300 gallon "Outside Corner" Reef

[Dary421]

Here is a brief report on my use of Lanthium Chloride.

My new age son uses it with great success. My ATS keeps nutrients low, but as you know P4 can still build up. I use Rowaphose to some good effect, but getting down and staying down at <0.05 ppm isn’t easy. Especially as I feed twice daily and the reef itself is 26 years old.
But Lanthium can kill your fish.
The precipitate it creates in contact with seawater as it binds P4 makes a white powder. That powder must not enter the reef. There are various formulations made to minimize this issue, but to be very safe you do the following;

Inject the Lanthium solution into your skimmer.

Or inject the Lanthium solution into a 5 micron filter sock.

I use the injection port on my Vertex skimmer.

Never reduce P4 more than 0.02ppm at a time. This keeps you from ever shocking the corals.

For 400 gallons of water I mix just 20 drops of Lanthium in 1000ml of RO water. I place that in a IV bag (feeder bag) and drip it into the skimmer over several hours. This way it all reacts very slowly in contact with lots of water. It works great and it’s super cheap. In a week I went from .12ppm to .04ppm. Now the GFO doesn’t have to work as hard to keep it low. I do this about once a week.

I had to research this cuz I knew nothing of it ,... it sounds like IF you REALLY knew what you were doing it would work very well but for dummies like me I’d be better off sticking to the old fashion way until someone made a fool proof reactor utilizing it ,..i applaud you for being on the leading edge of things and reporting back to us tho

 

[Gregcoyote]

It works brilliantly, but as you mentioned it is a tool that needs to be respected. Precipitate control, limited removal to 0.02ppm per 24 hours and maximum dilution when mixing into tank water. It is very repeatable. No fancy equipment. Just direct control over phosphates. I wish I could do the same thing with nitrates. It would eliminate the need for half my equipment. Will continue the report.

 

[Gregcoyote]

300 gallon &quot;Outside Corner&quot; Reef

Set up the Gyres. Two of the big ones (FX2800 200 series) rated to 1000 gallons. One mounted vertically at each end of the 300 gallon reef. They are very nice and at 100% power they will create a force 4 hurricane. So they are throttled back to a peak of 70% which keeps them quiet and still creates a nice “gyre.” The controller is very sophisticated and has presets like “Oceanic Currents” which is what I’m using. The Gyres run both forwards and backwards (I didn’t know that) which gives them some interesting capabilities. The reverse flow creates turbulence and as well as add to circulation, it keeps garbage from being sucked into the grates to collect. Will report after they have been running for a while.

 

[Dary421]

Set up the Gyres. Two of the big ones (FX2800 200 series) rated to 1000 gallons. One mounted vertically at each end of the 300 gallon reef. They are very nice and at 100% power they will create a force 4 hurricane. So they are throttled back to a peak of 70% which keeps them quiet and still creates a nice “gyre.” The controller is very sophisticated and has presets like “Oceanic Currents” which is what I’m using. The Gyres run both forwards and backwards (I didn’t know that) which gives them some interesting capabilities. The reverse flow creates turbulence and as well as add to circulation, it keeps garbage from being sucked into the grates to collect. Will report after they have been running for a while.

My gyre should be here this afternoon ,... I’d be stocked if I got it running on the random mode period !

 

[Dary421]

My gyre should be here this afternoon ,... I’d be stoked if I got it running on the random mode period !

Ps ,...just got the pump delivered ,...I have it running ( random mode [emoji39] ) in a bucket for now

 

[Gregcoyote]

300 gallon &quot;Outside Corner&quot; Reef

You can setup single Gyres so one side blows while the other end sucks. Not sure which would work best in your situation. They do make a subtle whirring sound.

 

[Dary421]

Greg. ... I’ve just installed it into my tank and I have it mounted vertically near the front pane of glass ( acrylic) on the left side ,.... I do have it in the random mode and it’s sure swinging the veggie clip around ,...the fish seemingly are enjoying the little challenge of getting a bite out of the masstick ,.... yesterday I introduced a flame angel into the tank and the pbt went kinda nuts on him ,...but today things have settled down to peace and harmony ,.... I added a tiny little hippo tang that’s about an inch long today along with a little squirrelfish so far none of the regulars seem to care one way or another that they’re in the tank .

 

[Gregcoyote]

Cool. These Gyres can get with it can’t they? A bit of current is excellent exercise especially for the tangs.

 

[Gregcoyote]

300 gallon &quot;Outside Corner&quot; Reef

The manjano mushrooms are all almost gone. Hundreds of them.
While I have never caught it in action, I think it’s my rapidly growing Klein’s Butterfly fish. I also lost a prized green leather coral. Nothing else seems effected so I guess my verdict is in. The Klein’s eats manjanos. Slowly. But it also likes leather corals.

 

[Sniperhank]

What’s the verdict on if it stays or not?

 

[Gregcoyote]

It stays...as long as the pests stay away.

 

[Sniperhank]

That's good to hear. I'm taking another stab with a copperband as it just arrived today. Pretty hopeful. This masstick stuff is amazing and I'm hoping the new CBB takes to it like the other did.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Let me know. I’ve got a test formula for a home brew version.

 

[Dary421]

I just put some masstick in my tank ,...truly amazing how the critter go for it . Hope your home version does as well !!

 

[Gregcoyote]

It is amazing. My butterfly fish loves it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have the “masstick” part covered, you can add the substance to just about anything. Now wondering what would be the best dried food to try it with.

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd bet that the product is along the lines of a mix of freeze dried shrimp and algae mixed together. Would explain the limited shelf life. The fish still eat it after the 5 weeks...but it sure is spoiled. I mixed too much up last time.

 

[Dary421]

I have the “masstick” part covered, you can add the substance to just about anything. Now wondering what would be the best dried food to try it with.

Send me about a pound of it please !!! [emoji55]

 

[Dary421]

Greg ,.... any suggestions as to what or anything to add to the store bought masstick? ..... hopefully , what’s in there is nutritional to the fish cuz they sure love it ,... hopefully,the greg version is every bit as scrumptious to the critters

 

[Sniperhank]

Dary, I’m pretty set in my thought that this stuff is basically ground up shrimp and such along with greenery. It is basically flash froze...but in a dehydrated manner. This will explain the packaging along with the shelf life after rehydrating. 5 weeks. I kept a batch longer than that. The fish don’t care, but it reeks of decomp.
For some reason I feel the binding agent is a type of gelatin.