Phosphate RX changed their formula/dosage

[holdyourlight]

I had emailed them to ask them why their product was dropping my phos by 0.05ppm now and not 0.5ppm as their label as always stated

We changed the label a while back but should read .05ppm.
You seem to be on top of it and is working properly.
Sorry for the confusion.
Hope all is well and your tank is looking good!
Best regards.

Eric Cohen
Blue Life USA

 

[TheLadyCrash]

I had emailed them to ask them why their product was dropping my phos by 0.05ppm now and not 0.5ppm as their label as always stated

We changed the label a while back but should read .05ppm.
You seem to be on top of it and is working properly.
Sorry for the confusion.
Hope all is well and your tank is looking good!
Best regards.

Eric Cohen
Blue Life USA

Did you double check and make sure the labeling had been updated on yours?

 

[holdyourlight]

Did you double check and make sure the labeling had been updated on yours?

The labeling is NOT updated on mine

 

[Dogtown]

mine either.

 

[BigHildy53]

Does the stuff work? Do you use it once in a while or on a regular basis to control phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I believe it is a lanthanum product (which you can DIY if you want), and lanthanum does work but, like most methods, has some drawbacks:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

from it:

Soluble Metals to Bind Phosphate

There are several approaches that add soluble metals to bind and precipitate phosphate. The most popular involves adding lanthanum, which precipitates as lanthanum phosphate and/or lanthanum carbonate (which itself may contain some lanthanum phosphate). The lanthanum approach is widely used in the pool industry to reduce phosphate, and seems to often work well in aquaria. It is also very inexpensive, using products such as Seaklear (make sure it is a pure lanthanum version as mixtures with other metals also exist). Note that this method reduces alkalinity, as removing carbonate and phosphate as a lanthanum precipitate will reduce alkalinity.

One way to use it is to drip is slowly just upstream of a particulate filter to catch and remove a substantial amount of the precipitate that is formed. One drawback to the lanthanum approach is that much of the precipitated material may escape capture and simply settle out in the system somewhere. That may not be an issue, but many aquarists do not prefer to accumulate such material. A second concern is that some people have observed problematic reactions from aquarium inhabitants. While there are not a lot of such stories, it is enough for many aquarists to look for other options.

However, due to its low cost, this approach is especially well suited to outside of the tank operations, such as the removal of excess phosphate from phosphate-contaminated calcium carbonate rock that is later to be added to a reef aquarium.

Soluble iron has also been used in this way, but not nearly so often as lanthanum.

 

[roberthu526]

I just bought a bottle this week and the label still says 0.5 ppm every six drops... I used a quarter of the recommended dose hoping to drop my phosphate by 0.125 but I couldn't confirm the result. Maybe this is why?

 

[Dogtown]

I just bought a bottle this week and the label still says 0.5 ppm every six drops... I used a quarter of the recommended dose hoping to drop my phosphate by 0.125 but I couldn't confirm the result. Maybe this is why?

Yes, total waste of time. I used up an entire bottle of phosphate rx in my 160g over the course of a week and PO4 barely moved. I switched to sea klear commercial and now I'm seeing good results.

You want to have two full sets of 5 micron or 10 micron socks. Double them up with your regular 100 or 200 micron socks if you can. Don't dose directly into your tank whatever you do. I used a slow doser. Watch slief's lanthanum video on YouTube. Alk does drop a little. Slow and over filtered is best. My PO4 was .44 three days ago and is now .14 thanks to lacl. Good luck!

 

[melev]

I called Blue Life and spoke with Eric Cohen personally. The formula has not been diluted, and 6 drops per 10gs reduces PO4 by .5ppm, not .05ppm. That quoted email above isn't correct, I believe it was mistyped.

 

[Reefahholic]

Does anybody know the LaCI dilution of this product.? They haven’t answered my emails and I’m pretty sure they never will. It’s apparently a big secret.

I’ll just have to mix up some Seaclear and compare it with Phosphate RX dosing into 1 gallon of RODI water.

I bet I get real close to finding the dilution. ;Bookworm

 

[melev]

Does anybody know the LaCI dilution of this product.? They haven’t answered my emails and I’m pretty sure they never will. It’s apparently a big secret.

I’ll just have to mix up some Seaclear and compare it with Phosphate RX dosing into 1 gallon of RODI water.

I bet I get real close to finding the dilution. ;Bookworm

I've never asked, I found that it works perfectly so I kept buying it. And that lead to me selling it from my site. Hoping to get their recipe is unlikely.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Does anybody know the LaCI dilution of this product.? They haven’t answered my emails and I’m pretty sure they never will. It’s apparently a big secret.

I’ll just have to mix up some Seaclear and compare it with Phosphate RX dosing into 1 gallon of RODI water.

I bet I get real close to finding the dilution. ;Bookworm

Even though it's relatively easy to know about how much phosphate LaCL3 CAN bind using some simple math, it's difficult to calculate the actual phosphate reduction using this method. LaCl3 can also bind to carbonate and precipitate as lanthanum carbonate. How much of this occurs depends on several things, including the relative availability of phosphate and carbonate in the water.

Further compounding the difficulty in calculating the dosage is aragonite's ability to bind phosphate to its surface. R2R member JDA did some at home tests and observed that one pound of Florida aragonite rock absorbed up to 50 ppm of phosphate in 5 gallons of water. Yes, that's 50 ppm. No, I did not mean 0.050 ppm or 0.5 ppm. As soon as you dose LaCl3 and reduce free PO4 in the tank, your rock and sand could release more than enough phoshpate to bring your PO4 levels right back to where they were before the dose.

Because of these two pieces of information, I don't think the formula of what's in the bottle matters that much. Simply follow the directions on the bottle and test very frequently.

 

[BedrockIOMC]

they had to make it to where they can sell more bottles of it. I bet it still cost the dame also.

 

[Reefahholic]

Even though it's relatively easy to know about how much phosphate LaCL3 CAN bind using some simple math, it's difficult to calculate the actual phosphate reduction using this method. LaCl3 can also bind to carbonate and precipitate as lanthanum carbonate. How much of this occurs depends on several things, including the relative availability of phosphate and carbonate in the water.

Further compounding the difficulty in calculating the dosage is aragonite's ability to bind phosphate to its surface. R2R member JDA did some at home tests and observed that one pound of Florida aragonite rock absorbed up to 50 ppm of phosphate in 5 gallons of water. Yes, that's 50 ppm. No, I did not mean 0.050 ppm or 0.5 ppm. As soon as you dose LaCl3 and reduce free PO4 in the tank, your rock and sand could release more than enough phoshpate to bring your PO4 levels right back to where they were before the dose.

Because of these two pieces of information, I don't think the formula of what's in the bottle matters that much. Simply follow the directions on the bottle and test very frequently.

Absolutely correct!

Yes, as soon as you knock it down (free PO4 in the water column) the rocks immediately leach it right back within only a few hours and sometime immediately.

I battled before for 5-6 months and after dosing LaCI for months it finally stopped leaching and Poof.... it was done.

 

[Reefahholic]

I've never asked, I found that it works perfectly so I kept buying it. And that lead to me selling it from my site. Hoping to get their recipe is unlikely.

I’ll never get it exactly, but just would like to know about what the dilution is.

I agree, it works well and is pretty safe. However, I have went too fast and deflated anemones, stressed corals, and even noticed a marked decrease in color in only a 12 hour period.

For example:

I dosed 24 drops to a 25/G. The rocks leached PO4 right back and I dosed another 12 drops. This was in 12 hours. In the back of my head I heard you standing at your tank talking about how safe it is. Lol

Just take it from me...you can absolutely go too fast or dose too much.

 

[Hyde2406]

Absolutely correct!

Yes, as soon as you knock it down (free PO4 in the water column) the rocks immediately leach it right back within only a few hours and sometime immediately.

I battled before for 5-6 months and after dosing LaCI for months it finally stopped leaching and Poof.... it was done.

I can't wait for that time in my tank!

 

[joejstutes]

I called Blue Life and spoke with Eric Cohen personally. The formula has not been diluted, and 6 drops per 10gs reduces PO4 by .5ppm, not .05ppm. That quoted email above isn't correct, I believe it was mistyped.

So I need to put 54 drops in my 90 gallon?