# epsom salt for water changes



## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

I was wondering can anybody tell me will Epsom salt harm fish when doing water changes regularly I usually use cichlid lake salt but don't have any at the moment plus epsom salt is far cheaper than cichlid lake salt, I guess what im trying to figure out is will it harm my fish over a long period of time? Any advice would be helpful thanks in advance. ..


----------



## workharddieproud (Nov 7, 2013)

My opinion and others as well, I don't use any salts or additives in my cichlid tank. Use to though till I figured out they don't need it and that's been about a year ago. But it still boils down to personal choice. I wouldn't add epsom salt as a replacement to lake cichlid salt.


----------



## JP_92 (Aug 2, 2013)

I've been using Epsom salt for over a year with no ill effects.


----------



## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Unless you have really soft water, it is unlikely you need to add anything to the water. Some people like to play water chemist, so if that is your thing, continue on. i am far too lazy to keep fish that require special water conditions. To date there hasn't been anything I have wanted to keep that required me to play at water chemistry.The water from Lake Ontario (my source), allows the keeping of most fish with out any alteration.


----------



## joescaper1 (Feb 14, 2013)

I have been using Epsom salt consistently for 40 years. I started using it for cost reasons (much cheaper than Rift Lake Salts). It is not identical to RLS but it has the key ingredient of the rift lakes that doesn't come in my tap water, magnesium. I felt (and still do) that it was a great alternative.

There are a couple of additional benefits, 1. It kills fungus but not bacteria. 2. It is a detoxifier (through osmosis). 3. It relieves constipation (I know that is in humans) however, I keep Tropheus moorii, and have never had a case of the bloat (widely believed to be a result of constipation).

Epsom salts may provide no beneficial results, but no one will be able to convince me of that.

Joe


----------



## tori (Jul 8, 2014)

Joe how much do you use?


----------



## joescaper1 (Feb 14, 2013)

I use 75gm (15 teaspoons) per 50 US gallons (5gm in my 3.5 US gallon bucket). I age my water for a week and use no other chemicals.
I do not add any Epsom salt to the water used to replace evaporation (salt does not evaporate).
Joe


----------



## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

Thanks guys for the replys..I've heard of ppl using it regularly but wanted confirmation from experienced fish keepers and it is way far cheaper than CLS! To answer ur question joe I have a 150 and change 50 gallons every sunday and Wednesday I used 10 Tbsp of epsom salt and the ppm came up to 13ppm my fish are doing great and breeding so I guess it wasnt that bad...


----------



## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

Sorry bout that post I thought joe was asking me how much salt I use didn't see the names of the post to the right..lol


----------



## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

Joe you said you been using it for 40 years right? So you never had none of your fish get sick or any kind of health related problems? If so thats awesome im thinking about switching over because the lake salt is expensive. .


----------



## joescaper1 (Feb 14, 2013)

Just so you don't think I am claiming to be perfect; I have had fish die after I started using epsom salt, but individually, never en mass from a disease.

I had a mbuna with pop eye once but that was bully related and once I removed the culprit (and with it the stress) the pop eye subsided and did not return.

I had a catastrophic heater failure, and by the time I caught it the tank was over 100 degrees F. Needless to say all the fish died.

Also, when I was much younger I used only an under gravel filter; a colony of N. brichardi dug out all the gravel under the center rock pile. So I had no working filter for however long I failed to notice and the entire colony died of ammonia poisoning. I still UG filters in all my tanks but have taken steps to eliminate that possibility, plus I have added a wet/dry sump system to each of my tanks .

Prior to keeping cichlids, I had the usual beginner's fish: swordtails, mollies, corydorus catfish, etc. I used to have ich problems but I didn't use epsom salt and I kept the tanks at room temperature (which I now know is much too low). Live and learn.

Joe


----------



## forest109 (Sep 7, 2010)

I've been using epsom salt in my 90G Malawi cichlid tank for 5 years, with no ill effects whatsoever. Epsom salt helps make the water harder, and harder water is more alkaline (higher pH). Epsom salt is also beneficial to fish, just as it is to people (and I mean internally, not soaking your feet!). I use it in combination with baking soda and sea salt (instead of plain uniodized salt) as part of a "rift lake" recipe posted in the Cichlid Chemistry section of the Cichlid-Forum library ("Rift Lake Buffer Recipe" by Marc Elieson). Marc's article suggests using 1 tsp uniodized salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 3 tsp (1 tbsp) epsom salt per 5 gallons of replacement water, but the amount of baking soda and epsom salt will vary depending on how hard your water is to begin with. In my case, I've found that about 1.5-2 tsp of epsom salt per 5 gallons is enough to keep the water chemistry right on target.


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Epsom salts will do your fish no harm at all. Whether it will do them any good is another story. 
If you want to increase the hardness in your tank you can add baking soda to increase the KH and in turn, the P.H.
You should test your water chemistry to see if you need to be adding anything before doing so.
I add baking soda because my K.H is very low. Epsom salts will increase your G.H, which in my opinion, is completely unnecessary.


----------



## JP_92 (Aug 2, 2013)

I think with all the GTA in this thread once my Epsom salt runs out I'll just stick to regular water.


----------



## BillD (May 17, 2005)

joescaper1 said:


> Prior to keeping cichlids, I had the usual beginner's fish: swordtails, mollies, corydorus catfish, etc. I used to have ich problems but I didn't use epsom salt and I kept the tanks at room temperature (which I now know is much too low). Live and learn.
> 
> Joe


I have to challenge this. I don't use epsom salts and don't have ich. I keep my tanks on the cool side. All livebearing tanks and some cichlid tanks are unheated. Temps range from 66F to 75F depending on time of year. I don't have ich. Room temp (normal room temp) is not too low for most species and will definitely not result in ich. You have to have ich in the tank to have an outbreak. It has nothing to do with temps.


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

General hardness (GH) is important, so test yours before making any changes to your routines. Do not assume that high pH means you have hard water, nor does the carbonate buffering (KH) compensate for soft water. I used Epsom salt with every water change in every tank in my Maine fishroom. My water was ridiculously soft (GH=0) and needed some divalent cations (Ca, Mg) in order for my fish to thrive. Now in MN, I don't need to add Epsom as long as I use water that doesn't pass through my water softener. It's all relative, but if you need additional hardness, Epsom is an effective and economical reagent.


----------

