What color is the precipitate from lanthanum chloride

[john08007]

I have been dosing lanthanum chloride into a 5 micron sock. The sock is getting a rust colored stain on it. Any idea if this is the precipitate from the phosphate? I also run gfo and thought maybe the rust color stain is gfo powder escaping the reactor

[Greg 45]

White / use a 5 ml vile with tank water add 2 drops lanthanum and shake
let it sit for a while and on the bottom of the vile is what it looks like

[slief]

It’s white. You’re likely seeing GFO particles in your sock unless you’re leaving the sock in the sump for long periods of time in which case it could be organic matter or even some sort of algae if there is a light near by.

[john08007]

Thanks, its the gfo then. I am using the returns from my reactors to dump into the sock. Never realized that the gfo would get into the water column like that

[slief]

Thanks, its the gfo then. I am using the returns from my reactors to dump into the sock. Never realized that the gfo would get into the water column like that

For sure it’s GFO then but why use the return from your reactors? The water coming from a GFO reactor should alreay be really low in Po4. As such, the LaCl will be less effective/efficient. You really want to use water from the sump or the drains from the tank to feed directly into your 5 micron sock. The higher the flow the better in my experience. And your LaCl should be diluted in RODI water and dripped very slowly into the sock. I’ve been using LaCl for years on an as needed basis. Here is a video I put together detailing my process.

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