Using salt

im working on pimping my filter! so i wanted to read about all the medias and what not AGAIN.
i was reading about salt. AGAIN . and i recently got sum new fish and i do not have quarantine tank so i wanted to add sum salt.! this particular article from The Spruce Pets "using salt in a freshwater aquarium" i red it and i was like sounds good. im adding less than half of a teaspoon! ok. so i did that. and the next day i red about carbon AGAIN.. and the following day i red about ZEOLITE. my disposable filter cartridges contain zeolite. i know what its used for. but have never REALLY red about it. and since im pimping out my filter. i wanted to know if this was something that i needed to keep. so i red the article from The Spruce Pets " when and how to use zeolite in your aquarium" .. so im reading and then i start panicking a little. QUOTEZeolite formulated for freshwater should never be used in saltwater or brackish tanks. The effect on the water chemistry can be lethal for corals in saltwater aquariums. Nor should salt be added to a freshwater aquarium when zeolite media is already being used. Adding salt can cause the zeolite to release the ammonia it has absorbed, causing a sudden and potentially dangerous ammonia spike. END QUOTE

i was like oh no.
why didnt they mention this in the salt article that i red two days ago.

>;/


yea im not adding zeolite to my new filter thing. im not having carbon either! I'm done with those cartridges. but i do like adding a little bit of salt every now and then. just a acouple of sprinkles!

 

All salt does is promote a healthy slime coat. It might have slight medicinal benefits healing damaged tissue, say from an Ick infection.

 

All salt does is promote a healthy slime coat. It might have slight medicinal benefits healing damaged tissue, say from an Ick infection.

yes. is it true that salt will react with the zeolite tho?

 

I personally don't use aquarium salt at all for my tanks, I don't really find it beneficial at all and there are quite a few freshwater fish that are really sensitive to it and it can harm them so its not worth it IMO. Some fish it can be extremely beneficial tho.

Zeolite is a quick fix product to remove ammonia. Generally these make your water quality very unstable and do more harm than good. I would avoid using it at all regardless of salt. My guess tho is it was referring to marine or brackish tanks not freshwater tanks with a little salt in them

 

Agree I wouldn’t use Zoelite. It removes all the ammonia from the tank, leaving nothing for the beneficial bacteria to feed on, crashing your cycle. If you have zoelite and you have removed it please keep checking your ammonia levels to make sure you are actually cycled.

I do not use salt in my freshwater tank because I have corys, but if you have fish like livebearers then it’s fine to add some.

 

thanks guys!

 

thanks guys!

petco is doing doller per gallon sale. pick yourself up a 10 gallon for quarantine if your store is doing the sale. i just did