Just a dumb question
- Thread starter JohnWayne
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there are often caking agents in table salt that can be harmful to fish
granual size is larger in aquarium salt
it also depends on what kind of aqurium salt- if it's for marine or brakish it's even more different from tablesalt
granual size is larger in aquarium salt
it also depends on what kind of aqurium salt- if it's for marine or brakish it's even more different from tablesalt
aquarium salt is usually salt taken from evaporated salt water, so it's going to contain more than just NACL (sodium Chloride aka Salt), mainly more minerals and trace elements and also will not contain iodine,which in large doses can kill fish - wish in table salt is NOT enough of a dosage to kill fish (2teaspoons per gallon like for treating diseases) if fact many invertibrates and corals need iodine in the water to thrive and help build their hydrostatic skeletal system. but that's another subject. while i believe table salt comes from huge geologic deposits of salt minerals left over from the slow evaporation of ancient seawater, which is refined, taking out all but the sodium chrolide. table salt is usually NACL and iodine without the extras. also is the price. Both will work fine for treating freshwater problems - neither is suitable for making saltwater for brackish / saltwater fish. Hope this helps.
Aquarium salt is basicly table salt without the iodine + anti-caking agent with a higher price. Pretty much you pay more and get less :duh:. The only anti caking agent that can harm your fish is prussiac acid which can break down into cyanide under certain conditions. I rarely see this except in water softener salt. For the iodide to hurt your fish, you would literly need to pickle them in brine which I know nobody will do to their living fish.
Home water softener salt
Im testing it out on my gold fish right now for ich treatment I will let u know with this new research. this salt we drink thru the water softener salt chrystals extrememly cheap 40 kilos for 20 bucks canadian.
Mike
Im testing it out on my gold fish right now for ich treatment I will let u know with this new research. this salt we drink thru the water softener salt chrystals extrememly cheap 40 kilos for 20 bucks canadian.
Mike
For Ick and for growing baby brine shrimp, I use Morton's Rock Salt. It is the type used for making icecream. It is particularly cheap because it is a lower grade of salt that has a very small amount of insoluble particles (sand) in it. It is just a cheap form of NaCl.
I am just too cheap to pay extra for special aquarium-specific packaging.
I have also used non-iodized table salt with success.
I am just too cheap to pay extra for special aquarium-specific packaging.
I have also used non-iodized table salt with success.
Functionally, there is no difference.
Table salt is at least 58% Cl by weight (>95% NaCl, w/w), evaporated sea water would be about 55%. However, there's no guarantee that the "aquarium" salt you buy is evaporated sea water. There's no regulation on what is contained in "aquarium" salt. As far as legalities in labelling go, it could very well be table salt that you're getting.
Table salt contains iodide, not iodine. The difference between the two is as significant as the difference between chloride, as in salt, and chlorine, as in toxic gas. Use of the word "iodine" is often used as a scare tactic by "Aquarium" salt purveyors because people associate it with the antiseptic.
Please don't say "... iodine ... which in large doses can kill fish". Large doses of table salt, "aquarium" salt, cornstarch, you-name-it will kill fish, so by alluding to a potential danger, you only lend credence to the fear of iodine (which, of course, we all know isn't there anyway
).
Almost all table salt preparations contain anti-caking agents. All but one are completely harmless, and ferric prusside is very seldom used - partly due to concern over possible dissociation into cyanide, which has made it illegal in some countries. However, even table salt containing the cyano compound is not to be feared. If you do a search for "table salt" in either these or the General FW forums you'll find a thread where I did a scaling calculation on the amount of prusside in table salt, the amount added to our tanks, and the toxicity of cyanide (with some assumptions), and the net result was that you would need to exceed the recommended dose by about 100 times, if I recall correctly. In other words, you'd be pickling your fish by the time the prusside reached dangerous levels. Finally, ferric prusside dissociates into cyanide only in the presence of UV light. There is very little UV light in most aquariums, especially since they tend to be placed away from direct sunlight and try getting a suntan from a fluo tube!
The active ingredient here is the chloride (again, notice the very important difference from chlorine!). Whether you source it from rock salt, water softener, ice melt (either NaCl or CaCl2), or "aquarium" salt you're getting the active ingredient.
Table salt is at least 58% Cl by weight (>95% NaCl, w/w), evaporated sea water would be about 55%. However, there's no guarantee that the "aquarium" salt you buy is evaporated sea water. There's no regulation on what is contained in "aquarium" salt. As far as legalities in labelling go, it could very well be table salt that you're getting.
Table salt contains iodide, not iodine. The difference between the two is as significant as the difference between chloride, as in salt, and chlorine, as in toxic gas. Use of the word "iodine" is often used as a scare tactic by "Aquarium" salt purveyors because people associate it with the antiseptic.
Please don't say "... iodine ... which in large doses can kill fish". Large doses of table salt, "aquarium" salt, cornstarch, you-name-it will kill fish, so by alluding to a potential danger, you only lend credence to the fear of iodine (which, of course, we all know isn't there anyway
).Almost all table salt preparations contain anti-caking agents. All but one are completely harmless, and ferric prusside is very seldom used - partly due to concern over possible dissociation into cyanide, which has made it illegal in some countries. However, even table salt containing the cyano compound is not to be feared. If you do a search for "table salt" in either these or the General FW forums you'll find a thread where I did a scaling calculation on the amount of prusside in table salt, the amount added to our tanks, and the toxicity of cyanide (with some assumptions), and the net result was that you would need to exceed the recommended dose by about 100 times, if I recall correctly. In other words, you'd be pickling your fish by the time the prusside reached dangerous levels. Finally, ferric prusside dissociates into cyanide only in the presence of UV light. There is very little UV light in most aquariums, especially since they tend to be placed away from direct sunlight and try getting a suntan from a fluo tube!
The active ingredient here is the chloride (again, notice the very important difference from chlorine!). Whether you source it from rock salt, water softener, ice melt (either NaCl or CaCl2), or "aquarium" salt you're getting the active ingredient.