What is Lanthanum?

[drstratton]

I'm currently cycling my tank and posted my tank parameters, my phosphate levels are .44. Someone suggested that since I don't have any fish in my tank yet that I should use Lanthanum to help avoid a lot of problems. What is it, how do you use it, should I use it? I did a search and really didn't find a lot on the product.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike in CT]

It's a chemical widely used in pools to reduce phosphates and also in aquariums. I am not an expert but it makes phosphates precipitate out of the water. Most people use a skimmer or dose into a filter sick so that the solids are filtered out by the sock. A lot of public aquariums use it because it makes the most sense for them instead of having to use huge amounts of gfo.
Melev, who is a member is the local expert on here I believe.
#@melev

 

[Reefing Madness]

SeaKlear, which you dose by the capful
Brighwells Phosphate E, instructions on the bottle, of which you will need way more than SeaKlear.
Melev

 

[ecreef]

A word of caution on it's use near Zebrasoma tangs, they have a high sensibility to it, used in excess or without the proper measures may let it get into fish gills and damage them.

Lost 4 zebrasomas that way !!

 

[drstratton]

Thank you both for the quick response. I will get some SeKlear and get going on this as soon as I can.

Just so I can know what to expect, will this affect the cycling process.

Thank you!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is one of MANY methods for reducing phosphate. I would research more of them before picking one. Lanthanum has drawbacks (such as depleting alkalinity) as well as benefits.

I discuss and compare them here:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

from it:

Soluble Metals to Bind Phosphate

There are several approaches that add soluble metals to bind and precipitate phosphate. The most popular involves adding lanthanum, which precipitates as lanthanum phosphate and/or lanthanum carbonate (which itself may contain some lanthanum phosphate). The lanthanum approach is widely used in the pool industry to reduce phosphate, and seems to often work well in aquaria. It is also very inexpensive, using products such as Seaklear (make sure it is a pure lanthanum version as mixtures with other metals also exist). Note that this method reduces alkalinity, as removing carbonate and phosphate as a lanthanum precipitate will reduce alkalinity.

One way to use it is to drip is slowly just upstream of a particulate filter to catch and remove a substantial amount of the precipitate that is formed. One drawback to the lanthanum approach is that much of the precipitated material may escape capture and simply settle out in the system somewhere. That may not be an issue, but many aquarists do not prefer to accumulate such material. A second concern is that some people have observed problematic reactions from aquarium inhabitants. While there are not a lot of such stories, it is enough for many aquarists to look for other options.

However, due to its low cost, this approach is especially well suited to outside of the tank operations, such as the removal of excess phosphate from phosphate-contaminated calcium carbonate rock that is later to be added to a reef aquarium.

Soluble iron has also been used in this way, but not nearly so often as lanthanum.

 

[drstratton]

A word of caution on it's use near Zebrasoma tangs, they have a high sensibility to it, used in excess or without the proper measures may let it get into fish gills and damage them.

Lost 4 zebrasomas that way !!

Thank you for the warning, I currently don't have any livestock in my tank! I am still cycling it.

 

[drstratton]

It is one of MANY methods for reducing phosphate. I would research more of them before picking one. Lanthanum has drawbacks (such as depleting alkalinity) as well as benefits.

I discuss and compare them here:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

from it:

Soluble Metals to Bind Phosphate

There are several approaches that add soluble metals to bind and precipitate phosphate. The most popular involves adding lanthanum, which precipitates as lanthanum phosphate and/or lanthanum carbonate (which itself may contain some lanthanum phosphate). The lanthanum approach is widely used in the pool industry to reduce phosphate, and seems to often work well in aquaria. It is also very inexpensive, using products such as Seaklear (make sure it is a pure lanthanum version as mixtures with other metals also exist). Note that this method reduces alkalinity, as removing carbonate and phosphate as a lanthanum precipitate will reduce alkalinity.

One way to use it is to drip is slowly just upstream of a particulate filter to catch and remove a substantial amount of the precipitate that is formed. One drawback to the lanthanum approach is that much of the precipitated material may escape capture and simply settle out in the system somewhere. That may not be an issue, but many aquarists do not prefer to accumulate such material. A second concern is that some people have observed problematic reactions from aquarium inhabitants. While there are not a lot of such stories, it is enough for many aquarists to look for other options.

However, due to its low cost, this approach is especially well suited to outside of the tank operations, such as the removal of excess phosphate from phosphate-contaminated calcium carbonate rock that is later to be added to a reef aquarium.

Soluble iron has also been used in this way, but not nearly so often as lanthanum.

I'm not feeling well today, so I just skimmed through your article, but I have it saved and I plan to sit down and completely read through it.

When I was running my tank 4 yrs ago, I never had to use any chemical product to remove phosphate. I had Chaeto that grew like crazy and ran a skimmer. I don't remember ever seeing my phosphate levels this high.

Since I don't have any livestock in my tank could I just dose it with the lanthanum or would it be better to take my rock out and soak it? Do you think that over time it will reduce in my tank through water changes and the use of macro algae? Or is that just wishful thinking and it will just continue to build?

Vinegar and Vodka dosing sound interesting to me also.

Thank-you for your time!

 

[Pete polyp]

Personally I would take the rock out and soak it. I would also use it in the tank with the rock absent to remove the phosphate in the water column.

Carbon dosing (vinegar/vodka/biopellets) is a method of removing nitrate. It will also remove some phosphate in the process. Since your main concern at the moment is phosphates I would recommend against it at this point. Especially since the tank hasn't completely cycled.

 

[drstratton]

So, if I take the rock out to soak, that will mean that I will have to restart the cycling process, correct?

 

[Pete polyp]

Yes the cycle would restart. But a week or two setback could keep you from years of headache. You're very lucky to have the opportunity to catch this now rather than later.

 

[drstratton]

So after going over the options with my husband, we're going to keep going as we are. If my levels were 1-2ppm I might've pulled the rocks out and started over. We're going to dose with the lanthanum while we don't have any livestock in there. I went down and blew out the rocks, I have done this before without getting much out of them. I couldn't believe how much came out tonight. I am going to continue to do that daily until I'm not getting anything out of them. Once my tank has finished cycling I will do a huge water change add the Chaeto and a clean up crew and get my skimmer going, then see where we are.

Randy, reading through your article helped me come to this conclusion. I'm going to start with macro, an algae scrubber (which I already have) & skimming. I will add the GFO & vinegar dosing if I need it.

I want to thank all of you for your help with this, I really appreciate your time and input!!!

 

[drstratton]

SeaKlear, which you dose by the capful
Brighwells Phosphate E, instructions on the bottle, of which you will need way more than SeaKlear.
Melev

Randy said that I need to make sure that the SeaKlear I use is pure. Could you please let me know where I can purchase it. I also just saw the product on Melev's site. Would that work in my situation?

Thank-you!

 

[Reefing Madness]

I use the stuff off of EBay, nothing special about mine. I run a cheap system, I don't see the need to spend hundreds on something that I can spend nearly nothing on, and its the same stuff.

 

[drstratton]

Thank you! I'll see if I can find it!

 

[Eckolancer]

I use the stuff off of EBay, nothing special about mine. I run a cheap system, I don't see the need to spend hundreds on something that I can spend nearly nothing on, and its the same stuff.

Not all are the same. A lot of them are diluted down and might have other things added in to them. But overall the cost is about the same just may have to use more with the diluted kind sold in pond supply.

 

[Reefing Madness]

SeaKlear, from EBay. Works just fine for me.

 

[drstratton]

Update! I purchased Phos RX (free shipping at Amazon) and used it 3 times. First dose took my levels from .41ppm to .05ppm in 24hrs. It leveled out at .19ppm. 2nd dose it leveled out at .06ppm. 3rd dose leveled out to 0ppm and have been there for over a week as are my other parameters. I'm skimming and have Chaeto algae in my refugium. I have crabs, snails, micro stars, asterina stars, pods and some bristle worms in my tank now. Hopefully I will be adding my 2 purple firefish in about 2 weeks! Thank you for all of the help and advice that was shared!!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the update!

 

[jason2459]

Yeah old thread. But a direct answer to the title of the thread "What is Lanthanum?" Thought others may be interested.

Cool video and I like his channel. Mentions briefly aquarium use as one of many uses of La