A good product?

[BioG]

I have been using "oceanic" sea salt at a rate of 1 teaspoon, maybe a bit less, per 5 gallons when I change water. I also use about 1/2 teaspoon of "Seachem" Tang buffer per the same 5 gallons. My water comes off the tap at 7.2 maybe a bit higher.

I am trying to create an ideal environment, water chemistry wise, and I don't want to mix my own stuff or take short cuts. My question/s are 1. Is the "oceanic" salt "complete" as far as trace elements go etc.? I was ideally thinking of using "seachem" cichlid salt and "seachem" buffer but the salt is nowhere near affordable for some reason. 2. I was able to find a product calle "Loving Pets African Cichlid Salt" which is $12 for 5 lbs. compared to "Seachem's" $100 for the same amount! However, I could find no "analysis" or whatever that tells me, in comparison, if the "loving pets" version is even similar. Anyone using this product have a list of ingredients or something?

I have also been dosing with trace elements, a practice that I stopped a year or so ago. I started up again while troubleshooting what I thought was an illness in one fish. However after dosing with trace stuff his condition (I have another thread on the psychotic lengths I went to to find out what was going on with this fish who turned out to have more of a "condition" than an illness as it has not spread nor does it seem to affect him other than aesthetically.) improved although I can't be sure it did so in reaction to the re-intro of trace elements.

I know this is petty but I am suspicious of vitamin, trace deficiencies in my tank. Anyone see trace elements as a necessity or lack thereof as a detriment?

[Darkside]

I find that dosing salt and trace elements will likely do more harm than good, so I don't bother with it unless its a reef tank. It is expensive and I feel its a waste, unless its an unusually delicate fish I don't bother (i.e. pipefish). Unless the fish are WC they aren't going to care if the water is properly buffered and I even keep my WC in aquariums where I don't buffer (aside from crushed coral). When I do use salt I use marine salt (because that's what I have for my SW setups).

[BioG]

They are mostly WC but I see your point. I think I am just inventing suspicion having not figured out a few things. I guess for one, more than one fish would be showing some kind of a "Condition" . I guess I'm just in denial of this particular fish having a cancer or tumor of some kind

[DJRansome]

Since I can't test for all the trace stuff, there is no way I can know if I need it or not. I definitely prefer to add NaCl salt only as a medication when I have a diagnosis. To avoid adding stuff I may already have too much of, no additives for me.
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125G Calvus, Caudopunctatus, J Gombe, Brevis, Leleupi, Tret, Cyp Kerenge
75G Demasoni, Labs, Cyno sp hara, Red Zebras, Syno Multipunctatus
38G Aulonocara sp stuartgranti Maleri, Syno Lucipinnis

[Mcdaphnia]

If you add salt, do have a hydrometer and check once in a while. I bought some fancy goldfish that the previous owner had imported from mainland China. When I got them home. I checked the salinity and it was over 1.010. Crushed coral or coral sand is fine as a buffer, but is most active the first couple weeks. Crushed oyster shells stays more active, but slowly dissolves away so you have to add more periodically. It's real cheap where sold to farmers who feed it to chickens. The egg shells have to come from somewhere. Oysters are sometimes harvested from mangrove roots, so there may be some ground up wood in a bag. If you get a bag like that, most of the wood floats out when you rinse it and a little bit left hurts nothing.

I don't mess with the pH or hardness, and only add salt to cichlids from brackish zones, but with Tanganyikans I do add iodine. That lake is higher in iodine than the ocean, so either feeding krill, seaweed such as sushi wrap, or dosing with a reef iodine product as directed for a reef tank is important to young fish and fry from this lake.

[Darkside]

Crush coral and coral sand also continually dissolve, much like the oyster shells, it just isn't as obvious because there is typically so much more of it in and aquarium. Remember that any buffer will only move the chemistry towards a certain pH.

[Mcdaphnia]

[Darkside]

[BioG]

It seems that, though I may discontinue the use of sea salt unless fish become ill, I may continue the use of buffer to keep ph around 8.4 without any ill effects?

It's confusing to read that Tangs without trace will suffer deficiencies, I know some trace is already present via rock, sand water etc. but is it all really a dishonest marketing ploy?

What the is "Cichlid salt" if not Nacl?

Does Ph have any effect on color? I have noticed since buffering years back that my fish seem to be very vibrant, even when I by new fish they too improve very noticeably in color and contrast in my setups? Not bragging, I'm serious, I have fed varying food regiments but it's possible that I overlooked what was causing the improvement in sheen etc. Was it most likely food or conditions?

Do adult cichlids benefit from more iodine than they already receive from their food?

[Mcdaphnia]

The dosing regimen for a reef product adding iodine is well below a harmful level that it could do no harm to adult fish even if they already get iodine in their food.

However fish that are still growing need that iodine. It is very possible to get a "big head" syndrome in young L. Tanganyika fish and fry that looks tumorous because it's analogous to goiter that used to be a common malady in parts of the US where iodine is deficient, until iodized salt was introduced. If the syndrome is not treated, the growth gets so large that the fish can no longer swallow, and it starves to death.

[DJRansome]

Cichlid salt has other types of salts like magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).
_________________
125G Calvus, Caudopunctatus, J Gombe, Brevis, Leleupi, Tret, Cyp Kerenge
75G Demasoni, Labs, Cyno sp hara, Red Zebras, Syno Multipunctatus
38G Aulonocara sp stuartgranti Maleri, Syno Lucipinnis

[BioG]

so no need to buffer if using "Cichlid salt"?

[Darkside]

I think cichlid salt is basically a buffer mix for WCs.

[noddy]

I had always used marine salt, and then switched to course sea salt when doing water changes. I stopped with the salt about two months ago because I had no idea how much was actually in the tank. I add baking soda at 1 tsp per 5 gal. with every water change to keep my k.h at around 16. The only reason I do that is because my p.h is low out of the tap and my k.h is around 6. If it was higher, I wouldn't add anything.

[BioG]

how low?