biophilia
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Hi all,
I'm wondering how quickly lanthanum chloride precipitates into LaPO4 flocs? Specifically, is it effective to drip a highly dilute solution of it over filter floss that's only an inch or so below the surface of the water in an overflow chamber in the rear compartment of an AIO tank? Is this enough reaction time to precipitate and be caught by the floss? More detail below on my specific situation if it helps...
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I've been successfully using lanthanum chloride to keep phosphate stable in my high(ish) bioload 10 gallon AIO tank for the past few months and am loving the ease and ability to precisely control the level. That being said, I haven't seen anyone use this method in a smaller nano tank and I'm unsure if it's safe over the long-term.
I'm currently dripping an extremely dilute solution of LaCl3 directly into the media basket chamber in the back section of my tank (which contains only two layers of simple carbon-impregnated filter floss pad). I do this manually with a pipette once every few days. I'm concerned that 1) the diluted LaCl3 drops hit the filter pad within half second of breaking the surface of the water and 2) the filter floss pad is fairly coarse. I do have a skimmer in the second chamber so perhaps that will help remove flocs that pass through the pad, but is this even an effective solution? I don't see any obvious clouding of the water in the tank and I'm dripping only enough to bring the PO4 down maybe 0.005 ppm at a time. Still, I can't help but think the precipitate is forming after the lanthanum has already passed through the filter floss and will eventually build up in the rock or on the sandbed... Any suggestions or critiques would be helpful! Is a small build-up of precipitate even harmful or just a potential eyesore? I do weekly 30% water changes with aggressive turkey-basting of the rocks which I'm thinking may also help.
I'm wondering how quickly lanthanum chloride precipitates into LaPO4 flocs? Specifically, is it effective to drip a highly dilute solution of it over filter floss that's only an inch or so below the surface of the water in an overflow chamber in the rear compartment of an AIO tank? Is this enough reaction time to precipitate and be caught by the floss? More detail below on my specific situation if it helps...
---
I've been successfully using lanthanum chloride to keep phosphate stable in my high(ish) bioload 10 gallon AIO tank for the past few months and am loving the ease and ability to precisely control the level. That being said, I haven't seen anyone use this method in a smaller nano tank and I'm unsure if it's safe over the long-term.
I'm currently dripping an extremely dilute solution of LaCl3 directly into the media basket chamber in the back section of my tank (which contains only two layers of simple carbon-impregnated filter floss pad). I do this manually with a pipette once every few days. I'm concerned that 1) the diluted LaCl3 drops hit the filter pad within half second of breaking the surface of the water and 2) the filter floss pad is fairly coarse. I do have a skimmer in the second chamber so perhaps that will help remove flocs that pass through the pad, but is this even an effective solution? I don't see any obvious clouding of the water in the tank and I'm dripping only enough to bring the PO4 down maybe 0.005 ppm at a time. Still, I can't help but think the precipitate is forming after the lanthanum has already passed through the filter floss and will eventually build up in the rock or on the sandbed... Any suggestions or critiques would be helpful! Is a small build-up of precipitate even harmful or just a potential eyesore? I do weekly 30% water changes with aggressive turkey-basting of the rocks which I'm thinking may also help.
