Brightwell phosphate remover - cautions before use

[Leko]

Hi all,

I'm going use this product by dripping it in my overflow in a half gallon of RO water. Slowly dripping a .5ml/g solution over days to reduce my phosphates -I read that dropping them too fast can be a real problem.

I'll be using a standard felt filter sock unless you guys think I need a 5 micron sock. I didn't see a .5 micron sock recommended in the instructions.

Any other cautions?

Thanks,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How high is phosphate?

The primary lanthanum concern is for tangs. Do you have any?

 

[Leko]

Yes I have 3 tangs and phosphate is .25 -Fowlr mostly.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I personally would not use lanthanum in that situation. That level is also within my target range.

 

[Leko]

The informed have spoken . No po remover and thanks for the save. 3 dead tangs would be a blow.

 

[Acroholic89]

I personally would not use lanthanum in that situation. That level is also within my target range.

What in a product like phosphate e would be damaging to tangs? Ive never heard that and now im concerned as Ive been doing phosphate e for years when phosphate gets elevated. TIA

 

[slingfox]

What in a product like phosphate e would be damaging to tangs? Ive never heard that and now im concerned as Ive been doing phosphate e for years when phosphate gets elevated. TIA

Several threads on this forum about the risks of lanthanum chloride. I had an unfortunate experience when I was only three months into the hobby:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-lanthanum-resulted-in-dead-yellow-tang.1017324/

 

[backbayreef]

I’ve been lucky - been using BW Phosphat-E for 18mos, dosing daily to keep PO4 low with 14+ tangs. I dose the same product on my other tank with 4 tangs - zero issues. Prior to that, I’ve been dosing PhosphateRx for 7+ years - also no issues.

I’m not advocating these products but I really want to hear people have tang deaths. So far, I have not seen any issues. Are people were using pool-grade LC and not diluted products like BW Phosphat-E or Blue Life PhosphateRx?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What in a product like phosphate e would be damaging to tangs? Ive never heard that and now im concerned as Ive been doing phosphate e for years when phosphate gets elevated. TIA

Search on tang problems and lanthanum dosing. There are enough reefer experiences that killed tangs to make me very wary. Most of the time it is OK, and sometimes it is not, and it is not 100% clear what the differences are.

It is also not clear what exactly causes the issues, but there are two strong possibilities:

1. Dissolved lanthanum binding to fish gills.
2. Particulate lanthanum phosphate or carbonate binding to fish gills.

Possibility #2 is a large part of the reason many people dose into filter socks or skimmers.

I suppose that one cannot rule out impurities in the dosed product, but no one has identified any particular brand as Ok or not OK.