# Adding Salt?



## Jon Sem Elverhøi (11 Oct 2014)

Hey!

My local store advised me to add salt to my aquarium......read lots of different discussions on the net and im confused.....got Discus, neon tetras and Scalare

I was told that it does the same job as Aquasafe etc to the water
Im a newbie so plz give me some tips/advice


----------



## sparkyweasel (12 Oct 2014)

They're just trying to sell some salt. 
A few fish species benefit from salt, and it can be used to treat some diseases, but generally it's not beneficial, and can be detrimental.
Discus, Neons and Angelfish/Scalare don't need it.
Salt certainly can't do the job of Aquasafe.

And Welcome to the forum.


----------



## Jon Sem Elverhøi (12 Oct 2014)

ty  ...so I should use Aquasafe? Tought thats what they wanted to sell


----------



## sparkyweasel (12 Oct 2014)

Aquasafe (or one of the other brands) neutralises any harmful stuff* in your tapwater, eg chlorine, chloramine, traces of copper etc. For most peoples' tapwater it's more or less essential. Use as per the instructions on the bottle whenever you put water in your tank, ie first fill, and every partial water change.
*harmful to your fish and shrimps that is.


----------



## Jon Sem Elverhøi (12 Oct 2014)

ok ty


----------



## Bhu (12 Oct 2014)

Salts marketed for the aquarium trade are so expensive and over priced for what they are and rarely needed. Especially for discus! Just daily water changes are all they need really, lots and lots of fresh water.


----------



## drodgers (12 Oct 2014)

Salt is good for fish only tanks it does help keep some disease at bay and improve gill function ,I use it in a crowded African Cichlid tank .
There is only a couple species of plants that will tolerate it, generally speaking the plants implode from using salt .


----------



## dw1305 (12 Oct 2014)

Hi all, 
I'm not a salt fan either, have a look at Joe Gargas' article  <"Water Chemistry: Osmoregulation, Ionic Imbalance & pH">, article starts on page 7.

cheers Darrel


----------

