Cali Kid Corals

Guide: Lanthanum Chloride dosing for Phosphate control

derek_SR said:
I think I'm going to do this. I don't know why I haven't already done this. You think like a hole with a john guest bulkhead kinda thing?

The ONLY annoying thing about doing the skimmer method is having to re-thread the line whenever I clean the skimmer, this would solve that!
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Hey @derek_SR have you done this method.
I am ready to go the Lanthanum Chloride dosing route. I just ordered the Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L. and will be using the calculator to see how much I want to dose.
I am leaning towards the skimmer method only if I can get your guys final thought on drilling and installing a hard line on the bottom side of the skimmer top lid and have it go 1in below the water line.
 
Ayman said:
Hey @derek_SR have you done this method.
I am ready to go the Lanthanum Chloride dosing route. I just ordered the Two Little Fishies PhosBan®-L. and will be using the calculator to see how much I want to dose.
I am leaning towards the skimmer method only if I can get your guys final thought on drilling and installing a hard line on the bottom side of the skimmer top lid and have it go 1in below the water line.
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Ayman -this is the way I did this-
See pic-but I essentially split the tubing and have it run down into the venturi to avoid precipitation in the dosing tube. I can also easily disconnect for skimmer maintenance.

I use tropic marin’s brand for no other reason that I use their other stuff. I dilute 40:1. (2000 ml RODI/50 ml solution) and dose 50 ml a day at night for a 65 gallon system. Currently keeps my PO4 at .15.

I think it’s better than drilling through the side of the skimmer but that’s me…
 

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Thanks for sharing.
just so i understand you still drilled the top of the skimmer to run the line and just split the tubing and have it run down into the venturi?
 
L/B Block said:
No- the dosing line is above the water line. When it doses -the solution travels down the tube into the Venturi and then gets sucked into the skimmer body at the bottom and gets mixed in from there. Works well for me.
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Do you get any build up in the skimmer line? That seems too good to be true :).

Also do you wet skim, normal skim, or dry skim?
 
L/B Block said:
Ayman -this is the way I did this-
See pic-but I essentially split the tubing and have it run down into the venturi to avoid precipitation in the dosing tube. I can also easily disconnect for skimmer maintenance.

I use tropic marin’s brand for no other reason that I use their other stuff. I dilute 40:1. (2000 ml RODI/50 ml solution) and dose 50 ml a day at night for a 65 gallon system. Currently keeps my PO4 at .15.

I think it’s better than drilling through the side of the skimmer but that’s me…
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Clever
 
richiev said:
Do you get any build up in the skimmer line? That seems too good to be true :).

Also do you wet skim, normal skim, or dry skim?
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Line is clear. Checked it last night. I think some of the build up occurs when you have a dosing line that is submerged and the solution at the end of the tube is exposed to SW.

My skim is somewhat between normal and dry. Used to be drier but with dosing LaCl. I am trying to make sure all the precipitation is being skimmed out.

Also I replaced the silicone tube with clear plastic to make sure i can see a back up in the line and I am using a fast connect vs a barb as initially I was concerned about build up.

Also I dose at night as the skimmer doesn’t stop for feeding breaks between 8 pm and 8 am as to attempt to reduce chances of precipitate flowing into water column when it stops.

It seems to be working alright at the moment. Once you have your maintenance dose locked in -it seems really consistent.

But make sure you test PO4 though!
Until I had the maintenance dose locked in I was testing every other day.

Hope this helps
 
L/B Block said:
Return pump or skimmer pump?
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We are talking about the skimmer here yes? You are sending it through the skimmer pump by injecting into the Venturi. Not sure if that’s asking for trouble, I haven’t done it. I know people used to worry about it. Hence drilling a hole in the top of the collection cup lid is how most people I’ve seen do it
 
Coral reefer said:
We are talking about the skimmer here yes? You are sending it through the skimmer pump by injecting into the Venturi. Not sure if that’s asking for trouble, I haven’t done it. I know people used to worry about it. Hence drilling a hole in the top of the collection cup lid is how most people I’ve seen do it
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No trouble yet however when I was running it undiluted for a short while I could see white specks in the skimmate that I took for precipitation. For a lot of reasons I didn’t want to run it undiluted.

Now that I am back to a diluted solution that is dosed 4x over three hours I don’t see that anymore.
 
Which brand/product do those who are doing this use? And why? Unless I missed it @derek_SR didn’t mention which he’s using though he gave dilution/dosing recommendations. The reef products are all pretty different concentrations I think. Just going by the output of the calculator linked in the first post, the BlueLife product concentration is about 1.3x the TLF product, about 4x the concentration than the Brightwell product, and about 6x the concentration of the TM product. Something like that.

I have pool lanthanum sitting around and I use it on a regular basis in my pool, but wouldn’t use it in my tank.
 
Just to see what the oracle ChatGPT says -created a table comparing the two methods @Coral reefer & @Thales -

I do think dosing it undiluted either way would trip the pump- but dosing it through the Venturi -it doesn’t bind that fast so the solution can travel through pump into body of skimmer where it would stay (unless turned off) as the pump would be bringing in new water anyway..
 

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Coral reefer said:
@Thales are you still going into skimmer through the lid? Thoughts on injections into the Venturi if the skimmer pump?
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I am doing it through the lid. I was going to drill the neck and go down in there, but I like being able to remove the line for cleaning, if I have to. Or just to replace it. I would avoid the ventruri because I want to reduce the possibility that the lanth could bind to pump parts. That is a possibilty I want to minimize.
I think the goal is to have it going into the body of the skimmer at a rate/dilution that reacts to what is in the body of the skimmer so it can't react with anything else.
 
Thales said:
I am doing it through the lid. I was going to drill the neck and go down in there, but I like being able to remove the line for cleaning, if I have to. Or just to replace it. I would avoid the ventruri because I want to reduce the possibility that the lanth could bind to pump parts. That is a possibilty I want to minimize.
I think the goal is to have it going into the body of the skimmer at a rate/dilution that reacts to what is in the body of the skimmer so it can't react with anything else.
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Well if my skimmer stops cold one day-consider it lesson learned!
Right now I have not seen any impact on the pump but I have been doing this for 3 months
 
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