Lanthanum chloride for Phosphate reduction?

[Charlie’s Frags]

I'm not. Just posting the instructions because you said you couldn't find them, then a general comment. Sorry for the confusion.

Gotcha. The phosban L instructions seem pretty vague and the “powerful little solution” statement would make me nervous about trying to figure out how many drops to dose. The tropic marin instructions give a clear recommended max dosage and say nothing about a 10 micron sock.

 

[Miami Reef]

I had great success with lanthanum chloride and phosphate reduction. I keep 3 tangs and a bunch of maxima clams. I haven’t seen any ill effects.

I dose it right before my 100 micron filter socks. My filtration is filter socks, then a protein skimmer; it gives a lot of time to catch any precipitation.

I never get clouding in my DT. I dosed straight, undiluted Phosphate E (brightwell) in my 260 gallon tank by hand. I don’t overdose it. Just 1-2 capfuls per dose. If I’m desperate, I’ll dose it twice a day (12 hours apart), but never more than that.

This is just my personal experience, and the dosing is for my tank size and filtration.

I’m going to switch to a DIY Lanthanum Chloride recipe by Randy Holmes Farely because it’s cheaper, purer, and I don’t have to support a trash company like Brightwell who misinforms people with many of their products.

 

[Backreefing]

Phosban l is cheap , I think it was 15-20 bucks . For me the results are clear . Just tonight my wife said the aquarium is looking much better. Phosban has directions. Example 1 cap full ( 5 ml ) lowers 100 gallons by 1 ppm

 

[piranhaman00]

I dose phosban L diluted 1:10 into a 10um sock. I would not dose this right into the aquarium.

 

[Backreefing]

Lowering phosphate clearly has had big positive effects on color and overall health. Because I was getting somewhat low readings with my Hanna leads me to believe phosban L was lowering organic phosphate ( which we cannot test for ) our test kits IMO are not giving a complete picture. Is what I’m kicking around. Like example.01 phosphate and my glass was thick with algae everyday. Yeh my magnet swiper makes it easy , but it is a sign that there’s more to nutrients than my nitrate and phosphate kits were telling . Thx for the input.

 

[Backreefing]

Look at the stress these montipora have gone through, but are rebounding.
Slow burn was dieing and almost lost it
Garden variety red monti was almost gone to
And spongodes was brown and dieing.
All of these have been rebounding and coloring up
It’s taken 2-3 months for results
And lastly a Boomberry acropora has rebounded from just a few polyps. This acropora is tough it’s been though a lot

 

[Thales]

Look at the stress these montipora have gone through, but are rebounding.
Slow burn was dieing and almost lost it
Garden variety red monti was almost gone to
And spongodes was brown and dieing.
All of these have been rebounding and coloring up
It’s taken 2-3 months for results
And lastly a Boomberry acropora has rebounded from just a few polyps. This acropora is tough it’s been though a lot

Could have been anything that changed or matured, and you just see a correlation with phosphate.

 

[Thales]

Gotcha. The phosban L instructions seem pretty vague and the “powerful little solution” statement would make me nervous about trying to figure out how many drops to dose. The tropic marin instructions give a clear recommended max dosage and say nothing about a 10 micron sock.

Really interesting. I find the TM instructions too vague. What make it better when dosed into the skimmer? How fine a filtration is recommended? What happens if you don’t do what is recommended?

 

[1ocean]

Not catching the particulate has been linked to all kinds of issues specially when overdosing

like killing Tangs...They can not handle the stuff.

 

[Backreefing]

Really interesting. I find the TM instructions too vague. What make it better when dosed into the skimmer? How fine a filtration is recommended? What happens if you don’t do what is recommended?

Yes a bit vague agreed. But before is was a browning event and this aquarium has been a lot of trouble. The only thing in the past that helped was large water changes. I’m going to keep doseing 1/3 - 1/2 a cap per 5 gallons of make up rodi water and see where this goes .

 

[Backreefing]

like killing Tangs...They can not handle the stuff.

The bottle has different directions although similar it says to drip into a sock to prevent clouding the water. Oddly it voided my 37 but not the 90 . Probably because I’m doseing though the ATO. I can post again in a couple months. To see what happens. thanks everyone for your input.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Really interesting. I find the TM instructions too vague. What make it better when dosed into the skimmer? How fine a filtration is recommended? What happens if you don’t do what is recommended?

I assume they don’t expect any issues if you follow their instructions bc they formulated and designed the dosing to safely lower po4 for the consumer. No diluting or extra math required. 1ml/26 gallons/day. Which is great for a dumb, lazy reefer like me.

The printed instructions that came on the bottle I have don’t say anything about dosing into the skimmer. They state that results are better in systems with a skimmer or mechanical filtration. It also lists the maximum daily po4 reduction tropic marin recommends and their recommended ranges, which I find are way too low.

 

[schooncw]

Protein skimmer and regular old canister filter

That will not do it!

 

[Badboyan93l]

idk why, but my phos has gone from 0.06 - .9 with no browning while nitrates were 75PPM (hanna blinking) and everything has been fantastic in terms of color. Growth was not that bad even for acros. It'll brown if the lights intensity is low if nutrients are low. Once I raised the intensity then everything would start coloring again, but must be according to the alk level. IDK, this is just my two cents in this crazy 7 year experience. BUT I switch from GFO to brightwell phosphate-E, i'll tell you I'll NEVER go back to GFO. PS, none of my 9 tangs has been affected by it! lol

my nitrates are super high still at 75ppm and phos (my like) at .1-2ppm.

Low phos = decrease coral growth (slighttttly coral color, not much).
Higher Nitrate = increase Color

But get an ICP test as their maybe a trace out of wack that may be causing the issue. \


Hey, maybe something was changed and caused it to brown......

 

[blstravler]

have you checked for other things in your water, your Phos isn’t that high at all, many people run where you are at without any issue at all. I’d really suggest an ICP and also look for any equipment that might have a bad magnet I just had this issue. Also have you check your PAR on your MH?

 

[coralbeauties]

I have been using lanthanum for years. I bought it on amazon for phosphate reduction in swimming pools. It will last forever. I mix 5 ml of lanthanum into one of those orange juice plastic bottles (about 1500 ml ) and have it dosed directly into the bottom of my skimmer. I figure the skimmer will remove the precipitate along with all the other gunk they pull. I dose a set number of times each day of only 3-4 ml of the mixture and monitor my phos levels. If they are still climbing I increase the number of times a day dosed. If the phos are getting too low I reduce the number of daily doses. Dead nuts simple and once dialed in it is a no brain er. The most important thing to remember is to go slow till you get a feel for how if works in your tanks. I have saved tons of cash over buying gfo.
Jeff

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

have it dosed directly into the bottom of my skimmer.

Care to share a photo of this setup?

 

[coralbeauties]

Care to share a photo of this setup?

All I do is take a 3/16 rigid airline tube and drill a hole in my skimmer lid and make the tube long enough to reach the bottom of the skimmer. I have a jebao 4 head doser and just attach a hose from it to the rigid tube. When you clean your skimmer cup be sure to clean the end of the tube. It will get buildup from the phos as it binds to the lanthanum. If you use the pool variety never go full strength. At the strength I mentioned above I have never seen any cloudiness or fish issues. My tank is a full on sps tank so no issues there either.
Jeff

 

[ryshark]

I assume they don’t expect any issues if you follow their instructions bc they formulated and designed the dosing to safely lower po4 for the consumer. No diluting or extra math required. 1ml/26 gallons/day. Which is great for a dumb, lazy reefer like me.

The printed instructions that came on the bottle I have don’t say anything about dosing into the skimmer. They state that results are better in systems with a skimmer or mechanical filtration. It also lists the maximum daily po4 reduction tropic marin recommends and their recommended ranges, which I find are way too low.

@Charlie's Frags How slowly do you dose Elimiphos? I just got some in, I'm thinking about doing 50% or even 25% of the max recommended dosage, but dumping it in all at once.

 

[MBruun]

@coralbeauties Do you expirience precipitation in your skimmer, like white stuff settling inside the skimmer ? and how often do you clean the skimmer ?

/Morten