Lanthanum chloride -Lanthanum Phosphate

[DrayB]

Hi all

So I've just watched the latest vid about phosphate, and the end part was about the use of Lanthanum chloride and that if its not removed how it will stay in the tank as Lanthanum Phosphate.
Could you please explain this cycle, and, how am I supposed to remove the Lanthanum Chloride once it has done its job?
How fast does it work?
Would I be better off adding/dossing this to the sump or to the DT ?

thanks

 

[cjsreefaus]

Ive had good results diluting some of the products out their such as phos correx . Setting up a drip acclimation line and letting it drip into my air skimmer intake over a 12 hr period. I run a filter sock of my skimmers outtake with some extra foam for good measure. The idea being i can slowly bind a little at a time and have it confined to the skimmer.any thing that escapes has a chance to bind to the sock and foam before entering the display and settling their. Done slow enough top part of my skimmer turnes white. Only down side is that has to be removed everyday. And cleaned of the lanthium bound phos.

 

[miyags]

I think they drip it in a 10 micron filter sock,when lathanum binds to phos it clogs up the filter fast. then its removed by cleaning the sock. What you remove, I belive is the lanthanum phosphate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Many people add it just upstream of a particulate filter, like a sand filter or other mechanism.

Just for clarification, most of what precipitates is probably lanthanum carbonate with a little phosphate in it. So be sure to watch the alkalinity.

 

[DrayB]

Thanks.
based on those replies my thinking is to probably drip into a filter sock, my skimmer is a self-contained unit...dont have outlet tubes. but this brings me to the question of how quickly it binds phosphates. if i added .5 of a ml into a sock say 3 times a day (manually as i don't have a dosser as yet) will it work fast enough to be caught in the sock or will it just pass through? also the .5 of a ml is just for the question...not based on actual amounts dossed

 

[cjsreefaus]

I thought removing phos too quik can be negative. Some of the products out their will turn your tank milky with 5ml or drops like blue life seems to be to strong just to chuck in somewhere. Just my crazy thinking i guess

 

[DrayB]

.5ml (1/2 ml) and as i said thats not what I'm dossing...just a figure plucked out of the air for the sake of the question it wasn't so much the specifics i was needing, just the application so to speak.

 

[Reefing Madness]

You will see it, it removes phosphates immediately. It will not all go through the sock. I dose it by the capful, and its pretty fast.

 

[DrayB]

awesome thanks

 

[cjsreefaus]

I wasnt trying to be. Just saying when you add it it will cloud the tank and over time your glass and that stuff takes some scrapping to remove.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I was told you need a Protein Skimmer for the Liquid Phosphate Remover.

Otherwise there is no way to take it out of your Tank (Both the Phosphate Itself and the Liquid Phosphate Remover).

Is that True?

 

[Mike in CT]

I was able to find a 18 inch, 1 micron filter sock (mc master Carr I think), and I dose my lanthanum into that. I was using a 200 micron sock and the cloudy water would just come right out ,but the 1 micron holds it in.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, you need something to get the bound phosphate out of the tank. Skimmer, Mechanical Filter.

 

[Myka]

@Mike in CT - could you please post a picture of your 1 micron sock setup and drip or describe it? How long is your drip/sock setup running before you change it out? Do you run it for say an hour a week or something? Also, I tried looking on McMaster Carr, and didn't see any sort of micron socks. Any chance you could post a link?

EDIT: Found this (the size 4 has a plastic ring, the others have galvanized metal). https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/bagfilters.php

http://www.amazon.com/Micron-Welded...8&qid=1448293241&sr=1-1&keywords=1+micron+bag

 

[Mike in CT]

Myka, not home so can't post picture at the moment. I don't have a sock holder, so what I do is take the sock and I clamp it over one of my overflow pipes that is emptying into my sump (the emergency pipe of my herbie overflow) then I adjust my herbie overflow valve so I get a good amount of water going down the emergency pipe into the sock. Then I dose into the sock. I usually do this after work, then I take the sock off after a few hours so I don't have to worry about it getting clogged up by detritus. It's a 18 inch bag so there is quite a lot of surface area and I have not a problem with it clogging up to bad by the phosphate precipitation... I just clean it once a week or so.
I am sorry, it was MSC not mc master. Here is the link;
https://m.mscdirect.com/mobileweb/p...&searchTerm=37022506&hasRestrictedParts=false