Lanthanum precipitate

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is it strange that I trust a pool supply company more than I might Seachem, Boyd, Kent or most reefing suppliers? I know that I should not trust any of them.

lol

I (and I expect you) would most trust a product like the Reagent grade posted above by gbroadbridge.

 

[JHSteepat]

Thanks all for the explanation, though I never see xs free phosphate or nitrate because my whole (new-ish, just added fish) tank is currently acting as an algae/cyano scrubber, but fish seem quite happy, CuC is active, coralline algae is expanding, and lps and sps are growing. I guess I am just waiting for the tank to mature.

Is any benefit to dosing LaCl to weaken the gha at this point (6 month old, ugly stage tank) while the tank is getting used to the increased bioload and feeding load, etc and where free phosphates are low (Nyos kit)? Or do you recommend that I just keep pulling algae clumps/toothbrushing rocks/feeding CuC and foxface and let the refugium hopefully eventually outcompete as the tank adapts (nothing good happens quickly), performing weekly WC? I would think LaCl dosing will affect refugium growth, too, so dosing it may be counterproductive.

 

[jda]

There are other types of phosphorous sources that the algae can find other than orthophosphates. If you weaken the algae, you weaken everything else too - corals, coralline, etc. all need building blocks to make new organic tissue too.

Just keep pulling it. Get some more urchins if you need to. Rock and pencil urchins stay on the rocks better than other kinds for me - you can get these pretty reasonably out of the Florida Keys.

Algae in the tank is nearly always about consumers since just a trace of building blocks is all that it needs - algae in the fuge grows the same, but is not getting eaten, for example. Many of the forms of building blocks you cannot even test for.

 

[JHSteepat]

There are other types of phosphorous sources that the algae can find other than orthophosphates. If you weaken the algae, you weaken everything else too - corals, coralline, etc. all need building blocks to make new organic tissue too.

Just keep pulling it. Get some more urchins if you need to. Rock and pencil urchins stay on the rocks better than other kinds for me - you can get these pretty reasonably out of the Florida Keys.

Algae in the tank is nearly always about consumers since just a trace of building blocks is all that it needs - algae in the fuge grows the same, but is not getting eaten, for example. Many of the forms of building blocks you cannot even test for.

Thanks jda!