Questions about Lanthanum Dosing

[Nemo777]

I am going to start dosing lanthanum chloride as I have phosphates in my rocks.
I have been researching for days and I have decided that it might be my only option to lower phosphates.
I have tried many products and I am having a serious algae outbreak thick brown algae all over the sand and rocks. Looks like dirt.
I have lost some corals already. Currently, they are sitting at 1.0 using a Nyos test kit.
The rock is 4 years old.

I am going to start off by setting up the dosing pump to slowly drip the lanthanum into my filter sock. Will this work?

I have read reports that it can affect tangs...I have two. Is this correct?

I also have a clam will it affect him?

I have a 400-liter system how much should I dose?

Any other comments welcome.

[NewyReefer]

Have you got a pic of this algae? Do you dose any carbon sources? N03P04X Bps vodka etc?
I have never dosed lanth hopefully someone else here who has can help.

[Nemo777]

Not sure how to post pics.


Just added Captiv Phos Fe to my sump.

[Aydee]

Lanth does remove free phosphates from the water, but it won't 'fix the rock'. Typically, if you dose it, it's a good idea to slowly drip it into a filter sock. And we're talking about 5ml/day (tank size depending).

Do you have detectable nitrates? If so, what are they at? Many forms of PO4 removal rely on nitrates being present, to bind together and then get skimmed out.

The big thing I found (I had PO4 at over 4ppm. Tested by Hanna). I've reduced it to now being steady 0 (Still leeching from rocks, but slowing down now). I used the Lanth to take the edge off, then used Carbon dosing and Nitrate dosing (I had so much PO4 I was stripping all the nitrates from my system with carbon dosing).

To upload pictures, create a photobucket account (Google Photos can also work in my personal experience. But can be a bit dicey with setting up sharing). Upload pictures to there. You can then link by clicking the 'full editor' option for replying to comments. Click "IMG" button at the top. Put the shortcut to the image in the middle of the 2 tags.

At work at moment, but hopefully that gives you something to think about.

Dave

[Nemo777]

Photos of my Algae problem. Nitrates are 5

http://s446.photobucket.com/user/fishlady4/media/20160422_1338261_zpsrml2avn3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

http://s446.photobucket.com/user/fishlady4/media/20160422_1338051_zpsygyvbl0a.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s446.photobucket.com/user/fishlady4/media/20160422_1337421_zpsun366rya.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s446.photobucket.com/user/fishlady4/media/20160422_1337211_zpsvylnmylf.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

http://s446.photobucket.com/user/fishlady4/media/20160422_1337021_zpsu5upewgw.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

[NewyReefer]

It will be a hard task tbh along with lanth if you go that route i would be manually removing the algae with weekly water changes.

[Aydee]

HOORAY! That looks like my tank. My tank is winning the battle. I haven't dosed Lanth in over a year.

So.. My first message is this. Don't think that dosing lanth will make this problem go away. It won't. You've got a long-term battle here. (ie. 1 yr, possibly more!) BUT! You can win.

So. I'm winning my battle. I'll tell you what I did. If you find a better way, then fantastic. Tell us. Mine is based on 'what I think is current knowledge'. And know that "Current knowledge can sometimes be 5 years behind".
Step 1: Dose Lanth into a filter sock and have a strong skimmer going. Get PO4 down good and hard and fast! Do this over about a month.
Step 2: DON'T STOP TESTING YOUR WATER ( This was my #1 mistake. I got slack and set myself back a good 6 months because of this fail!)
Step 3: Start using a carbon method. Whether vinegar, NOPOX3, biopellets, whatever.
Step 4: KEEP TESTING! Test test test and then test again. Weekly is good, but you might find you need to do Nitrate and PO4 more often!

By this method you get your PO4 down, your nitrates down and in time you'll find that your PO4 gets lower for longer periods.

You've got a long haul ahead. I came from 4ppm. You're approx 1ppm. So hopefully, it scales similar. But, you need to remove the PO4 from the system. Just pouring a chemical in won't do this. It'll make it look fantastic. For a week. Then it goes pear shaped again. BUT.. when you get that balance, suddenly it clicks. The algae fades away (One window of my tanks is now clear! The others getting that way). And you feel you've got it.

Dave

[Nemo777]

The main question is how much do I dose? I don't want to overdose the tank and kill everything.


Also with the algae...once the phosphates have dropped will the algae just die and clear up? or do I have to manually remove it all?

Thanks for your help.

[Aydee]

I dosed about 3ml in my 130L tank. I dosed this slowly over about an hour. Did this every 2 days. Into a filter sock, before the skimmer.

Manual removal of algae is a good idea. I was able to siphon most of mine out. But there is still manual removal.

What you'll do with the Lanth is remove most of the free phosphates (Stuff in the water) but there'll still be heaps locked up in the rocks and existing algae. You can be reading 0.00ppm on phosphates but there could still be a ton of phosphates in your tank, locked up in various forms.

What you'll find is that the algae starts to 'look different' and it will then start growing in patches (where it's leeching out). You just have to keep on top of this.
Testing during this stage is critical. You need to keep the PO4 as low as possible so that the rocks 'equalize' their PO4.

Lanth is just a short term thing. Use it to get you over that initial hurdle, but then look at other methods of PO4 removal. (Biopellets, Fe, Carbon dosing etc). These methods also have the added benefit of also working on nitrate reduction.

As always, when you're trying to adjust parameters, take it slowly and test often.

Dave

[Nemo777]

Thanks, Dave I appreciate your help.

Started dosing today 4ml in our 400-liter tank today. Tomorrow I will do a water change and some rock scrubbing and sand sifting.

How much of a water change do you recommend?

I am going to start looking into vodka dosing.