Dissolve Lanthanum Phosphate from Socks

[Ocelaris]

Is there a chemical like hydrochloric acid that will dissolve the Lanthanum phosphate crystals from 5 micron socks so I can really clean the sock and reuse it? At $5 a pop, those filter socks aren't cheap, and I use one up every 12 hours to dose Lanthanum Chloride. Since LaPO4 or whatever the chemical name is probably fairly strong bonds, is there anything I can do to dissolve it out so it doesn't clog the sock? My typical rinse with tap water, bleach isn't going to remove the fine lanthanum phosphate crystals I assume.

Thanks, Bill

 

[Reef Tripp]

Drop in your skimmer

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Any strong acid you use will also breakdown the sock itself. What you can do is have larger micron socks (>100) before the water gets to your 5 micron one. This will catch the large particulate so the 5 micron one lasts longer in between changes.

In my experience washing out the sock (with just water) has always led to good results for me and I use quite a bit of lanthanum chloride in my system.

 

[Ocelaris]

Thanks, I will give my regular wash a whirl.

 

[Keen4]

Ok Im new to lanthanum dosing. I had a fluke gross dosing of disodium phosphates and now it was recommended to dose lanthanum, How do you dose for this? Im quite confused.

 

[Pistondog]

Ok Im new to lanthanum dosing. I had a fluke gross dosing of disodium phosphates and now it was recommended to dose lanthanum, How do you dose for this? Im quite confused.

Lots of threads on lc, click search in upper right "lanthanum chloride".
I've dripped Phosphate-e, diluted 50:1 intothe overflow with 5 micron sox over 8 hours to catch the precipitate. Some tangs are very sensitive to the precipitate in the water. Don't lower po4 level more than 0.5 ppm perday or so.

 

[Spieg]

I just throw them in the washing machine with bleach... works fine for me. You might try something like citric acid (never tried it so don't now if it'll break down the precipitate, but it won't hurt the socks).

I guess my question is how much PO4 are you getting (and why). I've used LC once a week to lower the level in my tank in the past and that was plenty (can't imagine levels high enough to need a constant dose).

 

[Ocelaris]

I have been washing the 5 micron socks like I do regular socks, the lanthanum doesn't really build up like I thought it would. Rinse, bleach rinse dry.

I can get to 0.1 with lanthanum chloride and then it's fairly ineffective for me to get down to 0.5. So I've gone back to gfo for when it's in the lower ranges. Might try again but it dropped my alkalinity half a dkh so I gave up trying to get to very low levels.