sqamosa or derasa clam under 260 watts of pc?? which is better looking???

[discusking]

Originally Posted by promisetbg
Squamosas and Derasas can be kept without halides,but what size tank is this 260 wts of PC over?
They cannot however be kept in the rockwork..they must be on the sand.They do not attach as Croceas and Maximas do.As a clam opens/closes and takes in water..it will scoot some...you don't want to have them fall.
The goby may cause a problem,but if you must keep him just blow off the clam gently with a turkey baster.
Lastly,the age of your tank is important when considering adding a clam.I recommend at least a year...I waited 2.
Derasas are more attractive than Squamosas IMO>
I have mine on the rockwork and they do attach, all clams produce bysiss threads, but unlike crocea it does not secrete acid to dissolve the limerock and thus burrow itself. I think that just as long as u let the clam attach to the rock on the sandbed then move it closer to the light. Just as long as it is happy, it shoud not move...good luck with the clam

 

[agoutihead]

well i have also read that squamosas actually like rock work better... where deresas like it better in the sand....
so since i have a diamond goby i am thinking of putting it more up on the rock.. which is about half way up in my tank.... i feel that should do the job.... i even think i could keep clams on the sand bed as my tank is only 20 inches deep i believe... with about 3 inches of sand.... and i have my lights laying on my tank, so its only about 16-17 inches of water penetration.
i would like to see about putting a clam in the sand, but i still havent gotten a final answer on whether a diamond goby dumping sand on the clam is bad for it.
bang... i have just come across gigas... not much reading on it,
does anyone have the coral magainze with clams on the front?

 

[fishamajig]

i had a deressa clam at the top of the rockwork on my 125 and it did fine when i had my pc lighting. i know the intensity of the light might have something to do with the amount of food they produce, but you can dose phyto and suppliment some of their food, I personally also dose rotifers once and a while. now I have halides and the clam definately looks allot better and there is a more vivid color pattern but the deressa is the clam I would go with on a pc tank. and even though they are a sandbed clam i have seen them grow successfully in rockwork, but just like bang said they grow pretty fast so keep that in mind when you are aquascaping.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by agoutihead
well i have also read that squamosas actually like rock work better...
In my experience Squamoda do best in the rocks when small and after 3 or 4 years they will detach and move around until they're sitting on sand.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by agoutihead
what do you guys think??
I think you've already made up your mind and are just looking for people to agree with you... A dangerous way of gathering information.
Why would you try a clam (or anything else) unless you were able to provide optimum conditions?

 

[agoutihead]

i just bought a mh fixture.... 2 150 w hqi bulbs and 2 96 w actinics and 6 moon lights... 336 shipped...
made my odyssea

 

[agoutihead]

and actually now that i have mh coming... im going to get a crocea clam... wayyyyyyyyyyy cooler!!

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by agoutihead
i just bought a mh fixture.... 2 150 w hqi bulbs and 2 96 w actinics and 6 moon lights... 336 shipped...
made my odyssea
that sounds like a heck of a good deal...

 

[mudplayerx]

Heck yea. My two coralife hqi 150 pendants cost me $500 plus tax.

 

[fishieness]

mudplayerX i take it you bought that pendant from a LFS? ive seen them on ---- for like 150. The odyssea models are REALY cheap. i have been thinking of getting one for my 40 breeder. Then i would be able to have a clam. But the problem is that the tank is only 18 inches high, so with 305 watts, im worried that my mushrooms and rics would not be as happy. i would jsut have to put them under something. oh well...... but i still have more things to get before i do this....... but 305 watts for 180 isnt bad either ;-)
let me know how the odyssea works. i have the PCs over my breeder now. 192 watts in a tank 18 inches high, w/o a sand bed. not too bad no? but still..... a clam is on my mind. and plus it will give me a piece of mind to know that i dont have to worry about lighting. and now im rambling.... so here is where i stop....

 

[mudplayerx]

Here is a pic of the ones that I have. They were originally priced at $300 each (yes lfs that normally has great prices), but I negotiated down to $250 apiece. I love them, but they were wayyyy too expensive. The pic of the tank is about 8 months old so don't laugh. It looks a lot nicer now hehe.

 

[mudplayerx]

While on the subject of lights.... anyone have an idea of how often hqi mh bulbs should be replaced? Mine are about 9 months old. Any idea how expensive two hqi 10k 150watt bulbs would run?

 

[agoutihead]

yeah i think the odyssea will be alright...
ill find out in a week or two.. ill post then to let you guys know....
the only bad thing i heard bout them is that the bulbs might not be as bright or as blue as they say.... but the light itself is what im worried about.... bulbs are really not a big deal
and at 96 watts for a actinc wow! i only have 65 right now
and im going up to 20k with mh... which i like the blue look anyways.

 

[fishieness]

any word on the odyssea? it is a good posibility that that might be what ill be getting soon.....

 

[agoutihead]

yeah actually i got them like two or three days ago....
well over all i really really like the unit
it seems to be as well built as my coralife, if not better
everything so far is in working order
its much wider than i thought, so i have to cut a bunch of my canopy out which is really going to be a big job because i have to cover the whole tank with saran wrap... and the way i have to feed the saran wrap in between the canopy and the top of the tank is like threading a needle, there is barely any room
but like i said over all im very impressed, the 20k mh blue is really the best ive seen so far.... i dont know if im partial to blue or not... but it looks amazing, and the actinics are way more blue, i dont think their true blue 03 because i think those are more of a purple color because thats what i had on my coralife.... but still looks really good
and i also went from three little moon lights to six moon lights that have a plastic magnifying glass over it so it makes it way brighter... but still not too bright and everything starts to come out right away and i can see them alot easier now with the 6 moonlights.

 

[agoutihead]

and dont get me wrong... there are better units out there im sure.... but for the price?
its untouchable!

 

[fishieness]

haha that last post reminded me of the "bob's furnature" comercials..... made me want to kill myself a little bit but im ok seeing how i can now know that i am not going to get ripped off.
I have the 192 watts of PCs and i will keep them just incase the balast or something randomly fails. There was one time that the 10K didnt turn on, but i literaly jsut had to tap it and it was fine. The only complaint i have about the PCs is that there is no water-guard against the bulbs so they get covered in salt and my reflector is rusty. I imagine it will be a huge jump from my pcs to metal halides. ill have to make sure to acclimate my corals and such. But now i know i can keep the things i want to in confidence. And i have a 36 in tank, and it only has one bulb at that size, so i can keep my blasto and rics on the side. :joy:

 

[agoutihead]

yeah but i like to keep the eveness of the tank with two bulbs
i had 260 watts pc and it was pretty nice... but this is wayyyyyyyyy better... and now like i said i can keep crocea clams... which you have to admit squamosas and derasas cant hold a candle to their color... along with really healthy anenomes and sps now.
and my sand looks even whiter with the mh too so that in turn makes the tank look way better too

 

[fishieness]

amen about the clams.
But i am not getting these lights for a clam, that is jsut a HUGE bonus!!! lol. I am also not getting them for SPS or anenomes, my tank was only set up in april so it is not ready for any of these, although it will be someday. I want metal halides so that i can keep anything with confidence that it will have enough light. And if it has too much i can move it to the side or under a ledge.
although i will eventualy get a clam and maybe some sps.... but probably not an anenome :joy:
and yes... the "eveness" i did see that this one had two powercords, unlike my current PCS. so i can have the dawn duck effect which will be nice.

 

[fishieness]

hello, i just got my odyssea metal halides today......... One thing that i find misleading..... it says that there are two powercords, which there are......... But there are two powercords leading to two switches, but not two actual cords to be plugged in!!! therefor i cannot have both things on a timer!!!!! Am i overlooking something here?!!!!!