Phosphate reduction. GFO or Lanthanum?

[legrunt]

So, my nitrates are under control, using nopox and a skimmer. But i find i have to occasionally dose phosbuster to bring my phosphates to 0.1. If i don't, it will creep up to 0.3 over about 2 weeks.

Which leads to my question. Is it ok to dose phosbuster (which i think is lanthanum chloride) once every two weeks? Or should i consider running some gfo in my canister? (Sorry, i don't have a sump)

What's the pros and cons of gfo vs lanthanum chloride?

 

[Knix10]

If you don't have a skimmer, I would suggest GFO over lanthanum. It creates precipitate that the skimmer must remove.

 

[ZooMontana88]

Add macros to your tank. They naturally balance out phos and nitrates. I run w/o a skimmer and balance the system with species that keep things in check.

 

[Doctorgori]

I use both, BRS HiCap GFO is very expensive for a 210g over $50/mo . I fill my reactor with less GFO with PhospatE and other brands allowing me to make minor adjustments after testing ....

 

[Larry L]

I prefer using lanthanum chloride over GFO - I find with GFO it's hard to judge how much to use which makes it easy to overstrip, and it's hard to judge when to swap it out. If you're careful with the dosing, it's relatively easy to use lanthanum chloride to remove just as much as needed based on your test results.

I wrote a calculator to help with getting the dosing right for various lanthanum chloride products, if you can send me the dosing info for Phos Buster I can add it to that page:

http://larryl.emailplus.org/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

 

[legrunt]

According to the bottle, 5ml/20gallons is supposed to remove 1.0ppm from the water.
Your calculator looks great! Do let me know when you have managed to include this product! Thanks so much!!

 

[Larry L]

Do let me know when you have managed to include this product!

Done.

 

[legrunt]

I'm just concerned about that part where it implies that it is not effective on anything below 0.1ppm.
Seems like if I need to get to 0.05, I need to use GFO or something similar...

 

[legrunt]

Done.

Thank you!

 

[Larry L]

I'm just concerned about that part where it implies that it is not effective on anything below 0.1ppm.
Seems like if I need to get to 0.05, I need to use GFO or something similar...

I'm not sure why it says that - maybe lanthanum chloride is more effective against higher concentrations but I don't recall any of the other manufacturers mentioning that. In the past I have definitely accidentally dosed to way lower than that (hence the calculator).

 

[Vamsi]

I have used Larry's calculator for Lanthanum and it is spot on.