hey everyone. So, my 10-gallon tank i set up for my son about 6 weeks ago is doing great. i picked up a ULR HannaPO4 checker. i checked my son's tank last night it was 15 - 20 nitrate {used API test} and .18 PO4 so i am doing a water change today to bring it down but last night i added 4 drops of Phosphate-E to bring the PO4 down some and then remove the bonded PO4 out in the water change. BUT.... I just checked the PO4 just now and it said .43 PO4 I don't know why it would go up after adding Phosphate-E it should at that low have gone down. Phosphate-E claims 1ml will bind up 1ppm of PO4 in 4 gallons of water so 4 drops into 10 gallons of water at .18 should have gone down a lot. this was my first-time using Phosphate-E and now I'm confused lol. I'm going to check it to my RED SEA PO4 test kit to see if that's in the same ballpark as my Hanna ULR PO4. Thanks in advance. I feel like it was either a technical error or I'm missing something in the chemistry.
PO4
- Thread starter Hunchy
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I’ve been working on bringing down my phosphate for a couple months now. I started above 5ppm! Yeah not .5 but over 5… I’ve been fighting it with a whole bunch of different methods. I tried phosphat-E until I learned it is just a diluted lanthanum solution. Probably for you it’s fine to stick with Phosphate-e on a small tank (I have a 300+ gallon system so I had to go up to industrial strength).
In my struggles I had poor results with lanthanum products until I started to filter it out. If I just dosed in the tank or skimmer I saw little change but when I started dosing in a 5micron filter sock the PO4 started dropping.
I think the po4 is bound up but the lanthanum seems to still be picked up by phosphate checkers. Also my fish would become very distressed when I dosed without filtering. Also there is a yo-yo of numbers because when po4 is removed from the water column the number drops but when po4 comes out of the rocks it bounces back up. Be consistent about dosing and patient and the po4 will drop.
In my struggles I had poor results with lanthanum products until I started to filter it out. If I just dosed in the tank or skimmer I saw little change but when I started dosing in a 5micron filter sock the PO4 started dropping.
I think the po4 is bound up but the lanthanum seems to still be picked up by phosphate checkers. Also my fish would become very distressed when I dosed without filtering. Also there is a yo-yo of numbers because when po4 is removed from the water column the number drops but when po4 comes out of the rocks it bounces back up. Be consistent about dosing and patient and the po4 will drop.
For starters A water change is not a good way to reduce PO4.
Whatever PO4 that is bound up in your rock and sand will continue to leach.
I've also experienced bound lanthanum throwing off my Hanna checker. I would check it 12-24 hours after dosing and always checking it at the same time of day. If you check it after 24 hours, be ready to dose again following the test. I had to dose Phosphate-E for about 5 weeks before I was able to get it down and start reducing Phosphate-E and introducing GFO passivly via a mesh bag in my sump.
Having a filter sock or fleece roller to remove bound lanthanum is also important when dosing. That will help the testing accuracy as well.
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What filter are you using to filter out the bound phosphate? You need to remove the particulates with a fine filter for lanthanum chloride to be effective.
The bound phosphate circulating in the water will still show on a phosphate test.
Using chemicals is not good method for phosphate removal, you could be using a phosphate absorber such as phosguard in a nano tank, however long term you need to look at input and outputs of phosphate in the tank.
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