Hi,
New to this forum and had a question im hoping someone can help me with.
I have recently set up my freshwater tank 20 gallon with a 30 gallon filter and had it sit for a while and its currently cycling with goldfish in it as the source of ammonium. Didnt realize there was a way to do it without fish. Unfortunately i've relied alot on fish store associates who in my experience tend to be the king of bologna. They refuse to say they dont know something and instead tell me something that my grandmother could figure out is a lie. So while my tank is cycling i have recently been trying to figure out some good fish to keep in my tank. One in particular i liked i can no longer the name which does not really help but it was a blue ciclid with other coloring in it. The point is that it said he requires aquarium salt while its a freshwater fish on the description at the store. The store associate when i asked him said its not really required and they had problems with it in the filters so they dont use it anymore, so i asked does it just help or why does it say required, and he says "let me think" looks down and just kinda starts to ramble on about unrelated things. So my question to the community here is what all is involved in this, the fish i saw was really cool looking and would love to get one, but i wanna know what im up against and if there are problems i should worry about with my filter and how i go about using this stuff. again i have a 20 gallon tank with a 30 gallon filter so its filtering well if that makes a difference.
Thanks in advance

There's alot of fish that will "survive" in both fresh and saltwater setups for a period of time. Having a fish at the wrong salinity will cause long-term stress on the fish because it will either cause them to have to constantly drink (because they are losing water through osmosis) or constantly urinate (because they are gaining too much water through osmosis) The more stressed a fish is, the easier it will succumb to the first illness or problem that comes up.

I would definitely look up the specific cichlid your interested in to see what the native salinity is and try to "salt" your water to that level.

I would also strongly using aquarium salt, not table salt for this purpose.

Also - SLOW adjust the salinity of your water by taking half a cup of water from your tank, mixing salt into that cup, and once it's dissolved pour it slowly back into the tank in a high-flow area. I would do this with a modest amount of salt daily until you have the salinity where you want it. Simply quickly adjusting salinity can throw fish into shock, plus raw undissolved salt contains concentrations of elements that would be unhealthy for a fish to come into contact with before dissolving.

and, welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the advice, do i have to worry about the salt with my filter at all? Such as changing the filter more frequent or anything like that. In the mean time im going to try to figure out what fish it was.
I guess i cant remember well enough to pinpoint what kind of fish it is exactly but im pretty sure its a type of lake malawi cichlid

Probably not an issue - but what are the details on your filter?

Most if not all HOB (hang on back), canister, and wetdry/trickle/sump filters are designed for both fresh and saltwater use.

The biggest concerns (in my opinion) with using filters on water with salt is 1-rust (but normally not an issue), and 2-deposit buildups on pumps (they may need to be soaked in vinegar to remove stubborn build-ups more frequently)

Let us know what you can find out with the type of cichlid!

Hey DJ-Lucky ~ welcome to the forum!

I definitely can't disagree with anything that has been said already but I did want to point out that there are specific "cichlid-salts" on the market and this may be what your store may have been referring to...or at least what they should have been referring to. There are at least two good peices of news for you though. #1) Salt shouldn't affect your filters too much if you are using it correctly and #2) You don't have to use any salt in order to keep Malawi cichlids. As far as I have ever read or heard, there isn't a huge advantage to using these salts anyways...or in other words, you can still maintain a healthy and vibrant cichlid for its full potential lifespan without any salt at all. In fact, I'd say that it would just be another thing you'd have to worry about (e.g. the things lostanime has pointed out) and I'm sure you have a lot on your plate right now anyways. Besides, the term "salt" covers a very broad topic and as you know, there are many types of salt and hence, you can't always substitute one product (e.g. aquarium salt) with another (e.g. "cichlid salt" or Marine Salt).

Hey dj lucky welcome to the forum!

I think you have been told only half of the reason why salts may be important for various cichlids by your lfs. Most African Cichlids live in water that has a higher pH and freshwater aquarium salt is one way of buffering your water. IMHO that is a difficult way of maintaining a stable and healthy environment for the fish. There are various substrates out there specifically designed for A. Cichlids that will keep your pH higher if you have soft water or are using RO water. Calcium based rocks (texas holey, limestone, coral skeletons, shells) will assist you as well. To me it is easier to maintain a more stable environment if you build it with the intention of keeping a particular species of fish.

Thanks everyone for the help, I am currently at college finishing up my current semester and had set up my tank before i left, where it is now cycling under instructions i gave to my brother, So im am unable to find out what fish it was exactly i tried looking online and couldnt remember well enough to pinpoint the fish, i figured it was a mawali because they tend to be the blue cichlids. i will have to do alot of tests on my nitrites and ammonium and ph when i go back for easter weekend, then i can provide more information hopefully.

I realize this is an old post and hopefully everything worked out well for the originator.
I did want to add my two cents to the thread.



I have used aquarium salt for my live bearer tanks (guppy, platy, sword and Mollies). The salt content is low compared to saltwater tank water. I have never heard of any filter problems nor have I had any problems with salt in my filters. I would like to warn everyone that once you get the salt level where you need it, you very rarely have to add more salt. As water evaporates out of the tank, it leaves the salt behind, so be careful about adding pre-salted water during water changes. You can quickly raise the salt content to a dangerously high level without realizing it. Also note that most freshwater fish that prefer salt solutions will live fine in unsalted water, they just might not breed or breed successfully.



p.s. I have also used aquarium salt in combination with Ich medications for severe Ich outbreaks. The free swimming stage of Ich do not tolerate changes in the salt concentrations very well.