Cali Kid Corals

Coral reefer’s 360 gal system. 225 display and frag tanks

Coral reefer said:
Phos .26
Alk 8.15
Ca 425
Guess I gotta change out the rowaphos again...
Injecting lanthanum into the skimmer like rich was talking about sure does sound appealing right about now...
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I’ve done this on many many occasions. The only thing I’ve ever notice be bothered by the precipitate are anemones. They bounce back but definitely don’t enjoy the first couple hours after dosing. It does work like a charm and if you follow the directions removes exactly what it says it will.
 
Meshmez said:
I suspect if you had a small enough micron filter paper you would be changing out rolls constantly.
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I wasn’t thinking of maybe just pumping water through the filter roller sometimes when dosing the lanthanum. Haven’t really thought this out yet.
Mainly I’d like to automate my phosphate reduction more so I don’t have to change out the media so often, and also hopefully save a bit. Gfo/rowaphos isn’t breaking the bank, but it adds up
 
I'd say if you siphon detritus from your sump with any regularity not to worry about either method. Just drip it into your sump(near the beginning) at a very slow rate...a couple of drops per hour.
 
Adit0 said:
I'd say if you siphon detritus from your sump with any regularity not to worry about either method. Just drip it into your sump(near the beginning) at a very slow rate...a couple of drops per hour.
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Really? I thought you really want to avoid it getting into/on pumps and heaters and such?
 
Coral reefer said:
Really? I thought you really want to avoid it getting into/on pumps and heaters and such?
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The way I see it, when you add a drop of lanthanum into your skimmer it's only going to be inside the skimmer body for a fraction of a second before being pushed out by the pump, meaning it's only going to "encounter" so many phosphate particles to bind to. Thus I think the skimmer effluent will contain a reasonable amount of active lanthanum, similar to if you just dosed directly into the sump. What really matters is that you have a very small volume added to a very high flow area.
 
Hey BAR peep!,

IIRC -
  • LaCl3 quickly binds to phosphate, which can be exported by collecting it with some sort of mechanical filter - floss, filter sock, skimmer (kind of a mechanical filter), etc. We aren't really sure what else it does, or in what amounts it does it (another reason for my wanting to do low dosing)
  • I put a hole in my skimmer lid and ran tubing down the skimmers throat and the LaCl3 is dosed into the body of the skimmer. Dosing it directly into pumps often seems to result in plating on the pump parts which, while also being a pain on the pumps, also means that it isn't binding with phosphate and being exported.
  • LaCl3 binds into tiny particles which can be exported by the foam head of the protein skimmer, before it goes somewhere and possibly plates out. Dosing not into some kind of filter runs the risk of LaCl3 reacting and plating onto acrylic, pumps and whatnot.
  • It reacts almost immediately to form LaO4P, which is part of the reason behind the low amount/concentration dosing - almost no chance there will be no phosphate to bind to, means almost no chance of it reacting and plating on surfaces, and almost no chance it will leave the skimmer body.
  • Water's dwell time inside a skimmer is a matter of opinion. I think longer dwell times are better, so the water is processed more efficiently removing stuff skimmers remove before they have a chance leave the skimmer by the effluent exit rather than the skimmer neck.
  • Super fast process rates don't make sense to me for a reef tank unless you just want a tiny bit of export, or you enjoy wiping your skimmer every day. I don't. Some people do. My skimmer cup drains into a 3 gallon container, and when that fills, a float switch kills the air to the skimmer (not the feed) and alerts me that this has happened, so I can clean the skimmer or press a button on my phone to have the 3 gallon container pump to drain turning the skimmer back on.
  • I am always in favor of wet skimming. One of the benefits is that my skimmer neck needs cleaning infrequently. Dosing LaCl3 into a sock means changing the sock daily and I don't want to do that.


YMMV :D
 
Seems like my return pump for the display isn't pushing as much as it used to, which wasn’t that much to start with. Maybe power supply is declining?
Either way I need to find something that can handle 15ft of head height. Any ideas? Ideally submersible, but could make an external work if need be.
 
Well...that went quickly. Pretty much back to all full again already...
868E8BC0-E6EC-4328-B0E3-3778D68FADF3.jpeg
 
This is why I don't even bother chopping up stuff for DBTC, or hell to give away. Mike just grows a little bit of seemingly everything, and then has a real hard time getting rid of what he already has :D

Mystic Sunset monti frags? yeah out of his ears... I want to give away a colony... nope ... although I did hope to use it as a raffle/auction item... then 2020 hit
 
To Be fair I’ve done a couple aqua sd orders lately. Trying to expand my chalice collection. Have gotten several paltygyras as well.
I’ve trimmed down most of what I have had for awhile to grow back out so I’m good for a few months lol. Will need to do another swap in spring if public health permits!
A year or so from now I’m going to have to start offering shipping tho lol.
 
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