Lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphate not working

[taki123]

Hi guys,

My reef tank Redsea 425XL seems to have had phosphates at 0.2.

move trued running GFO then it comes down to 0.05 only for a week and back up. it was costing a lot of money so I decided to try Tropic Marine Elimi-phos rapid.

I dosed 3.5ml on day 1 and then phosphate stayed at 0.2ppm.

day 2 dosed 4ml and phosphates increased to 0.23ppm

day 3 dosed 7.5ml and phosphates further increased to 0.25.

not sure why it’s not working? I am slowly dosing over few minutes into the Clarisea filter roll.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[KrisReef]

Seems like you have a lot of phosphates bound up on the rocks and sand that release when the water column concentrations are reduced.

Or, your phosphate test kit is no good?

Or both?

 

[taki123]

Seems like you have a lot of phosphates bound up on the rocks and sand that release when the water column concentrations are reduced.

Or, your phosphate test kit is no good?

Or both?

What can I do if it’s within the rocks and sand? Do I just keep dosing daily?

my phosphate kit I trust a lot. It’s the hanna marine master. I’ve done comparisons to validate accuracy of it.

 

[KrisReef]

Hanna! Cool, yes, just keep dosing until the rocks have released the phosphate into solution and the LC binds it up.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Hanna! Cool, yes, just keep dosing until the rocks have released the phosphate into solution and the LC binds it up.

Why go LC? I feel like that's an expert level of reefing that should require no question to be using it because what is needed to be known is already known from experience and knowledge of researching. Not just asking for the answers , JMO.... what kind of fish in there? Why such high phosphates? Are you adjusting your bio load or feeding? Have you greatly reduced the amount of phosphates you add to your tank daily? Have you tried feeding every 2-3 days for 6 weeks to see if phosphates go down naturally? Idk people watch experienced people that share what they do and send people off into tail spins, with completely different set ups

 

[KrisReef]

Why go LC? I feel like that's an expert level of reefing that should require no question to be using it because what is needed to be known is already known from experience and knowledge of researching. Not just asking for the answers , JMO.... what kind of fish in there? Why such high phosphates? Are you adjusting your bio load or feeding? Have you greatly reduced the amount of phosphates you add to your tank daily? Have you tried feeding every 2-3 days for 6 weeks to see if phosphates go down naturally? Idk people watch experienced people that share what they do and send people off into tail spins, with completely different set ups

That was what they are using. They were curious about the results, specifically rebounding phosphate levels after treatment, which can be a normal thing with saturated live rock and phosphates. I didn't question their decision to us LC in their tank, I supposed they can handle it and knew what they were doing. Maybe not?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

That was what they are using. They were curious about the results, specifically rebounding phosphate levels after treatment, which can be a normal thing with saturated live rock and phosphates. I didn't question their decision to us LC in their tank, I supposed they can handle it and knew what they were doing. Maybe not?

That's true your right, to each thier own. Its not my place to guide someone in a different direction than they are heading even if it's not the way I would go. You did answer the question I'm sorry

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

That was what they are using. They were curious about the results, specifically rebounding phosphate levels after treatment, which can be a normal thing with saturated live rock and phosphates. I didn't question their decision to us LC in their tank, I supposed they can handle it and knew what they were doing. Maybe not?

And I didn't mean to quote you originally I ment to quote the o.p so sorry again oops

 

[KrisReef]

That's true your right, to each thier own. Its not my place to guide someone in a different direction than they are heading even if it's not the way I would go. You did answer the question I'm sorry

Very good replies, actually.
I was caught off guard and my presumptions could lead to disaster if LC was misapplied! Good point to bring up for people reading who don't know LC.
I was glad the OP was using a reliable, repeatable Hanna for measuring phosphates. The meter is a great tool for this application.

 

[taki123]

Thanks for your input guys @KrisReef @thatmanMIKEson .

So I think the reason for my phosphates maybe due to me having 16 fish in the tank. I feed them twice a day as the tangs are big and if I skip eating they tend to go for any zoas or so. Once I feed pellets in the afternoon. and once I feed frozen food in the evening.

The GFO change weekly is just far too expensive for me which is why I want to make the systems work by using LC.