Lanthanum chloride dosing

[Rawsreef]

GM reefer!

Im sure this has been discussed more than a few times. I plan on dosing lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphates in my 180G tank and to exhaust all the po4 bound in the rocks/sand, that way I can finally get it to a comfortable and stable level.

Right now po4 is sitting well above .6 PPM and climbing. I've been managing with large water changes and a chaeto refugium (which barely makes a dent).


My question is should I buy some phosphate E and be done with it? Or would it be way more cost effective going with another brand specifically not one that's not labeled for reefs?

I saw Randy Holmes thread on the DIY solution, I just can't see which kind/brand LC he used.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The bottle of phosphate-e will last a long time. They last me well over a year.

Water changes and chaeto don't do much for phosphate, they are counters for nitrates.

What is the source of your phosphate, is it leaching from rocks? If leaching from rocks, I would suggest to consider gfo instead of lanthanum.

 

[Rawsreef]

The bottle of phosphate-e will last a long time. They last me well over a year.

Water changes and chaeto don't do much for phosphate, they are counters for nitrates.

What is the source of your phosphate, is it leaching from rocks? If leaching from rocks, I would suggest to consider gfo instead of lanthanum.

Yes I'm sure it's bound in the rocks or sand, either of those or maybe both.

I've used GFO before but the stuff is expensive, and while it does lower the phosphate levels, it gets exhausted pretty quickly and po4 just climbs right back up within a week or two.

Mainly looking for a more cost effective method than GFO.

 

[piranhaman00]

I had great success with Phosban-L. I dilute it 1/100 in RODI and drip into filter sock slowly with dosing pump.

 

[Davileet]

I was in a similar situation as you with phosphates in the .6 range. I started dosing with Tropic Marin Elimi-phos Rapid. I put 10mL in a day for my 250 gallon setup and it dropped my .6 to .2 in four days as advertised. However, I have been fighting to get it to stay lower than .2 as everyday it rebounds back to the same point. I am hoping that eventually the phosphates will stop "leeching" out of the rocks/sand if that is indeed what is actually happening.

I am also upping my game on fuge lighting since my Tunze Chics don't seem to be doing the job and will be trying a large bio brick to help fight nitrates since mine are in the 40s.

 

[Pistondog]

Phosphate e is what i use. Diluted 50:1. Dripped over 6 hours into overflow, caught by 5 micron sox.
This minimizes unreacted lanthanum and flocculant in dt, where it might harm live things.
Use above 0.5 ppm, but not below 0.2 ppm.

 

[Nano_Man]

This works well it is lanthanum chloride

 

[Rawsreef]

Phosphate e is what i use. Diluted 50:1. Dripped over 6 hours into overflow, caught by 5 micron sox.
This minimizes unreacted lanthanum and flocculant in dt, where it might harm live things.
Use above 0.5 ppm, but not below 0.2 ppm.

Mind sharing which sock you use and where you get it? This is what I'd want to do as well as I have tangs.

I also heard to drip into the skimmer neck. So I'll be doing both, placing the sock over the neck portion of the collection cup and dosing into the neck through there.

 

[Pistondog]

Mind sharing which sock you use and where you get it? This is what I'd want to do as well as I have tangs.

I also heard to drip into the skimmer neck. So I'll be doing both, placing the sock over the neck portion of the collection cup and dosing into the neck through there.

I found a 7 inch diameter 5 micron sock that was to long for my sump, so i cut it and sewed the end.
amazon

 

[Triggreef]

Mind sharing which sock you use and where you get it? This is what I'd want to do as well as I have tangs.

I also heard to drip into the skimmer neck. So I'll be doing both, placing the sock over the neck portion of the collection cup and dosing into the neck through there.

It needs time to bind to the po4 so you actually should dose well ahead of the skimmer. I used to use it often by dripping into the overflow of the tank so that it has all the time from there until it actually gets to the skimmer.

 

[Rawsreef]

Just an update I was able to bring the po4 down to .2-.4 hard to tell using the redsea po4 tester.

Just ordered the Hannah phosphorous ULR to better dail in the po4 level.

I used the 5 micro sock to dose the first few times about 10 mls of the phosphate E mixed with about 10 oz of rodi water but I stopped using the sock since I didn't really see any cloudiness, I even stopped mixing into rodi. I started dosing around 5 mls twice a day directly into skimmer chamber and that worked for me. No effects on my tangs thankfully

 

[Yodaman]

And how big is your tank?

I’ve got some on a dose mixed 15:1 with RODI and I’ve spread out 25 ML throughout the day dosing into the skimmer neck for a 65 gallon system, but I’m still not seeing much of a drop in PO4.

 

[Rawsreef]

And how big is your tank?

I’ve got some on a dose mixed 15:1 with RODI and I’ve spread out 25 ML throughout the day dosing into the skimmer neck for a 65 gallon system, but I’m still not seeing much of a drop in PO4.

180G display and sump is around 30 gallons. It did take a couple days before I started to see a drop in po4. But then again that could be because my po4 was higher than 1 PPM and that's the limit of my tester.

I'd say be patient, idk your water volume but 25 mls seems like a lot, so if you just started dosing, you should definitely start to see a change soon.


I used this calculator to determine how much I'd need to lower .1 of po4, and then I went with half of that dose to see the effects. http://larryl.emailplus.org.user.fm/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

 

[Yodaman]

Well after the reduction of 15:1 that means I’m almost dosing 2ml of phosphat-e per day. And my phosphate is also reading above the 0.9 my Hanna can accurately measure.

In in only have a 65 gallon total system volume

 

[iReefer12]

I was in a similar situation as you with phosphates in the .6 range. I started dosing with Tropic Marin Elimi-phos Rapid. I put 10mL in a day for my 250 gallon setup and it dropped my .6 to .2 in four days as advertised. However, I have been fighting to get it to stay lower than .2 as everyday it rebounds back to the same point. I am hoping that eventually the phosphates will stop "leeching" out of the rocks/sand if that is indeed what is actually happening.

I am also upping my game on fuge lighting since my Tunze Chics don't seem to be doing the job and will be trying a large bio brick to help fight nitrates since mine are in the 40s.

I’m in exactly the same boat! Like to a T.

My Po4 was .7, I dose 10ml of TM Elimi-phos rapid a day into the skimmer neck. I’m down to .3~ but hitting a wall. I too am assuming that now the Po4 is leaching out of the rocks and that’s what’s stopping it go lower (rocks have been in high levels of po4 for several years).

Just going to hold it steady at 10ml and be patient.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I’m in exactly the same boat! Like to a T.

My Po4 was .7, I dose 10ml of TM Elimi-phos rapid a day into the skimmer neck. I’m down to .3~ but hitting a wall. I too am assuming that now the Po4 is leaching out of the rocks and that’s what’s stopping it go lower (rocks have been in high levels of po4 for several years).

Just going to hold it steady at 10ml and be patient.

Phosphate binds to the surface of any calcium carbonate such reef rock or aragonite substrate.

It equalises with the surrounding water by unbinding (not leaching) from the surfaces.

Lanthanum chloride causes the phosphate in the water to precipitate into particles which is then mechanically removed from the water by filtration.

As the level of phosphate in the water falls, more phosphate unbinds from the carbonate surfaces to again reach equilibrium, at which point you have to again drop the level in the water to allow more to unbind from the carbonate surfaces.

That's why it takes a long long time to get everything at the same desired level.
Carbonate surfaces can bind an enormous amount of phosphate.

It's best to drop the level slowly to avoid any shock to organisms such as coral which could react badly.

The lanthanum phosphate particulates can also block the gills of some fish such as tangs, so slower is better than fast.