Lake Malawi Salinity

Question
Hi Ron,

I have a 77 gallon tank for 3 years and have put approx one tablespoon of cichlid salt per 5 gallons into each new water change. I recenlty had a filter die and made due with a small filter till my new one arrived. The water was in bad condition and I am in the process of cleaning it up and getting it to where it needs to be. I meeasured salinity at approx 8 ppm and specifig gravity at 1.004. What does this mean and if anything, what should I do. I live in Calgary, AB and in general our tap water is a good match for African Cichlids. Thanks so much for your help.

SIncerely,

Matt O'Keefe

Answer
Hi Matt,
  You have to be careful about adding salt. If you remove water, then you remove salt and so you should replace it if you want to keep the same salt concentration.  However, if you
are replacing water that evaported (the salt doesn't evaporate) then you don't want to add new salt because over time your salt concentration will build to higher and higher levels.  

  Personally I don't worry at all about salt concentration. I don't add any salt. I do worry alot about "bad water".  You need to do regular partial water changes on any aquarium. A good scheme is to do 25% once a week, every week, to keep the fish happy and healthy.  That is much more important than the exact salt concentration in my opinion.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>