Dropping Phosphates causing issues

[ScottB]

I just started dosing nitrates yesterday. Hopefully I can see some improvements. Do you mind telling us what your mixture is and how much do you dose?

I use this calculator recommended by Randy Holmes Farley along with the adjustment factor for sodium nitrate:

Here's one. You can enter potassium versions and the answer will very close (closer than you can detect with a hobby kit).

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

For example, pick the entry for potassium nitrate, and if you want high accuracy when dosing sodium nitrate, multiply the answer by 0.84 to get the dose needed (so 0.84 grams instead of 1.0 grams).

 

[Gogo007]

From my experience dropping phosphates from .5ppm to .05-.1ppm in one dose of lanthanum chloride has never caused an issue for me. I keep 5 difference species of SPS and quite a few LPS and zoas.

I dropped the po4 from 0.5 to 0.01 in 2 days using lanthanum chloride and i lost one of my best corals the coneffiti acro !! The po4 increase is linked to poor activated carbon i used to get the water polished ..

 

[Pistondog]

You really need to have a good skimmer for lanthanum chloride dosing and carbon dosing. The skimmer removes the resultants from these things. If your skimmer is not good enough than there can be side effects so-to-speak.

Dilute LC can be dripped into a 5 micron filter sock to capture the flocculant immediately, more effective than a skimmer.

 

[Silent]

Dilute LC can be dripped into a 5 micron filter sock to capture the flocculant immediately, more effective than a skimmer.

Not sure how determine if it is more effective but dripping it into a filter sock is another way to use phosphate remover.