how much salt do I add to a gallon of distilled water for a tropical aquarium?

Answer 1

I really wouldn't advise salt or distilled water.

1)Salt
Really you don't need to be adding salt. Unless you've got something like mollies. (Mollies can live in freshwater, brackish, and salt, but prefer at least a little salt.) People will make all sorts of claims about salt doing this or that, but they generally don't know what they are talking about. (Salt can be used to treat certain external parasites, but too much will stress your fish. Plus there are better treatments.)

That said 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons will not hurt your fish. Iodine fears are simply silly. Fish need iodine as much as humans, and the amounts in table salt aren't any where near toxic. If you are really concerned about iodine use a salt with out extra iodine, like kosher salt, instead.

2)Distilled water is just plain bad. It's a waste of money, and bad for your fish to boot. It lacks minerals and electrolytes fish and plants need. Spring water on the other hand varies way too much with whats in it, and it often has way too much calcium, and other minerals in it. Unless your tap water has major amounts of calcium carbonate in it (hard). It's your best source of water once the chlorine is removed. (Leave it out for days in a glass container, or better yet use any number of treatments from your fish store to remove chlorine.) If your water is too hard dilute it with distilled water.

Answer 2

Yes you can add salt and like mentioned above you need to be using fresh water aquarium salt. Follow the directions on the back. That would be for a general tonic kind of thing. I think its 1 tbp or tsp per 5 gallons but you need to read the directions on the box. DONT USE TABLE SALT, oh please dont use that.

And dont use distilled water. Use tap water, just buy a dechlorinator to take care of chlorine. (PRIME is a good dechlorinator) You actually need some of the minerals in the tap water for your fish.

I dont know what your reason for wanting salt in your tank is. Are you trying to make a brakish tank or you just want to use it as a general tonic? If you need a brackish tank for dragon gobys or mollies or something I advise you to look up on the internet how much salt they need.

Answer 3

The normal amount is about 1 level tablespoon/5 gallons or in your case, a pinch. You should be using freshwater aquarium salt from your local pet store as it will have no trace elements in it.

Answer 4

You also dont use distilled water. Tropical water is just warm fresh water.

Answer 5

we use warm fresh water for our tropical tank and the only salt that's in the water is what remains from the water softener (we have very hard water with lots of iron in it)

Answer 6

you have a wierd mix of fish you decide directly to maintain . particularly than inform you why you cant shop specific species i will purely inventory your tank how i might inventory a 30 gallon . one million honey Gourami. 8 Cardinal Tetra 5-6 Corys 5 sword tail

Answer 7

you don't add salt for a tropical aquarium.

Answer 8

i use one tea spoon per gallon and its sea salt its one of the best things you can do to increase slime production