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I was speaking with a gentleman from one of our local pet stores today and he explained to me how you could add epsom salt into your fish aquarium as a plant fertilzer for your live plants and that it will not alter your water parameters or harm the fish. Just curious if anyone else has heard of this and if he was giving me correct information. Also if anyone has used epsom salts, What kind of results did you get? and How much do you use?

Hi,
Epsom Salt is Magnesium Sulfate (MgSO4 dot 7H2O) and
Magnesium is one of the nutrients that plants require for
growth. If you want to add your own fertilizer to the tank
you can accumulate several commonly obtained household
chemicals and add them to the tank. That would take care
of the Macro (large) needs of the plants, but the minor
elements and nutrients would have to come from a product
such as SeaChems' Trace.
Some examples for Macro nutrients are:
Epsom Salt (MgSO4dot7H2O) - Magnesium
Grant's Stump Remover (KNO3) - Potassium & Nitrate
Fleet Enema (Green box) - Phosphate

It is less expensive to purchase some of these items than
to order prepackaged mixtures from dealers. Another source
is a hydroponics supply. Or, you can purchase some of
the Tetra or SeaChem additives.

You can use a site such as this:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

To see what your plants are telling you about your water
conditions.
And then you can use a site such as this:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm
To calculate just how much of what to add to the tank on
a regular basis.

You can order aquarium plant fertilizer packages, already
mixed in bulk quantities and they will tell you how much
to add to the tank for best plant growth.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi Cichlid Keeper

Yes, I've been told to use it to. The first to suggest it to me was Tom Barr - who is apparently a plant guru over there in US & it was backed up by some others in the planted tank forum. You may hear some others say you shouldn't use it, but that may be because they are thinking of regular salt - which epsom salt is completely different from.

Cheers
TW