Lanthanum chloride

I read the whole thread, although a long time ago, and I don't remember seeing that. Some good information to know if I missed it.---Rick
 
DgenR8 said:
If you read over this thread, I'm almost certain that I remember seeing that dosing directly into your skimmer will cause a discoloration of the acrylic, if not worse damage.
Click to expand...
so far i d'not see any damage after 2 weeks of using.
all so i d'not us the 10 micron sock, ins-ted with filter floss
 
Just finished reading the whole thread and just wanted to say thanks for all the info. After having no luck with GFO on a neglected 125 FOWLR that currently reads 0.5ppm and is most likely leaching from the rocks and sand, I'm getting ready to start dosing lanthanum.

I also wanted to share a source for lanthanum I found on amazon. Only $15 shipped for 1 quart and according to the MSDS is 99-100% Lanthanum chloride heptahydrate.

http://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Chem...82137277&sr=8-1&keywords=sun+phosphate+remove

MSDS
http://www.appatek.com/MSDS/SUN/Phosphate Eliminator.pdf
 
So my Sun Phosphate Eliminator arrived and the bottle states that 32oz removes 1000ppb from 10,000 gallons of water. I thought I read in this thread that Seaklear removes 9000ppb from 10,000 gallons. Is this stuff diluted 9 times weaker? Do I have the wrong or outdated MSDS in the above post or am I just reading it incorrectly?

Think this stuff is safe to use? Is it most likely just diluted with water?
 
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Well, gave it a shot starting out at 1ml per 1000ml RO to be safe and worked my way up to 18ml per 1000ml RO before I finally clogged my 5 micron sock and my Po4 dropped to 0.03-0.1ppm (Salifert). No cloudiness or precipitation in the tank and no signs of stress to two clowns and a Blue Tang. :thumbsup:
 
Due to a chronic cyano and algae problem, I've decided to tear down my rockwork and soak/bathe my old LR in a lanthanum solution until clean. This will be done in a couple Brute trash cans, indoors, over the winter. Questions:

Recommended 'Brand' and /or vendor of lanthanum?
Ratio of solution? (No fish, no coral. Just LR and circulation)
I'm assuming that the length of the treatment will depend on the strength of the solution. Is there a 'upper limit' here? Remember, I'd prefer to do this inside and is why I took this route rather than muriatic acid.
Should I run a hang-on skimmer?
Method of getting rock tank-ready once it has been successfully treated. This is especially important since the rock will then be returned to a tank containing fish, SPS, and other LR which will then be removed a treated.

Any other tips and suggestions for using lanthanum in this way will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hi, Michael.
I might be able to offer some suggestions to save you some headaches.
If one were to use LaCl3 to treat their liverock it would be best to place (or leave) the rock in a recirculating system (such as an aquarium). LaCl3 works great in a system that's up and running.
Use 10 micron mechanical filters on the outs of your drains and good protein skimming.

Soaking liverock in lanthanum is not a good idea IMO. As you probably are already aware, soaking LR is the preferred method when "cooking" (using bacterial turgor) on LR to reduce PO4.
 
64Ivy said:
Due to a chronic cyano and algae problem, I've decided to tear down my rockwork and soak/bathe my old LR in a lanthanum solution until clean. This will be done in a couple Brute trash cans, indoors, over the winter. Questions:

Recommended 'Brand' and /or vendor of lanthanum?
Ratio of solution? (No fish, no coral. Just LR and circulation)
I'm assuming that the length of the treatment will depend on the strength of the solution. Is there a 'upper limit' here? Remember, I'd prefer to do this inside and is why I took this route rather than muriatic acid.
Should I run a hang-on skimmer?
Method of getting rock tank-ready once it has been successfully treated. This is especially important since the rock will then be returned to a tank containing fish, SPS, and other LR which will then be removed a treated.

Any other tips and suggestions for using lanthanum in this way will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I use it that way.

I place rock (live or dry) suspected of the potential to leach PO4 in a curing bin with a powerhead in new salt water with near zero PO4; test after a day or two to determine if it's leaching. If not, I test after a week to see.If it's still near 0 PO4 ;it's not leaching.
If PO4 rises in the water,it is leaching or processing some die off. In that case , I add some lanthanum chloride . I use a capful ,about 5ml of Seaklear diluted to 50% per day for a 16 gallon bin testing along the way. When the PO4 level in the water tests at near zero ,the dosing is stopped. A week of low PO4 without dosing and I'm conifident about using the rock in the tank.

The whole process usually takes about 2 weeks for rock previously exposed to high levels of PO4 . "Cooking" can take up to a year. Acid baths and bleach kill what's in the rock. The lanthanum phosphate particulates are not a concern since the rock can be rinsed/swished off at the end of the process.

If you prefer not to take a tank down,keeping the surrounding water in the tank at low PO4 will have the same affect whether that's via safely dosing lanthanum to the tank or via gfo, phosguard or another methtod but it will probably take much longer and may affect some livestock adversely.
 
Hi TMZ
Did you tried the above solution that you just mentioned?
Because i do like better than acid bath
My rocks have been in the tank for over
12 years and they are leaching some po4
What would you change
Thanks
 
Yes, I've treated rock leaching PO4 that way several times.
Once , a friend gave me some old rock( about 100lbs) that had been in water with high PO4 for years. He was leaching PO4 and he wanted to start with new rock and wasn't interested in treating it. I put it in clean PO4 free salt water with aeration. PO4 climbed. Treated it with lanthanum chloride for 2 weeks and had rock I could put into my aquariums without leaching.
 
Dosed 80ML of phosbuster into my sump return section in an approx 100-110 gallon total system with a 200 micron filter sock catching my drain water from the DT going into my skimmer section. I did so BEFORE finding this thread based on the directions on the bottle (1ml per Gallon)

Tank clouded up quite alot, I noticed my purple tang had rapid respiration. wasn't able to observe my other two fish. My mushrooms shrunk up as small as they could as if the lights had been off, and my Zoanthids Polyps also closed up tightly, No ill effects noted on my Duncans. I hung hang on filters on the front of my tank running a total of 6 filter large filter cartridges.

The phosbuster began to precipitate on the glass very noticeably after a few hours. I set my protein skimmer up to wet skim (Usually dry). I scrapped my glass with my glass cleaner and now im waiting for the phosbuster precipitate to get filtered out mechanically or pushed out via my skimmer.
 
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Isayso said:
How are the inhabitants reacting right now?
Holy coffe.... 80mls that's a little too much.
Click to expand...

Its not pure like as if it would be purchased from a pool supply store. Im not sure how diluted it is from the bottle, but that was per the directions, 1ml per gallon...so by their direction i actually UNDER dosed my tank as i have closer to 100-110 gallons total.


This morning after the hang on filters had worked all night, my water in the DT is crystal clear and i pulled about 1/3 cup of skimmate out with the skimmer. I was wet skimming so its light tea colored (I have a light bio load anyways)but slightly cloudy as well. Zoanthid Polyps are still closed up even with the lights back on now. All fish and inverts are fine.


Is there any correlation between phosphate levels and water clarity? Or whys it seem like the DT water is crystal clear after the use of the Phosphate remover
 
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