with a bag of crushed coral in a filter or mix some in the substrate. The thing is, about adding stuff to the water- unless you keep a serious schedule and dont overstock or under filter you can have a ph crash I have heard.) I live in an area of hardwater so I dont do anything to mine really.

 

[niqolas619]

I've heard stuff from both sides on this. Some people say it doesn't matter, others claim that you shouldn't try to undo thousands of years of living in a certain type of environment. Both sides make some kind of sense to me, but I use the Sea Chem lake salt in my tank - if nothing else, it makes me feel like I'm doing something by adding it during water changes.

 

[kyoshi]

thanks guys for your input

 

[ikevi]

It all depends... If your water already is semi hard there is no real reason to put in the salt. If on the other hand you have water like mine where it is so soft and if I leave it without doing anything in a few days it will have a ph below 6.0 seachem is a good investment.

 

[Scotty]

When you speak of "cichlid salt" I assume this is a special slat that is used to try and give you a similar water quality as is found in the Lake?
Ordinary salt, NaCl, can be used when your fish have ick or white spot. The saly helps to get the bugs to release from the fish thus allowing the medication to work better.

 

[number17Fan]

I add baking soda (1.5 Tbsp), Epsum Salt (3 Tbsp) and plain old aquarium salt (1.5 Tbsp) to every 10 Gallon water change. For my water this makes it hard (~300 ppm) and Alkaline (180 ppm TA and 8.4 pH). This blend acts to reduce osmotic pressure, fight disease and acts as a laxative (epsum salt is a natural laxative) to fight bloat.

My fish spawn regularly and all get along.