Chicken Grit or Dolomite??? HELP

Which should I use for my substrate. I'm on a very tight budget and from what I understand, dolomite is just like arag, but with a highter mag content? Would this high mag be toxic to my tank??

 

If your trying to be cheap then go bare bottom.

 

what size tank are you setting up a bag of sand is only 20 dollars or so. i like my sand under a inch so i used a 5 lb bag for my 26 gallon

 

I like the looks of sand. I'm not concerned with the buffering ability as my CA reactor will do that.

 

bare is the way to go with cheap... you can alway tell if you have extra detritus rockin in your tank and its a good clean look if you have lots of rock. +1 on the bare

 

I know this isn't especially constructive, but you know, I always picture Jimmy Walker saying "Dol-O-MIIIIIITE" when I hear or read "dolomite."

If you want to do cheap, but you want sand and don't need buffering, then go with play sand. Over the years, I've set up more than 20 tanks (for myself and for friends) and have used play sand, normally from Wal-Mart, in 4 out of 5 of the setups on average. Initially, your diatom bloom will be more pronounced, but it will clear up.

With my latest setups, I used aquacultured live sand and regret it. I've had more algae problems (also have been using different filtration, so I can't blame the sand completely) and I haven't had the same excellent results as when I bought play sand and seeded it myself. To add insult to injury, I paid $2.00 a pound, compared to about $0.08 per pound with play sand.

Guess what I'll do when I set up my next tank? LOL

 

Play sand wil give you major algal issues as it is heavy in SiO4 which you do NOT want. Tight budget isn't a good thing in reef keeping, if you can't afford it, wait until you can, otherwise you will regret it. If anything else, I would recommend the dolomite, as in the early years of reefing dolomite was king. Aragonite has won out but like everything in life there is another group of people bringing dolomite back into the mix.

Go with the dolomite or save until you can buy some cheap aragonite, or wait until its on sale or when a reefer takes down his tank on craigs list.

Good luck and happy reefing!