Still waiting for some help

[scliberty92]

I've been waiting all day about the question I had about dolabite for a substrata. I was told it would be OK but from reading the threads it doesn't sound that way. I'd also like to know if you have to have aprotein skimmer for a FOWLR tank. Any help would be welcomed.
Thanks Sal

 

[scsinet]

I would expect you mean dolomite, not dolabite.
I've not seen it used myself, but being that it's mostly composed of calcium and magnesium I'd expect you'd be okay. If I had any question, it would be about the amount of magnesium that ends up in the water... and the potential for impact to the inverts or calcium levels.

 

[shaun larlee]

dunno about substrate im new too.
BUT! Everyone told me a protein skimmer is a must with LR. I was told after i saw what it pulls out i would know why.
sorry that is all i have...hope it helps some

 

[reefkprz]

you dont have to have a protien skimmer but its a nice piece of equipment to have.
as for dolomite.... never had any expirience with it but I think there must be a reason it has severly faded from popularity in the hobby. I'm going to have to research this.

 

[nls82580]

i have a skimmer for sale for 150 bucks with a return pump and all its a sump type tho not sure if you are looking for hang on back type

 

[reefkprz]

umm from a quick preliminary (read as 2 minutes) glance about the information super highway (google search) it seems dolomite is primarily in usage in FW tanks and used as an ingredient in manufactured aquarium gravels....

 

[reefkprz]

apparantly its also used in calcium reactors (ozreef) to help boost magnesium levels apparantly in smaller amounts than aragonite. I'm thinking ifg you use dolomite sand you may have a hard time keeping your calcium high due to the abundance of magnesium.

 

[scliberty92]

Thanks everybody for getting back to me. Yea it is Dolamite. I guess that I'll have to get sand instead. I also have an Air stone in the tank and was told at the LFS that I needs to remove it before I put fish in there. Is this true?

 

[nls82580]

i owuld airstones mess with salinity

 

[reefkprz]

as dolomite dissolves for every magnesium unit released two units of alkalinity are also released (Randy Holmes-Farley - unsure of the copyright date)

 

[reefkprz]

Air stones can be problemathical, they cause salt creep (salt build up and splashes everywhere) they also transport protiens to the surface of your tank depositing them there restricting air exchange (thus doing the opposite of what you want, though in some applications they are use full breeder set ups with small fry etc.)