Lanthum Chloride to reduce Phosphate always bounces back after 24hrs

Rst

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Messages
228
Reaction score
112
Location
Toronto, Ontario CANADA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Really curious to know if my results using Lanthum Chloride matches others. My experience so far:

Monday AM: dropped phosphorus from start (was at 143ppb & never dosed previously) to 2 hours later to 122ppb

TuesdayAM: With no dosing measured back at 145ppb. Tuesday PM dosed 4 hours & dropped to 20ppb. (I only stopped dosing when my sailfin tang looked slightly distressed)

WednesdayAM: With no dosing measured back at 68ppb. WednesdayPM dosed 4 hours & dropped to 32ppb.

ThursdayAM: With no dosing measured back at 60ppb. ThursdayPM dosed 4 hours & dropped to 20ppb

(all fish & corals doing good except Sailfin tang looked very slightly distressed immediately after dosing was completed and looked completely normal after a few hours thereafter)

For those people who have experience with Lanthum Chloride dosing, is this similar results to what you got?
Did your phosphorous & phosphate levels finally slow down & stabilize and then slowly rise only small amounts thereafter?
How many days/weeks of dosing did it take to stabilize your usage and how long was it before you needed to re-dose?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.
 

Dr. Reef

www.drreefsquarantinedfish.com
View Badges
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
3,444
Reaction score
6,178
Location
Tulsa, OK
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
When i started dosing it took a long time for phos levels to actually start decreasing.
My results were same as your.
I mix 1oz in 1 gal of rodi water and dosed over time with a doser into a reactor i made that ran into skimmer to extract the fine precipitation out.
Everyday i had to dose x amount to keep phos low and they would return next day. After i got the balance right on how much to dose. over 2 yrs dosage decreased and phos got rid off.
I belive i was dosing like 30-50 ml in the beginning daily and now after 2 yrs i dose 3 drops of extremely diluted mixture once a week and my phos levels are 0-0.03 at any given day.

This happens because phos are continuesly being released from rocks or sand etc mostly rocks. Over time Lanthanum will catch up.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Always Making Something
View Badges
Joined
Jun 6, 2017
Messages
2,417
Reaction score
4,497
Location
Baltimore, MD
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The rock and sand we use in our tanks is very good at binding phosphates. JDA, a member here, did some experiments at home. In his experiment, he found that one pound of rock in 5 pounds of water has the ability to bind almost 52 ppm of phosphate. Not 0.052 ppm, 52 ppm.

It's possible that a lot of phosphate has bound to your rocks, and as you remove phosphates from the water, your rocks release the bound phosphates.

Keep an eye on the dose and take it slow. As you remove the phosphates from your rock, it's possible that the phosphates could fall off a cliff and reach zero pretty quickly.
 
OP
OP
Rst

Rst

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Messages
228
Reaction score
112
Location
Toronto, Ontario CANADA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you chipmunkofdoo & Dr. Reef. I was really initially expecting that the phosphates would stay low for a lot longer. But that's not the case. I wonder how much Lanthum Chloride I will eventually need before my phosphates stabilize. My tank is approx 170gals including sump and about 200lb of rock & gravel. So far I have dosed approx 10ml of Lanthum. I am on vacation starting tomorrow, so I will discontinue this dosing until I return. I guess I shouldn't be surprise if my phosphates climb back up significantly.
 

pdxmonkeyboy

Sticks!! Give me the sticks!
View Badges
Joined
Mar 7, 2017
Messages
2,677
Reaction score
4,609
Location
Hockinson, WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Great info, and yes it takes time. I invested in the milwaukie bench top phos checker. it was like $150 but worth its weight in Gold.

I was having phos leach out of rock for several months. I ran GFO to slow the rise and would dose LC once a week or so. Mine dropped IMMEDIATLY though. like 20 minutes and the phos was gone.

BE CAREFUL WITH LC. 1ml in my 450 gallon system typically dropped phos by 0.1 PPM.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Phosphate always bounces back rapidly with any reduction method (even 100% water change) due to the big reservoir attached to rock and sand that comes off when the level drops.

That's why water changes are not especially good for phosphate reduction, and most removal methods are run over an extended period.
 
Back
Top