Adequate Lighting for Clams
- Thread starter tgcdc
- Start date
kwolfskill
Member
Originally Posted by tgcdc
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
Unfortunately, I don't think so if you have PC lights like I think you do. I don't think you need MH though. I know lots of folks who are keeping clams using VHO T5, and just make sure they keep the clam high in the tank. I'm one of those folks and my 6 inch crocea is growing like crazy under 432 watts of VHO T5.
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
Unfortunately, I don't think so if you have PC lights like I think you do. I don't think you need MH though. I know lots of folks who are keeping clams using VHO T5, and just make sure they keep the clam high in the tank. I'm one of those folks and my 6 inch crocea is growing like crazy under 432 watts of VHO T5.
phils29bcinwa
Member
Originally Posted by tgcdc
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
You dont need MH, you will have to position the clam towards the top of your tank though and keep the water quality good and the calcium level good. I have a clam in my 29 Biocube with the stock lighting, when I brought the clam home from my LFS it was bleach out and completely white, it has been in my tank for about 6 months now and has all of its color back and it is growing, it is doing great.
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
You dont need MH, you will have to position the clam towards the top of your tank though and keep the water quality good and the calcium level good. I have a clam in my 29 Biocube with the stock lighting, when I brought the clam home from my LFS it was bleach out and completely white, it has been in my tank for about 6 months now and has all of its color back and it is growing, it is doing great.
spanko
Active Member
Originally Posted by teen
http:///forum/post/2517129
yea, you might be able to keep him alive... if thats all your looking to do.
Okay come on. Do you know this from experience or are you just regurgitating what you have read on these threads? Here is some information from Bob Fenner at WetWebMedia along with my first hand experience. Let's give people some good information on their chances not just puke up what we don't know for sure.
Substrate Clams
Tridacna derasa
* Place on small piece of rock for ease of movement if needed
* Do not place directly in sand- clam will blow away sand and attach to glass on bottom
* Moderate flow
* Power compacts, T-5s, Metal Halide
*10k bulbs fine
* Relatively easy to keep, actually harder to kill
* Look for clams greater than 2 inches
* Loves live plankton if possible
* Leave room around the corals for lots of growth!!
In medicine, pain is often referred to as the ‘Fifth Vital Sign’… In reefing, I think light is often missed as a tank parameter itself. It is well known among reefers that certain corals like small polyp stony corals require light of a certain parameter and strength to keep. What I think happened to clams in the public mind set is that the light requirements of certain clams became generalized to be ‘common knowledge’ for the husbandry of all clams.
This can’t be farther from the truth because clams exist along a rather wide continuum regarding their needs for light. Derasa, squamosa, and gigas clams have the wonderful perk of being much less light needy and can be successfully kept in tanks 12-14 inches in depth or so under power compact lighting that is also capable of sustaining compatible coral life. T5 high output lights are also proving to be viable and less expensive options than metal halide for the successful husbandry of these beautiful creatures.
When choosing clams, also try to remember that crocea and maxima clams are more light needy than the other three types and will require placement higher in the tank. Clams also require more light in relation to the amount of color in their mantles. Using this as a guideline, an educated reefer will remember that the beautiful ultra or electric grade clams will place much higher light demands on your budget. Browning out of the mantle is an ominous sign that commonly is related to the age of the light bulbs being used in the tank or the type of light itself. In addition to this, look for rocky over hangs or coral growth that is shading the clam from the penetration of light into the water above the clam.
So if you can proclaim more expertise in marine aquarium husbandry than Mr. Fenner please accept my apologies for giving less that correct information. If not please do not just spout things that you think you have heard and are correct.
You made me mad, I am sorry for being so blunt with you but don't steer people in the wrong direction without knowing what you are telling them. It is one thing to say this is my experience and another to blanket a statement that is untrue. If you need verification on what I have posted google "got tridacna"
http:///forum/post/2517129
yea, you might be able to keep him alive... if thats all your looking to do.
Okay come on. Do you know this from experience or are you just regurgitating what you have read on these threads? Here is some information from Bob Fenner at WetWebMedia along with my first hand experience. Let's give people some good information on their chances not just puke up what we don't know for sure.
Substrate Clams
Tridacna derasa
* Place on small piece of rock for ease of movement if needed
* Do not place directly in sand- clam will blow away sand and attach to glass on bottom
* Moderate flow
* Power compacts, T-5s, Metal Halide
*10k bulbs fine
* Relatively easy to keep, actually harder to kill
* Look for clams greater than 2 inches
* Loves live plankton if possible
* Leave room around the corals for lots of growth!!
In medicine, pain is often referred to as the ‘Fifth Vital Sign’… In reefing, I think light is often missed as a tank parameter itself. It is well known among reefers that certain corals like small polyp stony corals require light of a certain parameter and strength to keep. What I think happened to clams in the public mind set is that the light requirements of certain clams became generalized to be ‘common knowledge’ for the husbandry of all clams.
This can’t be farther from the truth because clams exist along a rather wide continuum regarding their needs for light. Derasa, squamosa, and gigas clams have the wonderful perk of being much less light needy and can be successfully kept in tanks 12-14 inches in depth or so under power compact lighting that is also capable of sustaining compatible coral life. T5 high output lights are also proving to be viable and less expensive options than metal halide for the successful husbandry of these beautiful creatures.
When choosing clams, also try to remember that crocea and maxima clams are more light needy than the other three types and will require placement higher in the tank. Clams also require more light in relation to the amount of color in their mantles. Using this as a guideline, an educated reefer will remember that the beautiful ultra or electric grade clams will place much higher light demands on your budget. Browning out of the mantle is an ominous sign that commonly is related to the age of the light bulbs being used in the tank or the type of light itself. In addition to this, look for rocky over hangs or coral growth that is shading the clam from the penetration of light into the water above the clam.
So if you can proclaim more expertise in marine aquarium husbandry than Mr. Fenner please accept my apologies for giving less that correct information. If not please do not just spout things that you think you have heard and are correct.
You made me mad, I am sorry for being so blunt with you but don't steer people in the wrong direction without knowing what you are telling them. It is one thing to say this is my experience and another to blanket a statement that is untrue. If you need verification on what I have posted google "got tridacna"
B
bonita69
Guest
Go BoYEE
teen
Active Member
i made you mad, lol.
anybody can go into google and type in tridacnid clams and post up whatever information google throws back at them. i guess you were hoping i would say i have no experience, but everybody here says it so it must be true. wrong.
yea, you could probably keep a derasa clam thats already brown under those lights, considering those guys are usually from lower lighting conditions. to pick up one that is showing orange, greens and blues and put it in lower lighting conditions isn't a good idea. and guess what. derasas aren't even coming in wild caught anymore, they're all tank raised. im pretty sure if you were to take a look at the farm where these clams are being raised, theyre either using 400w or 1000w MH, possibly even natural sun light and im sure the holding tanks arent more than a few feet deep. is it a good idea to take these clams from conditions like that and put them under PC? ill let you make up your own mind on that.
Fenner states that T. Derasa "loves live plankton", but what im reading here from Daniel Knop says
"T. derasa is also a "clear water clam" that does not filter anything. It has, in fact very sensitive gills that tend to clog when there is a high density of floating particles in the water, may this be planctonic food or just stirred up sediments from the gravel. "
which would leave me to believe that derasas are dependent on their zooxanthellae to produce a majority of their food. they may also rely on things like nitrates or P04, but i highly doubt the thread starter is going to start adding p04 or n03 to his/her water to keep a clam.
Originally Posted by bonita69
http:///forum/post/2517296
Go BoYEE
i guess you had to say something, but you cant think of anything logical to say, so you figured you try and make me look dumb.
anybody can go into google and type in tridacnid clams and post up whatever information google throws back at them. i guess you were hoping i would say i have no experience, but everybody here says it so it must be true. wrong.
yea, you could probably keep a derasa clam thats already brown under those lights, considering those guys are usually from lower lighting conditions. to pick up one that is showing orange, greens and blues and put it in lower lighting conditions isn't a good idea. and guess what. derasas aren't even coming in wild caught anymore, they're all tank raised. im pretty sure if you were to take a look at the farm where these clams are being raised, theyre either using 400w or 1000w MH, possibly even natural sun light and im sure the holding tanks arent more than a few feet deep. is it a good idea to take these clams from conditions like that and put them under PC? ill let you make up your own mind on that.
Fenner states that T. Derasa "loves live plankton", but what im reading here from Daniel Knop says
"T. derasa is also a "clear water clam" that does not filter anything. It has, in fact very sensitive gills that tend to clog when there is a high density of floating particles in the water, may this be planctonic food or just stirred up sediments from the gravel. "
which would leave me to believe that derasas are dependent on their zooxanthellae to produce a majority of their food. they may also rely on things like nitrates or P04, but i highly doubt the thread starter is going to start adding p04 or n03 to his/her water to keep a clam.
Originally Posted by bonita69
http:///forum/post/2517296
Go BoYEE
i guess you had to say something, but you cant think of anything logical to say, so you figured you try and make me look dumb.
spanko
Active Member
Here is some information from Dr. Ron Shimek disputing your "belief" about clams feeding.
Phytoplankton, A Necessity For Clams
By Ronald L. Shimek, Ph. D.
Animals that filter phytoplankton out of sea water are common; in fact, they probably are the most abundant animals on Earth. Most such critters are planktonic, and in terms of biomass, most of them are small crustaceans such as the calanoid copepod, Calanus finmarkiensis. Somebody with far too much time on their hands once calculated that species produced 100,000,000,000 tons of shed exoskeletons from its molting each year; given that these animals are about a quarter of an inch long, that estimate of productivity implies a LOT of tiny sea-going bugs... However, even amongst bottom-dwelling or benthic animals, this feeding mode is a predominate one.
Examples of animals totally dependent upon phytoplankton are found in virtually every major animal group, but relatively few animal groups are as wholly committed to this food source as are the bivalved, or two-shelled, mollusks, otherwise known as "clams." Reef aquarists often consider that there is only one type of "clam," that being a Tridacnid, and they largely ignore the remaining approximately 10,000 species of other clams. Nonetheless, however interesting and beautiful Tridacnids are, they are only very specialized clams and can be understood only in the context of other, more normal, clams. Consequently, to discuss the necessity of feeding in Tridacna, I first will have to discuss feeding in more typical clams. Have no fear, however, I will close this discussion with a return to feeding in Tridacna and Hippopus, but their cases are easier to understand if one knows about the methodology of clam feeding in general.
Phytoplankton, A Necessity For Clams
By Ronald L. Shimek, Ph. D.
Animals that filter phytoplankton out of sea water are common; in fact, they probably are the most abundant animals on Earth. Most such critters are planktonic, and in terms of biomass, most of them are small crustaceans such as the calanoid copepod, Calanus finmarkiensis. Somebody with far too much time on their hands once calculated that species produced 100,000,000,000 tons of shed exoskeletons from its molting each year; given that these animals are about a quarter of an inch long, that estimate of productivity implies a LOT of tiny sea-going bugs... However, even amongst bottom-dwelling or benthic animals, this feeding mode is a predominate one.
Examples of animals totally dependent upon phytoplankton are found in virtually every major animal group, but relatively few animal groups are as wholly committed to this food source as are the bivalved, or two-shelled, mollusks, otherwise known as "clams." Reef aquarists often consider that there is only one type of "clam," that being a Tridacnid, and they largely ignore the remaining approximately 10,000 species of other clams. Nonetheless, however interesting and beautiful Tridacnids are, they are only very specialized clams and can be understood only in the context of other, more normal, clams. Consequently, to discuss the necessity of feeding in Tridacna, I first will have to discuss feeding in more typical clams. Have no fear, however, I will close this discussion with a return to feeding in Tridacna and Hippopus, but their cases are easier to understand if one knows about the methodology of clam feeding in general.
spanko
Active Member
The ancestral mollusk was probably a small creeping limpet-like creature called a Monoplacophoran. They had a single shell on the top of the animal, a broad foot that they crept upon, and gills along each side of, or behind the foot. This is a condition seen in modern Monoplacophorans such as are found in species of Neopilina, and Vema. This condition is also similar to what occurs in chitons, except that the primitive mollusk had only one shell as opposed to the eight shells found in the chitons.
These primitive mollusks were small, and breathed by pushing water through the gills with hairlike, microscopic, cellular processes called cilia. Seen from the top, a molluscan gill looks somewhat like a feather, with a central axis with flaps or filaments off each side. It functions rather like the respiratory equivalent of a radiator or heat exchanger; water is pumped between the flaps or filaments due to the covering of tiny cilia on the gill’s surface. Gases are exchanged as the blood is pumped through the thin gills; carbon dioxide leaves the blood and oxygen enters.
Breathing water is a messy process; along with the water being pushed through the gills, come all sorts of trouble in the form of small particles. These particles consist of bacteria, sediments, detritus, particulate organic material and, of course, various types of plankton. Particulate material fouls the gills, and if allowed to remain on them could cause diseases. Gill tissues are thin and delicate and, of course, absolutely necessary for the survival of the animal. Consequently, in all aquatic animals, they are continually cleansed. In mollusks cleaning consists of bathing the gills in a continual flood of mucus. As the mucus flows over the gills any small particles impacting in it are carried down to the bottom of the gills, or through specialized rejection grooves, and dropped off. Gills similar to this basic gill described above are still found in most major molluscan groups.
These primitive mollusks were small, and breathed by pushing water through the gills with hairlike, microscopic, cellular processes called cilia. Seen from the top, a molluscan gill looks somewhat like a feather, with a central axis with flaps or filaments off each side. It functions rather like the respiratory equivalent of a radiator or heat exchanger; water is pumped between the flaps or filaments due to the covering of tiny cilia on the gill’s surface. Gases are exchanged as the blood is pumped through the thin gills; carbon dioxide leaves the blood and oxygen enters.
Breathing water is a messy process; along with the water being pushed through the gills, come all sorts of trouble in the form of small particles. These particles consist of bacteria, sediments, detritus, particulate organic material and, of course, various types of plankton. Particulate material fouls the gills, and if allowed to remain on them could cause diseases. Gill tissues are thin and delicate and, of course, absolutely necessary for the survival of the animal. Consequently, in all aquatic animals, they are continually cleansed. In mollusks cleaning consists of bathing the gills in a continual flood of mucus. As the mucus flows over the gills any small particles impacting in it are carried down to the bottom of the gills, or through specialized rejection grooves, and dropped off. Gills similar to this basic gill described above are still found in most major molluscan groups.
spanko
Active Member
Here is an article from Dr. Ron Shimek with contrary information to your statement "which would leave me to believe that derasas are dependent on their zooxanthellae to produce a majority of their food"
http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/necessity.html
And as for the T.derasa the reason I mentioned it was because in the stores you will mostly, not always, find that they are the variety that are for the most part more brown in color with only highlights of blues and greens on the very edges of their mantles. These are by thier color the variety that take less intense lighting to sustain them and therfore can be kept very well under the lighting that the OP suggested.
This is also why I made it a point to not include the T.crocea and T.maxima in something that the OP could keep.
http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/necessity.html
And as for the T.derasa the reason I mentioned it was because in the stores you will mostly, not always, find that they are the variety that are for the most part more brown in color with only highlights of blues and greens on the very edges of their mantles. These are by thier color the variety that take less intense lighting to sustain them and therfore can be kept very well under the lighting that the OP suggested.
This is also why I made it a point to not include the T.crocea and T.maxima in something that the OP could keep.
espkh9
Member
Originally Posted by tgcdc
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
IMHO NO! you need MH lightning for them to flouish I have 2 Corcea and 3 Derasa clams that have tripled in size over a year under MH and perfect water conditions.
http:///forum/post/2511799
I am wondering if I have adequate lighting for the future purchase of clams for my tank. I have 2 65 Watt True Actinic Blue Flo. and 2 65 10K Daylight lights. Is this enough lighting?
IMHO NO! you need MH lightning for them to flouish I have 2 Corcea and 3 Derasa clams that have tripled in size over a year under MH and perfect water conditions.
C
cmaxwell39
Guest
I am also curious about this. My wife and I would like to try a clam, but I have not worked up the courage to try it yet. I have the nova extreme 8 bulb system on a 75 gal tank. What, if any clams could we keep successfully with this lighting? Thanks for any help.