Dolomite is safe as substrate? is this dolomite?

Since im a bit tight on budget, im planning on using dolomite (10$ for 50kg) instead of aragonite (500$ for 50kg)... is it safe using? any advantages or disadvantages? is anybody using it?

Is this dolomite??

 

Is that US dollars? That seems really expensive...here you can get live sand for about $25 US/20 lbs. So 50 Kg = about 100lbs..so that would only be like $100.

 

Dolomite should be fine. Here in the US some use approximately 10% dolomite (products like Zeovit's Zeo-Mag and Brightwell's NeoMag) and 90% aragonite in the calcium reactors because the dolomite is virtually the same as aragonite with a higher concentration of Magnesium. Using it for substrate should be perfectly fine. IME, it takes a slightly lower PH to melt the dolomite in the Calcium reactor so I would expect it to have slightly lower buffering effect than aragonite. With that said the difference may be so close it would be unmeasurable.

 

im from india, so here everything is a killer.......lol.... dolo is manufactured here, thats why its so cheap.....

 

crushed coral is cheaper that aragonite, but i hate the look of it + i laready have it in my current tank....... the new tank will just be connected......

 

is the pic truely dolomite?

 

Looks like it except the dark pieces which may be impurities.

 

i guess ill have to remove the impurities.......