Lanthanum tripled phosphate reading.

[unklez]

My phosphates without the use of Lanthanum were 0.15 now its at 0.51. I dont have any low micron filter socks. I used filter floss in a media cup instead.

How do I get the precipitate out obviously the skimmer isnt pulling it out.

 

[KrisReef]

Water changes, but what precisely precipitated this posting?
How you got here and what you have and where you are trying to get to are important,

 

[BZOFIQ]

you need 5 micron sock with this product and drip slowly into overflow.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you measuring phosphate and what time frame are we talking about between the measurements?

 

[mtfish]

Testing error or lots of added PO4 through food or rocks leaching. . Phospate bound by lanthanum will not show up in a water test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Phospate bound by lanthanum will not show up in a water test.

Have you tried it? I'm not sure that particulate lanthanum phosphate that was suspended in the water wouldn't be detected by dissolving during the test.

 

[mtfish]

Well Randy's opinion is worth about thousand of mine (at least!). I would have thought that the precipitate would settle and not be distributed in the water column. Does phosphate test acidify the sample as part of the procedure? I do use it but drip it into a 5 micron sock. I will let this discussion continue with the experts (which I am not).

 

[csb123]

I found I get more consistent reading by putting the sample water thru two coffee filters.

 

[Pistondog]

My phosphates without the use of Lanthanum were 0.15 now its at 0.51. I dont have any low micron filter socks. I used filter floss in a media cup instead.

How do I get the precipitate out obviously the skimmer isnt pulling it out.

Skimmer will pull it out eventually, 5u sock is best, for future uses

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well Randy's opinion is worth about thousand of mine (at least!). I would have thought that the precipitate would settle and not be distributed in the water column. Does phosphate test acidify the sample as part of the procedure? I do use it but drip it into a 5 micron sock. I will let this discussion continue with the experts (which I am not).

I agree that it is doesn't make it into the test for any reason (skimmed out, filters out, settled out, etc.), it will not be detected.

 

[unklez]

Skimmer doesn't seem to pull it out. I have same high readings using hanna checker. I tested like 10 times within a week period (since i started lanthanum) 9 out of 10 times i got reading from 0.2 to 0.5 ppm phosphates. Only 1 time I got a reading of 0.09 ppm. I got 25 micron filter socks coming tomorrow, lowest i could get from the store, hopefully its low enough to pull the particles out.

My usual phosphate readings before starting lanthanum were around 0.1 ppm. I used a ton of GFO but it always sticked around 0.1ppm so thats why i switched to lanthanum but obviously wasnt prepared well enough with the filter socks.

Probably 2 month old ceramic rock leeching phosphate.

 

[SMSREEF]

What brand of lanthanum are you using?
The only time I ever used it is when I overdosed phosphate. I used Blue Vet Phosphate RX per directions and it pulled the 0.3 ppm out that I overdosed. I retested the same day with Hanna tester.
I did have skimmer going and a 1 micron sock. I dosed into my overflow chamber one drop at a time.
This is the filter I used.
Bag Filter, 155384, BP-420-1...

 

[BZOFIQ]

This is why you slowly drip into or overflow, it has time to react and gets filtered by your either micron or 5 micron sock after crashing down into your sump