Clam with power compact light
- Thread starter jenni1979
- Start date
N
nick17
Guest
Brooklyn Johnny, Reefnut or anyone who could answer this..
In a 29g w/ 2x65 PC's 10,000k bulb and actinic bulb, (4.5 watts per gallon) would be suitable for a squamosa clam? I have a PERFECT spot for it in my tank if the lighting is adequate enough for the clam. The spot on the rock is like 4 inches max from the light..
Just a thought, since I was reading this and a little confused if I could do it.
Tank is 18" deep and I doubt he can be on the bottom.
If I can get one, would it be better to get a Large or Small clam?
Thanks guys,
-Nick
In a 29g w/ 2x65 PC's 10,000k bulb and actinic bulb, (4.5 watts per gallon) would be suitable for a squamosa clam? I have a PERFECT spot for it in my tank if the lighting is adequate enough for the clam. The spot on the rock is like 4 inches max from the light..
Just a thought, since I was reading this and a little confused if I could do it.
Tank is 18" deep and I doubt he can be on the bottom.
If I can get one, would it be better to get a Large or Small clam?
Thanks guys,
-Nick
N
nick17
Guest
If I can do it, it wont come until December or January..
Tank has been up for almost 2 months... done cycling.. waiting on the lighting fixture to arrive and I'll start adding soft corals etc.
Do they make a 24" vho fixture? Have yet to find one..
Thanks,
-Nick
Tank has been up for almost 2 months... done cycling.. waiting on the lighting fixture to arrive and I'll start adding soft corals etc.
Do they make a 24" vho fixture? Have yet to find one..
Thanks,
-Nick
N
nick17
Guest
What about a 15g with 2x65 10,000K and actinic bulbs (8.7 watts per gallon) and could that sit at the bottom of the tank?
Sufficient ammount of light for clams and sps?
Let me know,
Thanks again,
-Nick
Sufficient ammount of light for clams and sps?
Let me know,
Thanks again,
-Nick
reefnut
Active Member
Well I can't answer your question but think about this.
Lighting is only half of what it takes to keep clams, coral, especially sps corals, etc... the other half and just as important is the water quality. I found this on a site that sells these clams The Squamosa Clam requires calcium levels of 400-480 mg/L, and a carbon hardness of 7 to 12 degrees.... They also need proper levels of strontium and iodine, low nitrates, NO ammonia, low phosphates, proper current and so on.
So my point is lighting is not all you need.
Brooklyn Johnny keeps SPS coral and clam under PC but he is very experienced in reef keeping and understands the needs of the animals. If I was to try to keep a sister setup to his I would most likely kill everything in the tank...
So please slow down and learn all you can.
Lighting is only half of what it takes to keep clams, coral, especially sps corals, etc... the other half and just as important is the water quality. I found this on a site that sells these clams The Squamosa Clam requires calcium levels of 400-480 mg/L, and a carbon hardness of 7 to 12 degrees.... They also need proper levels of strontium and iodine, low nitrates, NO ammonia, low phosphates, proper current and so on.
So my point is lighting is not all you need.
Brooklyn Johnny keeps SPS coral and clam under PC but he is very experienced in reef keeping and understands the needs of the animals. If I was to try to keep a sister setup to his I would most likely kill everything in the tank...
So please slow down and learn all you can.
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Hey Nick... reefnut brings up a good point that can never be overemphasized. Lighting is important, but this is along with many other things that are so many times easily overlooked. To make a list here would be impossible, as these things fill books, but mainly what many things require in my opnion is STABILITY. In general the larger the volume of water the more resistant it is to change, and the slower those changes occur. Put a can of coke and a 2 liter bottle in the fridge at the same time... the can cools down much faster for the same reasons. I bring this point up because that is one of the things that makes nanos tough in some respects. Yes nanos can be "easy", but this is when they are kept simple with animals that are hardy and can accept those changes. In general clams and sps corals require not only higher lighting but higher stability. I'd bet that MOST of the time when people fail with clams and sps it is for reasons other than lighting, but I'd also bet that MOST of the time people blame it on lighting, because that is easy to quantify... With clams specificaly the symptoms of light deprevation are a gradual bleaching among other things... but I've seen many clams die for other reasons and suffer the same symptoms. A couple of people in my club have had mysterious dieoffs of clams not as a result of lighting, but it's funny looking at the clams as they seem to decline in the same way. Sometimes they appear fine and the next day BOOM they're gone. It get's complicated, and goes beyond lighting, as important as that is. I always say it's like going to a doctor's office and saying, "my roomate's dead on the kitchen floor... what happened?"
Sorry for my ramblings
. You're doing the right thing Nick asking questions, but to be honest it's very hard to answer the "do I have enough light?" questions with much confidence. There are so many factors that come into play. It's not about the watts per gallon or even the type of lighting that comes into play, it's really about the amount of usable light in the exact spot the organism is being placed. If my clams had a 5000 gallon tank BENEATH them under the same light, they would be receiving the same amount of usable light, even though the "watts per gallon" would be miniscule if you catch my drift.
Start out with soft corals like you said. As you develop experience through this board and also through local reefers or a reef club, you'll begin to answer questions without knowing you had them. You'll begin to be able to generalize and understand what enough lighting and other parameters are for certain organisms. I didn't know that my stuff would be okay in my 10 gallon, but from my experience I was able to generalize and get a good idea. You'll also be able to learn when something isn't happy and when something's healthy which really helps. Nobody knows 100% where to put certain corals, but they are able to try a few different spots and read where they're happiest.
By the way the do make 24 inch VHOs... When you do get a clam I think a small squamosa is a good bet (around 2"). To account my experience my squamosa has done fine and is growing well on my sandbed of my 10 gallon which is 12 inches high under my 36 watts. Squamosas appear to require the least amount of light of all tridacnids. esearch what other people's experiences are with these guys while your tank matures and you may be able to keep one in the future. Just always remember, if curiousity killed the cat... overconfidence killed the reefer (a lot of us found this out the hard way). One last thing is that ESPECIALLY in a smaller tank it is important for it to mature beyond the cycle where it will become more stable. Keep this in mind. Follow the water parameters and get to know your tank. It's fun and helpful. I hope this helps...
Johnny
Sorry for my ramblings
. You're doing the right thing Nick asking questions, but to be honest it's very hard to answer the "do I have enough light?" questions with much confidence. There are so many factors that come into play. It's not about the watts per gallon or even the type of lighting that comes into play, it's really about the amount of usable light in the exact spot the organism is being placed. If my clams had a 5000 gallon tank BENEATH them under the same light, they would be receiving the same amount of usable light, even though the "watts per gallon" would be miniscule if you catch my drift.Start out with soft corals like you said. As you develop experience through this board and also through local reefers or a reef club, you'll begin to answer questions without knowing you had them. You'll begin to be able to generalize and understand what enough lighting and other parameters are for certain organisms. I didn't know that my stuff would be okay in my 10 gallon, but from my experience I was able to generalize and get a good idea. You'll also be able to learn when something isn't happy and when something's healthy which really helps. Nobody knows 100% where to put certain corals, but they are able to try a few different spots and read where they're happiest.
By the way the do make 24 inch VHOs... When you do get a clam I think a small squamosa is a good bet (around 2"). To account my experience my squamosa has done fine and is growing well on my sandbed of my 10 gallon which is 12 inches high under my 36 watts. Squamosas appear to require the least amount of light of all tridacnids. esearch what other people's experiences are with these guys while your tank matures and you may be able to keep one in the future. Just always remember, if curiousity killed the cat... overconfidence killed the reefer
(a lot of us found this out the hard way). One last thing is that ESPECIALLY in a smaller tank it is important for it to mature beyond the cycle where it will become more stable. Keep this in mind. Follow the water parameters and get to know your tank. It's fun and helpful. I hope this helps...Johnny
N
nick17
Guest
It is always helpful to get a response from you guys.
Thanks Reefnut and Johnny!
At the moment, i've keept the water levels very consistant and i'm still going to give it some more time to mature. And i'm waiting on my lights, which are being ordered Sunday.
I understand, as I was up all morning researching "clams' and going through at least 25 posts about clams. 50% is water conditions and the other is lighting. I also understand that smaller tanks have harder water condtions to keep stable too..
So, that's why I was wondering, if I had a nice mature tank of frags and small soft coral, if I could eventually put a clam in my tank. At the moment the LFS/club only has a 5" squamosas for $50 which sounds like a good deal. They also have all the other clams in 1-2.5" shells for a little over $50.. and run into $150's.
I'm hopefully going to get more information about the local reffers club, and could use the frags, as my tank has been empty for a while. Is December/Januaray to eairly to put one of these clams in, if I continue to keep consistant water readings? I'm not trying to rush this, but trying to get a good idea, if all is well, when the most apprioate time is for the clam. (They need 76-78* water? Mine runs a little above 80* and i'm in FL.. and the sun just heats my room, but i have a fan blowing air towards the tank at all times, in attempt to keep the tank from getting past 84*)
Is it better to start off with a small clam or big? It seems my 3rd. LFS and club owner, only has a few small and mostly medium/large clams. And the prices are very reasonable prices. Does it matter what size I get them? I see you have to feed it DT's untill it is about 3", then it just lives off the zooka-something.. for the rest of its life.
What are good spots for it in a 29gal tank? If I have 4.5 watts per gallon, would that be sufficient amount, if I can keep the water stable? Or should it be in the 7 watts + per gallon region? I also read the threat about wpci. It's interesting.
Anything else I should know as a new comer? Waiting on light to come in, hopefully Wednesday or Thursday of next week. I'm going to test water again today and will post results if you wish.
Thanks for much again Reefnut and Johnny.
-Nick
Thanks Reefnut and Johnny!
At the moment, i've keept the water levels very consistant and i'm still going to give it some more time to mature. And i'm waiting on my lights, which are being ordered Sunday.
I understand, as I was up all morning researching "clams' and going through at least 25 posts about clams. 50% is water conditions and the other is lighting. I also understand that smaller tanks have harder water condtions to keep stable too..
So, that's why I was wondering, if I had a nice mature tank of frags and small soft coral, if I could eventually put a clam in my tank. At the moment the LFS/club only has a 5" squamosas for $50 which sounds like a good deal. They also have all the other clams in 1-2.5" shells for a little over $50.. and run into $150's.
I'm hopefully going to get more information about the local reffers club, and could use the frags, as my tank has been empty for a while. Is December/Januaray to eairly to put one of these clams in, if I continue to keep consistant water readings? I'm not trying to rush this, but trying to get a good idea, if all is well, when the most apprioate time is for the clam. (They need 76-78* water? Mine runs a little above 80* and i'm in FL.. and the sun just heats my room, but i have a fan blowing air towards the tank at all times, in attempt to keep the tank from getting past 84*)
Is it better to start off with a small clam or big? It seems my 3rd. LFS and club owner, only has a few small and mostly medium/large clams. And the prices are very reasonable prices. Does it matter what size I get them? I see you have to feed it DT's untill it is about 3", then it just lives off the zooka-something.. for the rest of its life.
What are good spots for it in a 29gal tank? If I have 4.5 watts per gallon, would that be sufficient amount, if I can keep the water stable? Or should it be in the 7 watts + per gallon region? I also read the threat about wpci. It's interesting.
Anything else I should know as a new comer? Waiting on light to come in, hopefully Wednesday or Thursday of next week. I'm going to test water again today and will post results if you wish.
Thanks for much again Reefnut and Johnny.
-Nick
N
nick17
Guest
Still undecided about lighting..
Would a Reef Sun Lighting system with a compact MH 175w 6,500K Coalife day-light bulb work? It's a single bulb fixture. Should I add a actinic bulb instead of the day bulb? Along with other stable water conditions?
I did a complete water test today as follows:
Salinity: 1.025-1.026
Amonia (sp?): 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8.0
Nitrate: 25 (was to high and did 25% water change, will give updated rading tonight)
Calcium: 420
What should the nitrate be around? I have a complete masters kit and the lowest was 10, 25, 50, 200..
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Nick
Would a Reef Sun Lighting system with a compact MH 175w 6,500K Coalife day-light bulb work? It's a single bulb fixture. Should I add a actinic bulb instead of the day bulb? Along with other stable water conditions?
I did a complete water test today as follows:
Salinity: 1.025-1.026
Amonia (sp?): 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8.0
Nitrate: 25 (was to high and did 25% water change, will give updated rading tonight)
Calcium: 420
What should the nitrate be around? I have a complete masters kit and the lowest was 10, 25, 50, 200..
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Nick
brooklyn johnny
Active Member
Okay Nick here we go... you've got the right attitude... don't worry about the questions.. that's what this board is for. To answer your questions...
I'd recommend a squamosa when you are ready as I said, but a 5 incher I would stay away from. Shoot for anything around the 2" mark... not too small but not too large. I can't answer when you'll be ready... it depends. If all goes well people could keep clams in a tank of 6 months old easily.
Don't worry about the temperature... mine runs between 80 and 83 and I've never had problems. There is much debate about what temperature is best, but I would get nervous above 84.
Smaller clams rely more on feeding than larger clams. It's a gradual scale I believe, but DT's phytoplankton is of benefit to many other things so I feed it always anyway.
I imagine the lighting system is fro a 29 gallon? You mentioned a 15 gallon also. The decisions on this are endless, but you cannot go wrong with a metal halide. Do research on this and if possible check out local reefers tanks in person. There is much debate in this matter and a lot of it is personal preference. Generally though people lean towards the 10k to 20k range, usually with actinic supplementation. Search around and post more specific questions when you narrow it down.
Your nitrates at 25 is normal really for a newly cycled tank, but you should see this drop to undetectabe or very low levels (below 10) ideally. Also look into an alkalinity test kit if you don't have one already. This is the most important test kit I own along with my pH meter. Keep us updated... it's weekend time for me...
To answer your questions...I'd recommend a squamosa when you are ready as I said, but a 5 incher I would stay away from. Shoot for anything around the 2" mark... not too small but not too large. I can't answer when you'll be ready... it depends. If all goes well people could keep clams in a tank of 6 months old easily.
Don't worry about the temperature... mine runs between 80 and 83 and I've never had problems. There is much debate about what temperature is best, but I would get nervous above 84.
Smaller clams rely more on feeding than larger clams. It's a gradual scale I believe, but DT's phytoplankton is of benefit to many other things so I feed it always anyway.
I imagine the lighting system is fro a 29 gallon? You mentioned a 15 gallon also. The decisions on this are endless, but you cannot go wrong with a metal halide. Do research on this and if possible check out local reefers tanks in person. There is much debate in this matter and a lot of it is personal preference. Generally though people lean towards the 10k to 20k range, usually with actinic supplementation. Search around and post more specific questions when you narrow it down.
Your nitrates at 25 is normal really for a newly cycled tank, but you should see this drop to undetectabe or very low levels (below 10) ideally. Also look into an alkalinity test kit if you don't have one already. This is the most important test kit I own along with my pH meter. Keep us updated... it's weekend time for me...
N
nick17
Guest
Alright, I think i'm going to get the MH 175 watt, unless something else comes up. I'm going to order SOME kind of lighting on Sunday.
Everything has been pretty stable for a while.. I will test Nitrate again later.
What does alkalinity have to be?
I was thinking of putting the 175w MH on the 29 gallon tank. Would that be a sufficient amount of light for the tank? I just don't want to not have enough light, as it is said to play a big part in keeping them at least alive.. Along with almost perfect water?
That's it for now, i've read almost every post for "Squamosa". I searched that on these boards and read everything untill 6am today.. it really got interesting.
Thanks Johnny,
-Nick
Everything has been pretty stable for a while.. I will test Nitrate again later.
What does alkalinity have to be?
I was thinking of putting the 175w MH on the 29 gallon tank. Would that be a sufficient amount of light for the tank? I just don't want to not have enough light, as it is said to play a big part in keeping them at least alive.. Along with almost perfect water?
That's it for now, i've read almost every post for "Squamosa". I searched that on these boards and read everything untill 6am today.. it really got interesting.
Thanks Johnny,
-Nick
N
nick17
Guest
bump
N
nick17
Guest
Ok Johnny,
Tested Nitrate again, it's back at 0 and should stay there from here on out. I believe it could have been the spike from me adding 30lbs of LR? It was never beyond 0 until I added LR..
Would 110/130 watts of compact (PC's) penetrate to the bottom of a 29 gal? (18" deep)
Can't decide between MH and the compacts. Yet to find a vho in 24", will look again.
MH cost about $60 for the fixture more plus MH bulbs are soo expensive.. and I don't have a stable job. Just doing various yard and ******** jobs for other people and incase the compacts burn out, I can at least replace them. I do have more than enough saved up, but also trying to get a car within now and the end of the year.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
-Nick
Tested Nitrate again, it's back at 0 and should stay there from here on out. I believe it could have been the spike from me adding 30lbs of LR? It was never beyond 0 until I added LR..
Would 110/130 watts of compact (PC's) penetrate to the bottom of a 29 gal? (18" deep)
Can't decide between MH and the compacts. Yet to find a vho in 24", will look again.
MH cost about $60 for the fixture more plus MH bulbs are soo expensive.. and I don't have a stable job. Just doing various yard and ******** jobs for other people and incase the compacts burn out, I can at least replace them. I do have more than enough saved up, but also trying to get a car within now and the end of the year.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
-Nick