Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post

melev · 12/14/2008, 04:48 PM

Thanks for the link, Gary.

When I stated that I'm using Lanthanum chloride, it isn't the stuff you buy at the pool store. As you pointed to earlier, there is a beautiful public aquarium using it that I found via Google myself.

Both Phosbuster Pro (Caribsea) and Phosphate Control (Blue Life USA) contain Lanthanum chloride, and both are very easy to dose to your tank. The former is a bottle you pour in (one bottle treats 250g), the latter you add in an area of high flow drop by drop.

According to the bottle's instructions (Blue Life), 6 drops per 10 gallons will drop PO4 1ppm. The new version they released (in a box rather than a tube, the instructions varied and it states 6 drops in 10 gallons will drop it .05ppm. I don't know if that means they diluted the product or not though.

Also, it states clearly on both that cloudiness is to be expected, and that it will clear within 24 hours. For me, I always dose late at night when the fish are sleeping, as their respiration should be at its lowest then. The next morning, the tank is crystal clear and the skimmer's cup is full of skimmate with a white tinge to it.

I don't use filter socks in my system at all.

I had a theory that if this stuff works so nicely, it would be ideal if we could just drip in one drop at a time into the skimmer itself, and let it skim PO4 right out of the water instead of turning the tank cloudy. The method would take longer, since you couldn't dose everything at once, but rather would be treating the water volume in the skimmer body. You'd be dosing it all day long to pull it off though.

For specifics, I dose my tank with 120 drops, and it knocks the PO4 to 0 overnight. The only livestock in my tank that seems affected are the Lavendar Frilly mushrooms. They really hate it, but since I have too many of them, I don't really mind causing them a little discomfort. Within 48 hours, they are back to normal again. 120 drops is what I would need to drop .5 ppm of PO4 in 400g of water. I probably could get by with less since my PO4 doesn't get above .25 anymore.

Dosing occurs as needed, rather than a specific amount of drops weekly. I'd guess I dose the reef about every 6 weeks, based on test kit results taken first.

12/14/2008, 04:48 PM	#68
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Thanks for the link, Gary. When I stated that I'm using Lanthanum chloride, it isn't the stuff you buy at the pool store. As you pointed to earlier, there is a beautiful public aquarium using it that I found via Google myself. Both Phosbuster Pro (Caribsea) and Phosphate Control (Blue Life USA) contain Lanthanum chloride, and both are very easy to dose to your tank. The former is a bottle you pour in (one bottle treats 250g), the latter you add in an area of high flow drop by drop. According to the bottle's instructions (Blue Life), 6 drops per 10 gallons will drop PO4 1ppm. The new version they released (in a box rather than a tube, the instructions varied and it states 6 drops in 10 gallons will drop it .05ppm. I don't know if that means they diluted the product or not though. Also, it states clearly on both that cloudiness is to be expected, and that it will clear within 24 hours. For me, I always dose late at night when the fish are sleeping, as their respiration should be at its lowest then. The next morning, the tank is crystal clear and the skimmer's cup is full of skimmate with a white tinge to it. I don't use filter socks in my system at all. I had a theory that if this stuff works so nicely, it would be ideal if we could just drip in one drop at a time into the skimmer itself, and let it skim PO4 right out of the water instead of turning the tank cloudy. The method would take longer, since you couldn't dose everything at once, but rather would be treating the water volume in the skimmer body. You'd be dosing it all day long to pull it off though. For specifics, I dose my tank with 120 drops, and it knocks the PO4 to 0 overnight. The only livestock in my tank that seems affected are the Lavendar Frilly mushrooms. They really hate it, but since I have too many of them, I don't really mind causing them a little discomfort. Within 48 hours, they are back to normal again. 120 drops is what I would need to drop .5 ppm of PO4 in 400g of water. I probably could get by with less since my PO4 doesn't get above .25 anymore. Dosing occurs as needed, rather than a specific amount of drops weekly. I'd guess I dose the reef about every 6 weeks, based on test kit results taken first.