Adding salt!

[joeyr188]

I’ve been wanting to add salt to my guppy tank but I heard it can kill plants I have floaters in it so its not the biggest deal but I’m still wondering if it will it is api salt

 

[Naughts]

Salt does kill off floating plants.
Freshwater fish don't need salt (sodium). GH is a measurement of magnesium and calcium, and needs to be hard for guppies (143 – 536 ppm/ 8-30 dGH). What is the hardness of your water?

 

[Essjay]

Salt should not be used routinely for fresh water fish. It can be used short term for certain illnesses but no longer than 4 weeks at most.

 

[GaryE]

What are you trying to get done with the salt?

 

[joeyr188]

What are you trying to get done with the salt?

I have guppies and my water is soft

 

[Byron]

Salt has no effect whatsoever on hardness (which we measure as GH, and this is basically the level of calcium and magnesium).

Salt has a long-term detrimental effect on freshwater fish that have evolved to live in freshwater. More info here:

Regular Partial Water Changes

Byron Hosking November, 2010 (rev April 2021) Nothing is more important when it comes to aquarium maintenance than regular partial water changes. The adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly applies here. One frequently reads of products that will reduce the need for...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I guess most had been explained as above.

If you want to increase your water hardness(GH), you can try to get some GH+ salt which are actually minerals.
Don't use salt which is Sodium Chloride.

Here are two suggestions for you:

1)You can try to add coral chips which is the cheapest but they are hard to control/monitor in your tank.
If your water GH fluctuates too much, it will be bad for your fish.

2)You can use Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt. It actually contains Calcium, Magnesium, and other minerals.
Check your water GH as @Naughts had mentioned.
If the GH is much lower than the require GH for Guppies, you can use this Cichlid Lake salt to increase the GH.

It's better to premix the Cichlid Lake Salt and your tap water in a bucket before putting them into your tank to prevent fluctuation of GH in the tank.

I attached some information here about Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt.

Seachem - Cichlid Lake Salt

www.seachem.com

Guppies info:

Poecilia reticulata – Guppy (Lebistes poecilioides, Girardinus guppii ) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[GaryE]

What hardness are you dealing with now?