Ocean salt to raise water hardness?

[Camonickel]

Howdy. I read some threads and I read epsom salt will raise hardness,but it only added magnesium and then some coral will help but I have to buy stuff slowly due to finances but these fishies still deserve the best. So if need be I can buy it but I wanted to know if ocean salt will work? I have three hermit crabs that have to have it, so if they could share supplies, it would be easier for me. If not then oh well but I am struggling to find definite answers. Im just struggling in the whole water department in general though

 

[Aiken Drum]

Ocean salt/ aquarium salt is sodium chloride. To raise general hardness (GH) you need to add calcium and/ or magnesium. To raise carbonate hardness (KH) you need to add carbonates and/ or bicarbonates.
Aquarium salt is neither. It wont increase either GH or KH. It will increase total disolved solids (TDS) and salinity.

 

[Camonickel]

Welp alrighty then. I will have to do the little test strips when I get home but I think the only thing that I had right was the nitrite nitrate and ammonia everything else was just a mess. The fish seem fine but I’m not sure for how long. I do have some calcified water rock things from the bottom of a water fall… will that help till I can find a pet store?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Im not sure specifically what "calcified water rock things" are. If they are calcium carbonate they will very slowly disolve and raise GH and KH if you have soft acidic water. If your water is already harder and higher pH then they will just sit there in the water and do nothing.
I would start by letting people know what you are trying to achieve, what your current parameters for pH, GH and KH are, where you are trying to get them and why.
Before asking how, ask yourself why.
Do you have a problem that needs solving? Most fish can acclimate to a fairly broad range of water parameters. Even if we are talking about ideals, some fish prefer soft, acidic water. Some fish prefer harder, higher pH water. What fish are you keeping? Where is your water currently at? Would you be better selecting fish to go with the water rather than altering the water to suit the fish?

 

[Camonickel]

Im not sure specifically what "calcified water rock things" are. If they are calcium carbonate they will very slowly disolve and raise GH and KH if you have soft acidic water. If your water is already harder and higher pH then they will just sit there in the water and do nothing.
I would start by letting people know what you are trying to achieve, what your current parameters for pH, GH and KH are, where you are trying to get them and why.
Before asking how, ask yourself why.
Do you have a problem that needs solving? Most fish can acclimate to a fairly broad range of water parameters. Even if we are talking about ideals, some fish prefer soft, acidic water. Some fish prefer harder, higher pH water. What fish are you keeping? Where is your water currently at? Would you be better selecting fish to go with the water rather than altering the water to suit the fish?

 

[Essjay]

What fish are you keeping? Where is your water currently at? Would you be better selecting fish to go with the water rather than altering the water to suit the fish?

I agree. It is much easier to keep fish which need the same hardness as your tap water than to alter the hardness. Please could you tell us which fish you have and the hardness of your tap water.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Maybe try this https/www.seachem.com/equilibrium.php

- Restores and maintains mineral balance and GH
- Does not contain sodium or chloride like competing products
- Ideally suited for use with RO or DI water or any mineral deficient water


Overview

Equilibrium™ is specifically designed to establish the ideal mineral content for the planted aquarium. Equilibrium™ contains no sodium or chloride (which can be detrimental to a planted aquarium at elevated levels). Equilibrium™ is ideally suited for use with RO (reverse osmosis) or DI (deionized) water or any mineral deficient water. Equilibrium™ raises the essential mineral/electrolyte content (General Hardness) of the water to balance with and promote stability of the carbonate hardness……

Unlike competing products, Equilibrium™ contains NO SODIUM CHLORIDE. Both sodium and chloride are not rapidly depleted elements in a planted aquarium, and, in the case of chloride, can do more harm than good. Competitors’ products generally contain primarily sodium chloride (because it is inexpensive), which will raise the electrolyte levels for fish, but can be detrimental to plant growth. In addition, sodium is not a contributing cation to GH levels. Equilibrium™ contains only calcium, magnesium, and potassium salts, which aid in fish metabolism, but are also highly beneficial to plant growth…..

 

[GaryE]

I'll join the lineup of people asking what the fish you have that cause the water issues are.

As well, what do you have now. Your region of the US seems to have fairly hard water to begin with.

 

[Colin_T]

What fish do you keep?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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Marine salts to make up saltwater for a marine aquarium contain a lot of minerals including calcium and magnesium. However, they contain a lot of sodium chloride, which is harmful to a lot of freshwater fish if used in high doses or for prolonged periods of time.

About the only fish that can have marine salts added to the tank to increase the GH, KH and pH, are mollies, swordtails, platies, guppies and African Rift Lake cichlids. However, you are better off using something like a Rift Lake water conditioner to increase the GH, KH & pH of the water for these fishes because it has less sodium chloride in and is better for them.

All other freshwater fishes do best without the addition of salt (sodium chloride) except when being treated for certain diseases.

 

[Ichthys]

All other freshwater fishes do best without the addition of salt (sodium chloride) except when being treated for certain diseases.

 

[StevenF]

Sea salt does have calcium and magnesium but it will make the water too salty for your this. Seichem Equilibrium is a GH booster that will increase GH It is mainly made from gypsum ( Calcium sulfate and Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate. it is widely used in aquariums.

crushed coral is mainly calcium carbonate. it is not very useful increasing GH. it doesn't dissolve unless the water is acidic if the water PH is 7 or higher it doesn't do anything. However it is still useful in aquarium as a PH control. if the water becomes acidic theca will dissolve and push PH up and neutralize theca.So the PH should settle around 7. I recommend you put a spoon full in your filter . I am currently using sea shells which are also made from calcium carbonate. for this purpose. one shell lasts me about a year.

 

[Camonickel]

I'll join the lineup of people asking what the fish you have that cause the water issues are.

As well, what do you have now. Your region of the US seems to have fairly hard water to begin with.

yall im so sorry for taking eternity im a night shifter with adhd. okay so yall be asking some heckin lotta questions so i had to dig out ole bessy(laptop) because the phone aint doin it, but imma try to answer them. DEEP BREATH

i have common mollies from what google says
i have them because my roommate just wasnt taking care of them and im a pet person.
i started with one molly and a vacuum cleaner apparently its a placo???

since then i got some more mollies because google said they like to have homies to swim with so homies is what i got. i got some of the test strippy things for ph,nitrate,nitrite, Gh, Kh, and ammonia. i got different food and immediately the one original fishy just belly upped on me. so pet stores are not to be trusted. i keep the food she had them on which is tetramin tropical flakes and the vaccume cleaner didnt have food so i got these little disk things for it and a moss ball but it dont like the moss ball.

so now that we are caught up mostly i can try to get to the answers of all them questions.

*i got mollies like i said
*i did some strips just now after a like 80% water change
*the ammonia is good and the nitrate and nitrites are in the lowest little square on the strip
*my water is stupid soft (Gh apparently) right out the tap so its on the second square 25ppm
*the Kh? is high it says so its on the highest square 300ppm
*and my Ph is 8.4+ so alkaline like all the way to the last square.
*water temp from temp gun is 77F

NONE OF THIS CRAP IS RIGHT APPARENTLY except the ammonia and nitrat nitrite and water temp.

i went and threw this coral rocky thing in there and it has been weeks and it did make it go up a square on the Gh so it was the softest ever water now its just really soft so not much better.

i got fluval sea magnesium and fluval sea calcium but im affraid imma jack everything up worse than this crap salad of a show already is. so i hope this helps because that all she wrote folks

 

[Uberhoust]

For the fish to be healthy, out of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates only the Nitrates can be at a non-zero value without harming the fish, typically target something less than 20ppm for nitrate. Any ammonia or nitrite is bad and a good indication that a water change is necessary.

If your KH is high and your GH is low it is likely that the water supply has some alkaline additive to reduce the acidity of the water, to prevent corrosion of the pipes. That makes your situation more difficult. I would also be helpful if you let us know what the actual degrees of hardness and or ppm of KH and GH you have many of us don't use test kits and most use liquid tests because they are a bit more reliable, we don't know what two squares from the top indicate. Sometimes if you leave the water stored in buckets before use the pH will drop on its own.

I suspect Mollies are a harder water fish and might not be the best for the water you have. I keep soft water tank and a hard water tank, for my hardwater tank I add Seechem's Equilibrium to make the water harder, I use one teaspoon per 5 gallons and only when I do a water change, not for a water top up (that would slowly increase the GH). I would only do water mixing for small tanks.

I don't have lots of experience with mixing water but in terms of keeping the values relatively stable between water changes I find making the water the right hardness before adding it to the tank is better than adding something that dissolves overtime. If you have a frequent water changing cycle the water GH never raises enough between water changes and if you have a more occasional water change cycle the GH swings heavily from low immediately after the change to high just before the change.

 

[Uberhoust]

Sorry about my reply I see I missed some of your points.

 

[Camonickel]

so its only a small tank, like 10-20 and since one fish just released the gates of her fishy loins and tripled my population, i think i need a bigger tank. people said the fry wouldnt survive but not one of those sons of guns died that i noticed. it also looks like another is knocked up higher than a georgia pine and yall i cant be having all these babies. i did another test strip after adding some magnesium, and results are still the same except a nitrate spike, so i added some prime to fix that. so Gh is still 25 ppm and Kh is still 300 ppm. the Ph is still 8.4+.

do i need to buy things? i got the magnesium drops and i got calcium drops. i always have prime, baking soda, and ocean salt on hand. i just see a lot of people saying to get additive but then a lot of people are saying do your best to not use them so im at a loss. i cant even get algae to grow in this tank for poor little vacuum cleaner.

so far the seechem equilibrium is the only thing i see on the list to buy.