Dolomite...

Marsekay

New member
Ive seen large bags of this (in a powder form similair to cement)
isnt it basically magnesium and calcium?
could i add it to the aquarium mixed with water?
 
It won't dissolve in water, well, not very much. It's mostly calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.

Some people add it to calcium reactors, but I don't know how well that works in practice.
 
I bought some dolomite and disolved it at 6.3 pH, and then did some testing. It maxed out my Hanna Photometer, so I dumped it in my rose garden.
 
I bought some dolomite and disolved it at 6.3 pH, and then did some testing. It maxed out my Hanna Photometer,

Of course it will peg your meter, if it is the Low Range Hanna :) Almost any media will that is CaCO3 based. Even the best ones tested to 2 ppm PO4 and some greater than 6 ppm. You have to look at how much that small sample gave and pretend you dump in your tank. If you took some dead and well bleach coral it will also peg you meter, or seashells or even aragonite sand and the same for Limestone.

Let say it was 6 mg / l and you dunmped it in your tank

Tank is 50 net gal = 190 L, 6 / 190 = 0.03 ppm PO4

Let say it was 3 mg / l = 0.015 ppm

Let say it was 1 mg / l = 0.005 ppm

The media in the reactor is dissolving very little at a time, so the PO4 added will be no where near the levels above. And more than likely you be only <10 % of those levels above. And all of that is assuming there in no uptake of the PO4 by any means.



0

Does dolomite go with different names


That is what it is sold as usually. It may also go by the name Dolostone or Dolomitic Limestone. And all Dolomite is not the same. Some have more Mg++ and others have less. None of the Dolomite you get is pure Dolomite, which is actually a mineral Ca,Mg(CO3)2. It is made of alternating monlayers of Calcite and Magnesite, where the Ca++ and Mg++ are at a 50:50 ratio.

The dolomite you get should really be called Dolostone, which is a % grade from Limestone - Dolostone, with other names in between. The name applied is based on the ratio of the Calcite to Dolomite minerals %. When most of it is Calcite it is Limestone and when most of it is Dolomite it is called Dolostone or dolomite ( a misleading name )
 
Thanks Boomer. I should have given more details. Once I disolved the dolomite, I mixed small amounts of it with NSW, that was tested at 0.00 PO4 on my Hanna Photometer, to achieve close to 1500 ppm Mg with a Salifert test. After achieving about 1500 ppm Mg, I tested that solution on my low range photometer and it read the maximum, which I think was 2.75 ppm.
I bought the dolomite from a plant store, so I'm sure it was intended for fertilizer.
I'll look for the Dolostone and test some of that.
 
If you go 2.75 ppm then that is not bad. At NSW Mg++ it would have been 2.2 ppm PO4. So, if you added 1 L of this stuff to a 50 gal tank it is as I posted above, 0.01 would be added if all the Dolomite was dissolve, which it wont', as it is a media undissloved when added and is being very slowly dissolved over time in a reactor. The PO4 in it is not an issue. PO4 issues are FOOD, not Dolomite, RO/DI water, activated carbon, etc.. :D


All Dolomite you will find will be really Dolostone. When we are dealing with rocks, not minerals, Dolomite = Dolostone. Pure Dolostone, a rock or Dolomite a rock will be >90 % Dolomite the mineral and the rest will Calcite. If it is less than that 90 % it is Limitic or Calcitic Dolostone/Dolomite. If the rock is >90% Calcite then it is called Pure Limestone, if less Dolomitic Limestone. To know which one of these it is, it would need to be assayed or to know where the rock came from.

From an old post of mine;

> 90 % Calcite & 0 - 10 % Dolomite = Limestone

90 -50 % Calcite & 10 -50 % Dolomite = Dolomitic Limestone

10 - 50 % Calcite & 90 - 50 % Dolomite = Calcitic Dolomite

0 - 10 % Calcite and > 90 - 100 % Dolomite = Dolomite (Dolostone)

-----Increasing in the mineral Dolomite ---->>

LS--------DL-------------CL-----------D

0---------10--------------50----------90--100 % Dolomite

<<<-----Increasing in the mineral Calcite -----
 
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