Lanthanum phosphate removal from system via CaCO3 dosing

[jedimasterben]

Hey Randy

So I dose calcium carbonate powder as a flocculent and to remove yellowing from the water (my tanks have always, for some reason or other, always had issues with the water yellowing, despite using plenty of ROX 0.8 carbon and a properly sized skimmer). I also dose lanthanum chloride (via PhosphateRX) to reduce phosphate.

Now we all know that the lanthanum phosphate that is precipitated by that reaction needs to be removed by very fine mechanical filtration or skimming. Do yo think that lanthanum phosphate would be flocced up a bit by the addition of the calcium carbonate powder? I've not had any ICP testing to show elevated lanthanum levels and frankly am not really worried about it, but it would be cool if the two compounds work better when dosed together

 

[Griff]

I made the mistake of using this without having the right type of filtration. I had powdery precipitation all in my sump. I ended up getting 10 micron socks and used filter floss in one of the baffles to remove what was in the water column. The majority was in the dump and I sucked it up with a turkey baster to remove. All that being said I won't use it again unless I have a major spike in PO4.

 

[jedimasterben]

I made the mistake of using this without having the right type of filtration. I had powdery precipitation all in my sump. I ended up getting 10 micron socks and used filter floss in one of the baffles to remove what was in the water column. The majority was in the dump and I sucked it up with a turkey baster to remove. All that being said I won't use it again unless I have a major spike in PO4.

Do you not have a skimmer? I do not use any kind of mechanical filtration.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey Randy

So I dose calcium carbonate powder as a flocculent and to remove yellowing from the water (my tanks have always, for some reason or other, always had issues with the water yellowing, despite using plenty of ROX 0.8 carbon and a properly sized skimmer). I also dose lanthanum chloride (via PhosphateRX) to reduce phosphate.

Now we all know that the lanthanum phosphate that is precipitated by that reaction needs to be removed by very fine mechanical filtration or skimming. Do yo think that lanthanum phosphate would be flocced up a bit by the addition of the calcium carbonate powder? I've not had any ICP testing to show elevated lanthanum levels and frankly am not really worried about it, but it would be cool if the two compounds work better when dosed together

No, I don't think lanthanum carbonate/phosphate will be attracted to calcium carbonate particles.

 

[jedimasterben]

No, I don't think lanthanum carbonate/phosphate will be attracted to calcium carbonate particles.

Gotcha, thanks

 

[Griff]

Do you not have a skimmer? I do not use any kind of mechanical filtration.

I do use a skimmer. It did pull out a lot but my PO4 was super high. Like 60 so I'm sure that was part of it. I don't mean .6 or even 6 I do mean 60.

I cycled rock in tank.