# Non-iodized table salt or sea salt



## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

Will this work in place of the hobby salt?

With lack of input I shall begin experiments with hermits and damsels =P muahahahahah ... just kidding (kinda lol)


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I know sea salt is a safe alternative if you run out of aquarium salt. I can't find the thread about it but it was discussed at http://www.aquaponicshq.com

Kosher sea salt is the one that's the safe alternative. Normal salt IIRC has some anti caking ingredients in it not to mention iodide.


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## Reef_Aquatica (Apr 3, 2009)

Dont bother  

Use water softener salt, it's much safer (and cheaper) than others. But you have to supplement it with calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate to make the alkalinity stable and safe.


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

Reef_Aquatica said:


> Use water softener salt, it's much safer (and cheaper) than others. But you have to supplement it with calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate to make the alkalinity stable and safe.


Cool! Where do I get water softener salt? Where do I get calcium chloride? How much CaCl and NaHCO3 do I use?

Michael


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## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Reef ? or fish only ? 

cause sea salt sold for marine aquariums contains more than 70 elements which u can never duplicate, Iodine, calcium, magnesium, strotium, trace element .. are the ones u can buy and add (which is hard to get the ration right) and u will still miss some. at the end, u have spent more money than getting just marine salt. I'm new into this as well, so this is just my opinion since I was wondering about the same


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

Big Ray said:


> Reef ? or fish only ?


Good point of course, but I'm only doing cheap fish and invert only stuff (mantis shrimp ftw... actually the only reason why I'm interested in saltwater). Not interested in corals (yet) hahaha.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Salt is perhaps the cheapest part of the hobby. Just go out on boxing day an get yourself a cheap pail of Instant Ocean.


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

ameekplec. said:


> Salt is perhaps the cheapest part of the hobby. Just go out on boxing day an get yourself a cheap pail of Instant Ocean.


True say.. but I just like the novelty of going against pet stores and sometimes even convention  .


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## Reef_Aquatica (Apr 3, 2009)

MichaelAngelo said:


> Cool! Where do I get water softener salt? Where do I get calcium chloride? How much CaCl and NaHCO3 do I use?
> 
> Michael


Michael, I hope you realize that I am only talking about keeping damsel & hermit crabs alive but not keeping a full reef.  If you are doing anything more, you should just use Instant ocean for the peace of mind (since your investment is going to increase significantly with other fish & corals & LR.

For anybody that is interested in this _*advance topic*_, there are several salt mixing formula out there (search "rayjay" and "dman"). I am not going to be responsible for you killing the organisms though if you do not get the right mix, you need a digital gram scale.

p.s. To get all the ingredients to get a salt mix ready is going to cost you much much more than going to BA and buy a 50G bag of I.O. on boxing day, so if you are keen, just stock it up on boxing day. [unless you work for a chemical supply company]


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

Reef_Aquatica said:


> Michael, I hope you realize that I am only talking about keeping damsel & hermit crabs alive but not keeping a full reef.


Coincidentally, that's all I have right now =P (besides 2 mantis shrimp) hahaha.

Anyway, thanks now I realize that it is somewhat possible. Yeah boxing day deals and other great deals on salt don't really warrant making your own.


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