Phosphate removal with lanthanum chloride

[Myka]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Not sure many people know about this stuff but I'd sorta forgotten about it until recently. Here is an old thread on RC I had come across a while back. The good news is you can buy it from pool supply stores and is likely not terribly expensive. Not sure of longterm effects I need to take another rip through the thread. I know Joe Y. who runs the amazing 20,000 tank and more at Atlantis Marine World uses it last I heard.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...php?p=13390505

Noticed my comment on another thread?

Be aware that if you dose more Lanthanum chloride than you have PO4 for it to bind to, then it will bind to CO3 and precipitate out which will deplete alkalinity. Personally, I wouldn't be dosing Lanthanum into a tank, but I would definitely use Lanthanum for curing base rock or high PO4 live rock. Lanthanum will not be skimmed out, it has to be mechanically filtered out. It seems as though getting 100% of it out of a display tank setting is not possible and some people (including Randy Holmes-Farley) question what this precipitate will do over time if left in a tank.