Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post - TKERacer619's Masterflex Lanthanum Chloride Reactor

tkeracer619 · 02/26/2018, 10:09 PM

Had a lot going on in the last couple weeks, finally had the time (not really) to get it back up and running. It's in a temporary location right now but will be moved once my coral flat is plumbed.

Started by assembling the precipitation chamber. The plug at the top is a placeholder for the pressure switch which I don't have yet. I learned it was necessary in my first go around and will cover installation in the near future.

Installed on the size 4 Big Blue Canister.

Assembled the bottom half...

Assembled...

We're using LS13 tubing for the Lanthanum Chloride and LS18 for the effluent. LS13 allows us to run continuously and dose a very small amount of Lanthanum at a time. We want to catch the precipitate in the filter, to much Lanthanum and the precipitation reaction can occur post reactor.

To get an idea of the size of this peristaltic tubing...

Fill a 5gal bucket with RODI that will be used to dilute the LaCl and connect all of the tubing as shown in the chart. I used some frag putty to make a weight for the LaCl intake tube and drill a hole in the top of the bucket lid to drop it through. Run the system at 100rpm or so until you purge the system of air and water starts to flow. Reduce the pump speed to 30rpm. This gives us a flow rate through the LS13 of 5 gallons per week to about 300 gallons of effluent a week. Once this is set and air is purged go ahead and add one capful of SeaKlear Commercial Phosphate Remover. This is the one used for pools. It's about $40 per qt and should last around a year per bottle at this rate.

You can always crank it up or down but I found this as a good place to start. Remember the goal here is not to instantly drop the PO4 out of the system but have a cheap and reliable way to export phosphates in a controllable manner on large systems. Slower is going to be better.

Here is what the effluent flow out of 3/8 poly tubing looks like...

And the reactor running.

I'll take better pictures of the connections once I set it up in its semi permanent home.

Now for the fun part... Measuring performance.
The tank measures out at 1.41ppm PO4 as of 2/25/18. I have some more reagents coming so will wait for those to continue testing. Out of the two boxes I have only 1 out of 10 packets is good so I went through enough to get 3 good tests. They should be here Friday

02/26/2018, 10:09 PM	#9
tkeracer619 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Westminster, CO Posts: 17,289	Reactor is Up and Running! Had a lot going on in the last couple weeks, finally had the time (not really) to get it back up and running. It's in a temporary location right now but will be moved once my coral flat is plumbed. Started by assembling the precipitation chamber. The plug at the top is a placeholder for the pressure switch which I don't have yet. I learned it was necessary in my first go around and will cover installation in the near future. Installed on the size 4 Big Blue Canister. Assembled the bottom half... Assembled... We're using LS13 tubing for the Lanthanum Chloride and LS18 for the effluent. LS13 allows us to run continuously and dose a very small amount of Lanthanum at a time. We want to catch the precipitate in the filter, to much Lanthanum and the precipitation reaction can occur post reactor. To get an idea of the size of this peristaltic tubing... Fill a 5gal bucket with RODI that will be used to dilute the LaCl and connect all of the tubing as shown in the chart. I used some frag putty to make a weight for the LaCl intake tube and drill a hole in the top of the bucket lid to drop it through. Run the system at 100rpm or so until you purge the system of air and water starts to flow. Reduce the pump speed to 30rpm. This gives us a flow rate through the LS13 of 5 gallons per week to about 300 gallons of effluent a week. Once this is set and air is purged go ahead and add one capful of SeaKlear Commercial Phosphate Remover. This is the one used for pools. It's about $40 per qt and should last around a year per bottle at this rate. You can always crank it up or down but I found this as a good place to start. Remember the goal here is not to instantly drop the PO4 out of the system but have a cheap and reliable way to export phosphates in a controllable manner on large systems. Slower is going to be better. Here is what the effluent flow out of 3/8 poly tubing looks like... And the reactor running. I'll take better pictures of the connections once I set it up in its semi permanent home. Now for the fun part... Measuring performance. The tank measures out at 1.41ppm PO4 as of 2/25/18. I have some more reagents coming so will wait for those to continue testing. Out of the two boxes I have only 1 out of 10 packets is good so I went through enough to get 3 good tests. They should be here Friday __________________ Hobby Experience: 9200ish gallons, 26 skimmers, and a handful of Kent Scrapers. Current Tank: Vortech Powered 600G SPS Tank w/ 100gal frag tank & 100g Sump. RK2-RK10 Skimmer. ReefAngel. Radium 20k.