What's the consensus on lanthanum chloride precipitate?

Rjmul · Oct 14, 2020

Is it inert or is it not. Does it have to be removed via mechanical filtration or does it not ? I'm not talking about the white cloud harming tangs or fish in general. (I personally have never seen the white cloud effect).

I'm talking about with a reasonable PH does it leach phosphate back into the water column. My buddy swears it does. I swore it didn't.

Foiling Phosphate: A Look at Lanthanum Chloride Use in the Aquarium - CORAL Magazine

Look back to the introduction of lanthanum chloride as a phosphate reducer in marine reef aquariums, first discussed in CORAL Magazine in late 2009.

www.reef2rainforest.com

Then I found this article and I don't know anymore.

Paulie069 · Oct 14, 2020

Wouldn’t know I’ve never put one chemical in my tank ever. I’m a let Mother Nature take care of it person

Rjmul · Oct 14, 2020

Paulie069 said:
Wouldn’t know I’ve never put one chemical in my tank ever. I’m a let Mother Nature take care of it person

Yeah. While a nice thought I tried that for a while, best of luck to you.

Montiman · Oct 14, 2020

I am not a chemist but I can give you my anecdote that I have used lanthinum in my reef aquarium and the multiple tanks at the LFS I worked at for about 7 years. I have never noticed any negative effects other than the perception on the glass.

Having recommended lanthinum to friends and customers I have only heard a couple negative responses. The most common negative response was tangs suffocating but when I asked how much lanthinum was dosed it was far more than I or the manufacturer recommend. I would only dose enough lanthinum to drop phosphates by .5ppm per day dosing more than this can be dangerous.

Another additional note is that some of the people I have encountered who had a negative experience with lanthinum dropped their phosphate from 4ppm to 0 in 2 days which is a huge change regardless of what method is used and some of the negative effects can be explained solely by the change in PO4.

Paulie069 · Oct 14, 2020

Rjmul said:
Yeah. While a nice thought I tried that for a while, best of luck to you.

7- months n so far so good, and I honestly hope you find answer your looking for

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 15, 2020

While it certainly will dissolve at low enough pH, I wouldn't use that as a deciding factor in whether to use it. The amount redissolving will be small.