Re: [Killietalk] brine shrimp salt

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

Dan Wright wrote:
> I have always used plain rock salt, either for ice cream makers or for water
> softeners if you can find it without the additives to keep your pipes
> clean.  Plain rock salt is a lot cheaper, plus I think they add iodine to
> table salt.
>
>   
Not so, Dan. Iodide is to iodine what chloride (as in sodium chloride) 
is to chlorine. The only possible effect of iodides in salt is to 
prevent fish thyroid disease. The fancier grades of table salt may 
contain silicates as a free-running agent. They are about as healthy as 
the ground glass they resemble, and have given "iodized" salt an 
undeserved bad name. Do avoid table salts containing silicates. Use the 
cheap grocery-store brands with sodium ferrocyanide as the free-running 
agent (also known as Yellow Prussiate of Soda).

People in harder-water areas can get very good hatches with plain 
rock/softener/kosher/table salt, but the need for alkalinity means that 
those with soft water are better off with marine salts. Those give the 
alkaline (high pH) conditions the nauplii need to survive. A cheaper way 
to go might be to just add enough baking soda to the salt solution to 
prevent the otherwise inevitable pH crash in softer (i.e., unbuffered)  
water.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley - 805 Valley West Cir., Bishop CA 93514 
whuntley at verizon_net 760 872-3995. Cell 760 937-2276

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