How much salt to add?

i need to add some salt to my tanks and i was just wondering how much to add. roughly what amount per gallon should i put in? and one of the tanks has two madtoms in it, should i add a little less for that tank?

Typically people use 1-2 tablespoons per five gallons of water. I have never noticed any ill effects with catfish at this dosage, but I usually try to keep tanks containing catfish closer to one tablespoon per five gallons.

Is salt necesary in a tank or can I just use plain declorinated water? Will 1 tblsp per gallon work for a rockbass/sunfish tank?


sorry for derail...

It isn't required but I've become accustomed to doing so in all my tanks. 1 tbsp per 5 gallons is a good amount for everyday water changes.

Salt isn't necessary in your aquarium unless the water your fish came from naturally has some salinity in it. Otherwise it's really only suggested you put salt in your aquarium as part of a treatment for an illness and to relieve stress on your fish when they're sick.

Well I have no scientific answer for salt in aquariums. Just keeping tropicals and natives over the years and doing a little readiing here and there on the subject. I have to disagree with turtle lover. SRY But just as a human has a high salt content in its body so does fish. Fresh or salt water fish. To a degree if you put fish in plain declor. water it is "for the lack of a better term" pulling salt from the fishes body since the fish is constantly in the water. Now over time this could be bad for the fishes health. I firmly beleive that sickness or no sickness you definatly need to add salt to fresh water fish tanks. What amount? What kind of fish??? There are a lot of variables with this. Like did the fish come from an area that is brackish in nature ( salt/fresh, mix water ) or did it come from straight fresh water. I personaly use canning and pickleling salt. It has nothing added like iodine or anti caking agents. It is your best budget wise salt for adding to aquaruims. You find it in the baking goods I believe in your common grocery store. If you want to pay seven dollars for some thing that cost like less than a buck be my guest. But as far as fresh water fish goes salt is salt. I put one teaspoon full per gallon. I have snails. plants and catfish with my fish and so far they seem to fair with this measurement. Now i did not do the math but two and one half tablespoons may add up to be fairly close to the same per gallon. Sounds like to me that one teaspoon per gallon would be a little higher. Well that is my gut instinct non scientifice tried in the field answer.

Daniel

Is salt necesary in a tank or can I just use plain declorinated water? Will 1 tblsp per gallon work for a rockbass/sunfish tank?
sorry for derail...

One tablespooon per gallon is a bit of a stiff dose. I would stick with my recomended one teaspoon per gallon or the other persons 2.5 tablespoons per five gallons or something in between. They are both close. But as you can see in my other post here saying that fish does not need salt unless it came from a saline water I thing is a misconception. I believe there is a small amount of salinity in any water. Not to repeat myself but just as we have a high salt content a fish does to. So if you are keeping a fish in staight fresh water over long periods of time I think this is very injurious to the fishes health because it is pulling salt from the fishes body.

One tablespooon per gallon is a bit of a stiff dose. I would stick with my recomended one teaspoon per gallon or the other persons 2.5 tablespoons per five gallons or something in between. They are both close. But as you can see in my other post here saying that fish does not need salt unless it came from a saline water I thing is a misconception. I believe there is a small amount of salinity in any water. Not to repeat myself but just as we have a high salt content a fish does to. So if you are keeping a fish in staight fresh water over long periods of time I think this is very injurious to the fishes health because it is pulling salt from the fishes body.

Your logic is right on..but the truth is that some fish ARE from extremely low sodium(soft) water areas.
I am sure there is some mineral/salt in all natural water..that's almost a given. But..some areas are VERY low in it, and the fish from those areas are adapted to that. I guess it's all in the degree.

Yes, they are adapted to this. In my area we typically have very low (<20ppm) TDS. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Maybe I wasn't clear, but that's what I was trying to say. Depending on where your fish came from will determine if they need salt or not. If the water the fish came from is soft or has a low mineral content, that's what they are adapted to live in. They don't need the extra salt in their captivity water. IF they come from an area where salts are found in their native habitat, then yes, they need some salt in their water. Depends on the fish and depends where they come from. There's no real strait or generic answer.