Blue Maxima

[fireguy]

Hey all,

I just bought my first clam a blue maxima. I was wondering if there are any tips you can give me to keep it healthy? I mean anything else you can add besides what my LFS says to do. He told me about the calcium levels to watch out for and such. My question? lets say the calcium levels rise, what would I do in that case. I mean clams dont react well to any rise in water perameters correct?

I should mention that I have two 250watt MHs and two 96watt actinic PCs on a 100 gallon tank 24" deep. The lighting retro fit is 8" from the top of the water level. I hope that is enough lighting. I also have read that you should put them on the sand bed, and some say on a rock. Which is preferable? Thanks for the help everyone. I hope that I can get mine to look as good as what you all have.

 

[mantisshrimp]

A rise in calcium lvels would be more beneficial than detrimental!Clams are real calcium hogs!

 

[Chris Lakies]

What type of lighting was he under at the LFS? Make sure you keep your Calcium over 400ppm and your Alkalinity from 3.0 - 4.0 meq/l. How big is the clam now? If he is 1" - 2" alot of people feed them DT's or somthing like that.

 

[Travis]

In the wild maximas are attached to rocks. They do like a lot of light. You can place him on a shell or small piece of rock. Then you can move it wherever you want after it attaches.

 

[mantisshrimp]

You don't need DT's at all for small clam's IME,I've had my 2" clams for almost a year,and they are doing great without ANY DT's feedings.

 

[fireguy]

The clam is 2" across. He had it under MH lighting around (10k.) I tested my tank before I decided to buy a clam to make sure my tank could support a clam. So far my parameters are fine but we will see if the clam starts to bring those important parameters down. My tank has actually been doing better since I officially turned it into a reef tank (previous post). The addition of a sump and a skimmer that actually works, really cleaned the tank up well. I will keep everyone posted and post some pictures of my tank. Thanks for the help.

 

[onegreenray]

how long has the tank been set up? also i agree keep the calcium levels high. clams suck up calcium. i do feed all of my clams dt's or other types of phyto plankton. just because you don't have to feed it doesn't mean it wouldn't help the clam get along better with a little extra nutrients. also putting the clam in a small bowl once a week with tank water and some dt's is not a bad idea if you don't want to feed the whole tank.

just add some dt's to the bowl and let the clam hang for about an hour . it will siphon out the dt's. i find my clams look better after i bowl feed them. do you have daniel knopps book on clams? answers alot of questions on all the different types of clams and the husbandry.

 

[fireguy]

My tank has been up and running for a year now. I have never had any major outbreaks of any type, or any emergency water changes or anything of the sort. I have 120 lbs of live rock and about 100lbs of live sand, maybye more I forgot how many bags I added when I set the tank up. I still have two of my fish from my first tank (a 60 gallon) in my tank right now. So far the clam seems to look happy. Has not moved or tried to jump off the rock I set him on.

 

[fireguy]

Do you have any prefered brands of phytoplankton? What is everyone using that they seem to like? Thanks

 

[onegreenray]

dt phyto plankton, also adam at http://www.tridacnareef.com/ sells it pretty cheap as well. there a few other types but i prefer the live phyto over the dead.