Domolite lime and other lost arts...

[DJ88]

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cyanide in the lime

Cyanide?

I am more concerned with pollutants and other chemicals this dolomite may come in contact with not just at the processing level but at the shipping and storage level.

Dolomite is stored with fertilizers and insecticides. Those prodtucs won't kill your lawn as easily as they will kill your tank. Am I wrong to think that?

Yes caribsea products are costly, I give them that. But they are giving you a written gurantee on each package of No impurities. When a company tells me something in print I will take it as truth. If it isn't I have grounds to go after that company for false advertising.

I think it is great that you are trying out ideas. But when someone new who is just starting in the hobby comes online and asks for help I am leery of sending them off buying something that isn't meant for your tank but should work fine. You yourself even said it is risky. And I have read all kinds of posts specifying on other boards that there are several different kinds of dolomite. And only to use one in particular. I don't want someone new to the hobby to glance over a post see the word dolomite and go rushing out fill their tank up and wipe it out because they bought the wrong stuff.

Maybe I am off base with this but I will NOT put anything in my tank(water) that is not produced or made for an aquarium. I am very passionate about that. If something happens due to a product made for my tank I can approach that company about the failure or impurties in that product. What is Revy going to do if you had fertilizer that seeped in the dolomite and it wiped out a tank of livestock? Laugh? or look at you like you had three heads? I won't put the animals in my care at risk. They are thriving now and I will keep it that way.

I understand you want to try it out. And I say go for it. When a company can say to me that there is no risk of impurities or other substances in the Dolomite and that it is safe and has been packaged and shipped for aquarium use I will then buy it and use it. Not till then. I am not one to risk a single coral or fish's life to a risky substrate.

As for the increse of Mg in your tank. I'd like to see the measurements over time. I do believe that with a proper 4" or greater DSB you will get a low enough pH to dissolve the substrate. I have seen it in my tank and if you look others have as well. This is due to a lower pH at the deepest areas. Will it put enough Mg in the water to cause problems? I dont know. It is only recently that DSB's have come into use. When Dolomite was in use before it was with plenums or on its own but not in the amounts we are putting in now. I searched to find others using it and so far came across you, Steve and possibly one other who are using it at teh moment. Others used it in the past when all that was available was crushed coral and oyster shells. But in that day it was all abotu a thin layer overtop of a UGF or plenum a bit later on. And of those only you are running a DSB(I am correct to assume it is a DSB?). So in effect you will be the first to see if there is an increase in Mg levels.