Phosphate RX

Z06-Hec · May 30, 2015

So I read a post here about this stuff and decided to give it a shot...
My phosphates usually bounce around from .003 to .010. On occasion higher depending on whats going on in the tank. Usually i will take readings and change out my GFO as needed and watch them go down but never really see a 0 reading. When your comparing those bottom colors its really hard to tell between .003-.010 since they are close to clear.
Anyway I ordered some of this Phosphate RX and added some drops last night for first time per instructions and today...
0 reading...
According to this color... Clear... 0 Phosphates...

Im impressed...

danangelo · May 31, 2015

Cool i know some guys that uses them and they work well

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 1, 2015

Lanthanum (as in products like this one) does bind phosphate, but unless you catch the precipitated lanthanum phosphate in a filter, it just stays in the tank. Lanthanum is also not without its potential drawbacks, including reports of impacts on reef creatures. It also lowers alkalinity somewhat (by precipitating lanthanum carbonate).

IMO, it is a good product for stripping phosphate from live rock outside of an aquarium, but I prefer other methods for exporting phosphate from a reef aquarium. That said, some people use it to good effect in their aquaria. :)

This has more on it and many other methods of phosphate reduction:

https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/phosphate-in-the-reef-aquarium-by-randy-holmes-farley/

This is the section covering lanthanum:

Soluble Metals to Bind Phosphate

There are several approaches that add soluble metals to bind and precipitate phosphate. The most popular involves adding lanthanum, which precipitates as lanthanum phosphate and/or lanthanum carbonate (which itself may contain some lanthanum phosphate). The lanthanum approach is widely used in the pool industry to reduce phosphate, and seems to often work well in aquaria. It is also very inexpensive, using products such as Seaklear (make sure it is a pure lanthanum version as mixtures with other metals also exist). Note that this method reduces alkalinity, as removing carbonate and phosphate as a lanthanum precipitate will reduce alkalinity.

One way to use it is to drip is slowly just upstream of a particulate filter to catch and remove a substantial amount of the precipitate that is formed. One drawback to the lanthanum approach is that much of the precipitated material may escape capture and simply settle out in the system somewhere. That may not be an issue, but many aquarists do not prefer to accumulate such material. A second concern is that some people have observed problematic reactions from aquarium inhabitants. While there are not a lot of such stories, it is enough for many aquarists to look for other options.

However, due to its low cost, this approach is especially well suited to outside of the tank operations, such as the removal of excess phosphate from phosphate-contaminated calcium carbonate rock that is later to be added to a reef aquarium.

Soluble iron has also been used in this way, but not nearly so often as lanthanum.

FL_Reefer · Jun 1, 2015

This product in my opinion is the easiest way to remove phosphates from our tank and it's also the only way that I do. It's a great product

Gopi · Jun 2, 2015

I also have used phosphate Rx and was pleased with how well it decreased my phosphate levels. I added it slowly to the skimmer body. The only downside I had was that all my blue anthelia and Xenia withered away. Its been a couple months since I last dosed, the anthelia is just now starting to come back. (Perhaps a good solution for people who have an anthelia or Xenia problem?)