Liquid Phosphate Remover Dosing Calculator

[Yevoc]

I'll just repeat that I'm not a fan of this calculator due to the assumptions that it must make. The real value of lanthanum needed to attain a given phosphate value will be higher.

I am just happy to back up my math and get the bottle dose correct. All of these products it looks like you are dosing very small quantities relative to water volume.

 

[Thaxxx]

I'll just repeat that I'm not a fan of this calculator due to the assumptions that it must make. The real value of lanthanum needed to attain a given phosphate value will be higher.

I agree.
But not for the same reasons. Every tank has different rock in it.
All these so called bad testing numbers mean nothing if your rock is still leaching phosphate. Same with the manufacturers dosing guild lines. Until you get none or very little phosphate increase after you stop dosing, more than likely your rocks are still leaching phosphate.
Also I've found it best to dose into a 5 micro filter sock.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree.
But not for the same reasons. Every tank has different rock in it.

That is the same reason as one of my two reasons for saying the needed dose is higher.

 

[Larry L]

I'll just repeat that I'm not a fan of this calculator due to the assumptions that it must make. The real value of lanthanum needed to attain a given phosphate value will be higher.

It's not the fault of the calculator if the manufacturer's recommended doses are too conservative. I just wanted to put something out there to help people with the math, because I had read too many threads about people getting it wrong and messing up their tanks.

If you can help me think of a generic disclaimer to put at the top about the probable actual effectiveness of the calculated doses, I'd be happy to add that.

 

[Keen4]

I'll just repeat that I'm not a fan of this calculator due to the assumptions that it must make. The real value of lanthanum needed to attain a given phosphate value will be higher.

Agreed and how do we add the dose? Im awake of not applying it directly to the tank. Do we dose it a drop at a time over a period of several minutes, hours, days? Do I just drop the full amount into the sump? How Do I add this correctly into the tank if someone could please give me a more detailed break down of how to properly dose I.E Elimi-Phos. Because right now I just added 3.5 mL into my return sump for a .1 daily reduction of Po4. I currently have 2ppm of Po4 in a 91 gal system.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Agreed and how do we add the dose? Im awake of not applying it directly to the tank. Do we dose it a drop at a time over a period of several minutes, hours, days? Do I just drop the full amount into the sump? How Do I add this correctly into the tank if someone could please give me a more detailed break down of how to properly dose I.E Elimi-Phos. Because right now I just added 3.5 mL into my return sump for a .1 daily reduction of Po4. I currently have 2ppm of Po4 in a 91 gal system.

Most people who use it add it slowly (drop wise) upstream of some sort of filtration to removing the resulting particulates.

 

[Keen4]

Most people who use it add it slowly (drop wise) upstream of some sort of filtration to removing the resulting particulates.

I did my second dosing last night on the skimmer drop by drop. Not sure how this would work but we’ll see.

 

[milanz]

Hey everyone. My first post on R2R. I do a lot of reading but thought I would contribute to this thread. I was looking for specific dosing information for SeaKlear Phosphate Remover, but couldn't find anything concise. It's easy to make a mistake trying to do the calculation based on the bottle instructions, so I made a spreadsheet. Hopefully someone finds this helpful. Take a copy of the spreadsheet to edit it:
SeaKlear Calculator.xlsx - Microsoft Excel Online (live.com)

Just update the fields in green, system volume and the desired PO4 reduction, and it will calculate the exact dose. I could eliminate most of the fields, but thought I would leave them so people understand the numbers used to get at the answer (especially in case the manufactures changes in the potency in the future). My plan is to dilute the concentrate with RO/DI water by a factor of 1000x and just dose it super slow over days (what's the rush).

Anyways, hope this helps. Feedback welcome and a double check of the formula is appreciated!

 

[Marcos_Reef]

FYI I just added CaribSea PhosBuster Pro™ to the calculator. So now the list includes:

Blue Life™ Phosphate Rx™
Brightwell® Aquatics Phosphat-E
Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L
Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Agent Green™
CaribSea PhosBuster Pro™

I was so excited when i found your calculator!! Thank you!

 

[ASIN28]

I put together a calculator to help with dosing the right amount of some of the popular liquid phosphate removers that are based on lanthanum chloride (Blue Life™ Phosphate Rx™, Brightwell® Aquatics Phosphat-E, Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L, and Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Agent Green™):

http://larryl.emailplus.org/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

Hope you find it helpful.

Thank you for creating this calculator. I am dosing phosphate-E and would just like to confirm if I’m doing it correctly. So this calculator says I only have to side a total of 8.0 ml to drop it. Now I’m dosing this by hand so I am going to break it up over an extended period of time. But according the bottle if I’m doing the math correctly I should be putting in 1ML for EVERY 4 gallons of water? I have a 120 gallon tank that would be like 30ML. Just a little confused thanks!

 

[robbous]

Thank you for creating this calculator. I am dosing phosphate-E and would just like to confirm if I’m doing it correctly. So this calculator says I only have to side a total of 8.0 ml to drop it. Now I’m dosing this by hand so I am going to break it up over an extended period of time. But according the bottle if I’m doing the math correctly I should be putting in 1ML for EVERY 4 gallons of water? I have a 120 gallon tank that would be like 30ML. Just a little confused thanks!

I went buy what the bottle says a lot higher in ML then this calculator for my 650 gallon system

 

[bklynreef]

I've looked at their instructions before and I don't know to calculate a dosage. The other products all say something along the lines of "1 ml in X gallons of water will reduce phosphates by Y ppm". Seaklear says if your phosphates are at e.g. 250 ppb (0.25 ppm) then dose 1 ounce per 1000 gallons of water, but doesn't tell you how much of that 250 ppb will be removed.

Milanz says:
"Hey everyone. My first post on R2R. I do a lot of reading but thought I would contribute to this thread. I was looking for specific dosing information for SeaKlear Phosphate Remover, but couldn't find anything concise. It's easy to make a mistake trying to do the calculation based on the bottle instructions, so I made a spreadsheet. Hopefully someone finds this helpful. Take a copy of the spreadsheet to edit it:
SeaKlear Calculator.xlsx - Microsoft Excel Online (live.com)

Just update the fields in green, system volume and the desired PO4 reduction, and it will calculate the exact dose. I could eliminate most of the fields, but thought I would leave them so people understand the numbers used to get at the answer (especially in case the manufactures changes in the potency in the future). My plan is to dilute the concentrate with RO/DI water by a factor of 1000x and just dose it super slow over days (what's the rush).

Anyways, hope this helps. Feedback welcome and a double check of the formula is appreciated!"

I think we need to make clear what the dilution would be which id say is 5ML per 1000 ML of rodi. Then we can test how much ppm it will bring it down per drops. Milinz Calculator spreadsheat looks good.
Larry, Can we get you to add this to the calculator your have.

 

[Victor Guyton]

I put together a calculator to help with dosing the right amount of some of the popular liquid phosphate removers that are based on lanthanum chloride (Blue Life™ Phosphate Rx™, Brightwell® Aquatics Phosphat-E, Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L, and Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Agent Green™):

http://larryl.emailplus.org/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

Hope you find it helpful.

 

[Jojoreefing]

I put together a calculator to help with dosing the right amount of some of the popular liquid phosphate removers that are based on lanthanum chloride (Blue Life™ Phosphate Rx™, Brightwell® Aquatics Phosphat-E, Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L, and Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Agent Green™):

http://larryl.emailplus.org/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

Hope you find it helpful.

Larry you are awesome for making this. Thank you!

 

[schooncw]

Larry you are awesome for making this. Thank you!

Nice job!

 

[OneMerissa]

WOW great job Larry!!

 

[gsb67]

thank you Larry

 

[GuppyHJD]

I do not know if the test is accurate for you or not, but a mesh bag is not an efficient way to use GFO.

Randy,
What is the prefered method of using GFO? Is there a DYI liquid formula?
Thank you - HJD

 

[GuppyHJD]

Larry and Randy,
I just stumbled upon this thread.
I was away from my tank for an extended period of time and my phosphates became very elevated - over Hanna tester limits of 0.90. Nitrate is holding at 13.0.
Some background -
Six months ago the tank was testing 0.0 phosphates and I used the DIY phosphate solution to raise the tank to .03. I was dosing silicates to fight dinos. I believe my testing (Hanna) was not accurate and it was likely higher. I used a Salifert Phosphate test during silicate dosing. Then a little thing called a hurricane came through, the tank ran by it self on a pellet feeder.
My tank is 120g + sump, so I use a total water volume of 130 gallons for calculations.
A month ago -
I started dosing Brightwell Phosphate e to the tank in the skimmer intake at 10ml a day. This slowly brought the phosphate testing approx 0.10 a day. Usually, a random test after 2-3 days, and a bit of up/down, but slowly got it to .56 and have increased the dose to 15ml a day.
The tank is still sporting some leaf type of green algae and some bubble algae. Four emerald crabs are not making much of a dent. The starry blenny has no interest.
Using Larry's calculator, 15ml should lower my .56 to .10 phosphate but that is not the case. Based on the last two weeks of testing and dosing, if I add 15ml tonight my phosphates are expected to be maybe .52 or .53.
Should I continue this approach - 15ml a day or increase? Or other solutions?
The corals and fish are fine, but the algae are gaining so I am trying to lower the phosphates. Skimmer is running wet. And I took the socks out while I was away from the tank. I can restart them today.

 

[GuppyHJD]

Larry and Randy,
I just stumbled upon this thread.
I was away from my tank for an extended period of time and my phosphates became very elevated - over Hanna tester limits of 0.90. Nitrate is holding at 13.0.
Some background -
Six months ago the tank was testing 0.0 phosphates and I used the DIY phosphate solution to raise the tank to .03. I was dosing silicates to fight dinos. I believe my testing (Hanna) was not accurate and it was likely higher. I used a Salifert Phosphate test during silicate dosing. Then a little thing called a hurricane came through, the tank ran by it self on a pellet feeder.
My tank is 120g + sump, so I use a total water volume of 130 gallons for calculations.
A month ago -
I started dosing Brightwell Phosphate e to the tank in the skimmer intake at 10ml a day. This slowly brought the phosphate testing approx 0.10 a day. Usually, a random test after 2-3 days, and a bit of up/down, but slowly got it to .56 and have increased the dose to 15ml a day.
The tank is still sporting some leaf type of green algae and some bubble algae. Four emerald crabs are not making much of a dent. The starry blenny has no interest.
Using Larry's calculator, 15ml should lower my .56 to .10 phosphate but that is not the case. Based on the last two weeks of testing and dosing, if I add 15ml tonight my phosphates are expected to be maybe .52 or .53.
Should I continue this approach - 15ml a day or increase? Or other solutions?
The corals and fish are fine, but the algae are gaining so I am trying to lower the phosphates. Skimmer is running wet. And I took the socks out while I was away from the tank. I can restart them today.

Well 15ml dosed yesterday but phosphates jumped up to 0.57