Lanthanum Chloride?

[Alfredo De La Fe]

I have not been keeping up to date on the latest advances. What is the deal with Lanthanum Chloride and phosphates? Is this the new, great advance for lowering phosphates?

Thanks,

Alfred

 

[akma]

I use it in a commercially packaged product called phosphate rx. Drops phosphates fast. Does cloud the water so I dose it into my skimmer.

 

[jackson6745]

Not new but can be effective. Im not a fan because of added risk of stripping. IMO if you want a successful reef long term, limit risk and add redundancy when possible. I guess if you can balance it perfectly it would be great, but delicacy scares me with a reef.
Persistently high po4 is usually from a flaw in your system design, po4 laden sanded or rock, or poor maintenance overall.

 

[pecan2phat]

I used the process about 3 or 4 years ago and while it did drop Po4 efficiently, it was a PIA to use. Filter socks had to be changed almost daily and there was a side effect that affected my starfire glass, basically clouding the glass to the point that razor scraping had no effect. I personally would not use it again.

 

[greg 45]

If used correctly there are no side affect's. If you use a low dosage daily to maintain low po4 there wont be a problem. Overdosing will cause harm and cloud tank also killing fish. The idea of the filter socks is to collect the fine powder that the lanthanum chloride reduces the po 4 to. It is as fine as baby powder. Try a small vile of tank water ad ad 1 drop shake vile let sit for 1/2 hour you will see what it turns into. hope this helps .

 

[ming]

I used the process about 3 or 4 years ago and while it did drop Po4 efficiently, it was a PIA to use. Filter socks had to be changed almost daily and there was a side effect that affected my starfire glass, basically clouding the glass to the point that razor scraping had no effect. I personally would not use it again.

Hmm, I also have some of that white hazy clouding on the glass, on the areas which I didn't clean often. That might explain it...

 

[Mattl22]

I tried it but leaves a residue on surface water which I hate to look a ime not great with sps