Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Let's talk about salt...

...in an RAS or other tank system.
The small scale aquaculture says that you can go up to 5 ppt. What kind of salt do you use? I imagine not Morton's Table salt and I know aquarium places sell small cans of it, but when your "aquarium" is 500 gallons or so what's the most economical type to buy? Rock salt, kosher salt, softener salt?

When transporting fish I just use cheap non-iodized table salt. I'll stock up when I see it cheap at Wally-World.

Morton's swimming pool salt (blue bag) is about the most economical that I have found, but any PURE (absolutely no additives) salt will do.

Here's a link by a pathologist I know that explains salt pretty good. The article is geared towards Koi but it applies to all fish.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/Kebus_Salt_Treatments.html

I use the uniodized Morton salt from the grocery store. Generic salt if uniodized is fine too as in from Walmart.

In my 500 gallon system it amounts to half a container per day for a 0.2 percent solution (2 ppt) if I do a 10 precent water change per day. (50 gallons) If less of a change you use less salt. Not that expensive although it has doubled in price in the last 6 months. I only go as high a 0.5 percent for hauling -- not production.

You can get larger quantities a lot cheaper at a farm supply store, but make sure it has no yellow prussiate of soda (sodium ferrocyanide) (see article), which is used to keep the salt from clumping -- but can be toxic to fish if it's exposed to sunlight.

I'm leaning toward using salt the first month or two after I add fish and then tapering it off to nothing. It's cheap insurance though if you have a lot invested in your fish.

I mostly preferred Rock salt...
Work very well as well as the most economical...

So does pool salt work for this or safe for fish?

I wonder if you could put fish in a pool that has a salt water pump on it?

Pool salt should work, but a pool pump designed to work with salt converts the sodium chloride to chlorine which will kill the fish.

??? I am lost here. ???

Pool salt is like very pure table salt (sodium chloride). Other similar salt, such as most table salt, has various additives, such as iodine. Agricultural sodium chloride includes anti-clumping substances such as yellow prussiate of soda, which can react with minerals in the water, particularly iron.

A pool pump designed to work with salt converts salt in the water to chlorine. General maintenance is reduced, and reactive solid chlorine does not have to be handled. But, the generated chlorine would be deadly to fish, even in extremely small doses.

Most places that sell pool supplies have pure pool salt, usually Mortons.

Wow shows how much I know. I wasn't aware people added salt to swimming pools.

Cecil come on down to Texas and take a dip in my saltwater pool.



I think a saltwater pool feels softer on the skin without the strong chlorine smell.

Thanks Ken,

It is a chlorine generator (actually bleach) that converts the salt into a disinfectant, not the pump. It can also be converted back again to salt. This is pretty dangerous stuff for utilizing in fish related environments. The sheer magnitude of possible chemical reactions caused by this makes me want to head to high country

Wow Zep that's beautiful! If I had one of those up here I'd be tempted to stock it with trout!