Help me make my own Lanthanum Chloride

ZoWhat

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In all due respect...This is NOT a post debating the use of Lanthanum Chloride. Plz don't make it one.

I've been successfully using Blue Life Phosphate Rx every week for a couple years without a single issue to fish or coral.

Blue Life is a specifically diluted formula of 0.xx milliliters of Lanthanum Chloride to 1-litre of RODI

41AP7ka+RDL._AC_SY580_.jpg


But at $25 a 1oz bottle, it's expensive.

I'm now discovering if you use a certain product made by SEAKLEAR (that can be bought off Amazon), I can make my own batches to replicate the formula Blue Life offers at $25 a bottle.... for DIY pennies

Anyone have a proven formula/recipe using a certain kind of SeaKlear?

My recipe questions are:

1) what exact product type of SeaKlear to use? like the exact part#?

2) at what 0.xx milliliter of the SeaKlear ratioed to 1-liter of RODI water should be used?

3) Any tip on how to mix the water and SeaKlear? Stir it? Shake it?

4) how do you storage it? Special instructions? In a plastic container in a cool dry place?


.
 
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Miami Reef

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Following. I’ve always used the seaklear pool remover. It doesn’t really matter which one as long as it only contains lanthanum chloride or lanthanum trichloride (same thing).

I’ve never been able to figure out how much of lanthanum chloride is needed to remove X amount of phosphate. I’ve just dose a capful or 2 and would test later.

Now, there has been anecdotal evidence of some fish getting bad reactions. You’d ideally want to use a 5 micron filter sock and/or skimmer. One little fact I’ve learned about lanthanum: if you don’t have a filter sock, the lanthanum will bind to the phosphate and will create a percipient reaction. If not removed by filtration, it will sink to the bottom and be inert. Phosphates will not leach out and will stay bonded to the lanthanum indefinitely under normal reef tank conditions.
 

cvysochin

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We're on our 2nd bottle of SeaKlear off Amazon. It is considerably more cost effective versus the phosphate rx stuff.


We mix 15 ml to 5 gallon of rodi, which is then slowly fed through a DIY LaCl reactor at a ratio of approx. 1:60 with tank water. Water coming out of the reactor comes out with almost no po4. (.01-.02ish). 20 gallons of mixed rodi solution lasts us about 4 days. I ordered a 20 gallon drum off amazon to save the headache of mixing 5 gallons every day.

We just dump it in and stir.
 
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ZoWhat

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I’ve just dose a capful or 2 and would test later.
Expand on this plz. You take 1-2 capfuls of SeaKlear and dump thru a filter sock without first diluting the capfuls in RODI???

"Test later".... what test?

One little fact I’ve learned about lanthanum: if you don’t have a filter sock, the lanthanum will bind to the phosphate and will create a percipient reaction. If not removed by filtration, it will sink to the bottom and be inert. Phosphates will not leach out and will stay bonded to the lanthanum indefinitely under normal reef tank conditions.
My DT is upstairs 1st floor and my sump.is in the basement.

Describing my sump is too difficult to put into words... but since it's I the basement with 15-20ft of pvc feeding it... any debris coats the bottom.of my sump to the point I have to wetvac the sump dry to remove all debris build up 3 times a year.

If lanthanum chloride is bonded with po4 laying inertly on the bottom of my sump until I can wetvac it out.... so be it. I score it as a win
 
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We mix 15 ml to 5 gallon of rodi, which is then slowly fed through a DIY LaCl reactor at a ratio of approx. 1:60 with tank water. Water coming out of the reactor comes out with almost no po4. (.01-.02ish). 20 gallons of mixed rodi solution lasts us about 4 days. I ordered a 20 gallon drum off amazon to save the headache of mixing 5 gallons every day.

I've never heard of a LaCl reactor. Let alone how to set one up or use it.

Can you take me thru what it is, how it's setup?

BTW just ordered SeaKlear you listed from Amazon
 

cvysochin

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Adding on..

The 5 micron pleated filter in the reactor catches the stuff that precipitates out. Afterwards, all the water goes through another 1 micron sock, just for safety.

This is what the filter looks like after about a month and a half. I definitely would not want this floating around the system.
 

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cvysochin

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Check out my reply in this other thread. I have pics and a link to the build where I obtained the idea.

 

tehmadreefer

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Buy a bottle of seaklear and it’ll out last your tank. Lol
 
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ZoWhat

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Check out my reply in this other thread. I have pics and a link to the build where I obtained the idea.

Im not an Engineer, nor could never construct this:

73442.jpg


Unless you're willing to build me one and give me help setting it up.....im lost and this is completely over my head and beyond my skillset

I'll have to resort to just dumping the LaCl solution thru a filter sock and wetvac the bottom of my sump every 3-4 months

.
 

Miami Reef

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I never diluted it, but I’m not suggesting you do the same. You do what seems right for your tank.

I would test phosphates a day after dosing it.
 
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I never diluted it, but I’m not suggesting you do the same. You do what seems right for your tank.

I would test phosphates a day after dosing it.
Did you discover a rhythm to how often you needed to dose LaCl in order to keep po4 manageable at below 0.2ppm?

I'm not seeking "0.0" po4... but a manageable 0.1 to 0.2
 
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Miami Reef

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Did you discover a rhythm to how often you needed to dose in order to keep po4 manageable at below 0.3ppm?

I'm not seeking "0.0" po4... but a manageable 0.1 to 0.3
I never found the dosing schedule because I wasn’t persistent with managing my phosphates. I will say, it was VERY effective and inexpensive. I don’t know why people would use GFO. So expensive, unreliable, and complicated.

I highly recommend a good phosphate test kit. I use Red Sea and I like it over my Hannah checker. Much more accurate and consistent. I never dosed lanthanum chloride with my Red Sea test kit, so I mainly blame the hannah checker as the reason I never got the lanthanum chloride dialed in.

Edit: Hannah is good and also accurate, but has many opportunities for user error. Reagent packet has a design flaw. Vials must be cleaned after test or it will stain. Must shake vials for 2 minutes, but the checker has a 3 minute countdown for auto shutoff and you must get that packet opened and poured in all within the 3 minutes.

results were not consistent.
 

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My PO4 never rises above 0.12. My filter socks and skimmer and water change schedule manages it for me. It’s the nitrates that is difficult for me to control. I personally feel like phosphates is much easier to control with lanthanum chloride.

Edit: nitrates are 10ppm, but I’d prefer them lower to have a good ratio between nitrates and phosphates.
 
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I never found the dosing schedule because I wasn’t persistent with managing my phosphates. I will say, it was VERY effective and inexpensive. I don’t know why people would use GFO. So expensive, unreliable, and complicated.

I highly recommend a good phosphate test kit. I use Red Sea and I like it over my Hannah checker. Much more accurate and consistent. I never dosed lanthanum chloride with my test kit, so I mainly blame the test kit as the reason I never got the lanthanum chloride dialed in.
Gotcha. My situation is a lil different with 95% mostly zoas palys that can utilize a lil 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 ppm po4

I have a SeaChem PO4 test kit I like.

So my plan is to get my SeaKlear bottle from Amazon this Friday.

Start dosing cautiously and then testing with Seachem 12 hrs later.

Once levels reach 0.1 then continue to test daily until it reaches 0.3 ..... then re-dose

If I do that and chart it, I should be able to find that I need to dose x-amount every x amount of days

So my challenge in front me is to:

Dose
Test
Chart

Dose
Test
Chart

Dose
Test
Chart

.... until I find a pattern
 

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Gotcha. My situation is a lil different with 95% mostly zoas palys that can utilize a lil 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 ppm po4

I have a SeaChem PO4 test kit I like.

So my plan is to get my SeaKlear bottle from Amazon this Friday.

Start dosing cautiously and then testing with Seachem 12 hrs later.

Once levels reach 0.1 then continue to test daily until it reaches 0.3 ..... then re-dose

If I do that and chart it, I should be able to find that I need to dose x-amount every x amount of days
I think you would first dose a test amount of lanthanum to see how much lanthanum removes X phosphates.

You would then test your dosage hypothesis by trying to remove a certain amount phosphate over a certain amount of days to ensure you figure out your lanthanum dosage.

Then once you get your ideal phosphates you will cease dosing for a week and see how much your phosphates rise in a week. Then you can break it into daily or weekly dosages depending on your needs.

This is how it makes sense to do it in my head.
 
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ZoWhat

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I think you would first dose a test amount of lanthanum to see how much lanthanum removes X phosphates.

You would then test your dosage hypothesis by trying to remove a certain amount phosphate over a certain amount of days to ensure you figure out your lanthanum dosage.

Then once you get your ideal phosphates you will cease dosing for a week and see how much your phosphates rise in a week. Then you can break it into daily or weekly dosages depending on your needs.

This is how it makes sense to do it in my head.
Its all going to be about Charting

Charting that x-amount of LaCl took down po4 x-amount.

Then Charting x-amount of days, po4 went up x-amount
 

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I use the seaklear product linked previously.

I add 50ml of seaklear to 200ml of rodi to make a more dilute solution.

I use 5ml of this solution and add it to 1 L of rodi in an IV dripper.

The dripper tube goes down into my skimmer through the vents in the kid and neck, I wedge it into the grate on the ouet of the pump.

Adjust the dripper so it is only 1drop/3seconds.

I measure po4 daily and the day following a dose I am close to .1ppm when I normally run about .4ppm lately. I dose twice a week.

I'm sure if I tested right after the dose finished I would be near 0, but the level rises rather quickly in my tank.

If I turn off my gfo I end up @ .7 the next day, and over .9the day after that.
 
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ZoWhat

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Its all going to be about Charting

Charting that x-amount of LaCl took down po4 x-amount.

Then Charting x-amount of days, po4 went up x-amount
Plan B is to sell off all Reefing and take up fast-women and fast-livin' by buying a tattoo bar with pool tables
 
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ZoWhat

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I use the seaklear product linked previously.

I add 50ml of seaklear to 200ml of rodi to make a more dilute solution.

I use 5ml of this solution and add it to 1 L of rodi in an IV dripper.

The dripper tube goes down into my skimmer through the vents in the kid and neck, I wedge it into the grate on the ouet of the pump.

Adjust the dripper so it is only 1drop/3seconds.

I measure po4 daily and the day following a dose I am close to .1ppm when I normally run about .4ppm lately. I dose twice a week.

I'm sure if I tested right after the dose finished I would be near 0, but the level rises rather quickly in my tank.

If I turn off my gfo I end up @ .7 the next day, and over .9the day after that.
Not sure if I trust dosing a continuous drip for x-amt for hrs/days. Seems like if things became toxic and I was not home to monitor such a long drip, unrecoverable damage could occur without me being around.

Im more trusting dosing LaCl at one time in one dose.... bc I'm around for 4hrs to watch the tank. Watch fir fish behavior of possibly swimming sideways or gasping tell me to do an emergency WC...although this hasn't happened in 2 yrs of dosing LaCl

I can do a 50% WC in about 30 minutes with the amount of RODI I keep.on hand

I have a flush pipe to remove 100 gals from the sump in 5 mins.

Give me 30mins, I can have half on my 240ish total water volume changed out in a DEFCON1 situation


.
 
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