Bought Crocea but I only have PC lighting

J

jimmerpro

New member
I have a 2X96w PC, one is blue. 58gal Oceanic 21 inches deep. Live rock shelves up high close to the lights.

I made the purchase yesterday of a Crocea without doing any recent research - just drove by a pet shop - it looked great and I thought I remember Crocea being a good/easy clam - but now I'm reading it's one of the hardest to keep. I told the young guy at Ocean Design in Chicago what bulbs I had. He didn't say it was a problem. Most people on this board and others seem to think they wonââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t make it under PC lights like I have. Did I make a huge mistake or can this guy make it placed high near the lights.
He's not really small; maybe 4 inches. He looks healthy like at the pet shop, but. I keep him very near the top by the lights but he's fallen a couple times already.
With the Oceanic Oak hood there is no way I can go MH.
What should I do? See if he can make it?
 
Unfortunately that won't be enough lighting for a crocea. At 4" it is now relying primarily on lighting vs. feeding. If you are not able to increase the lighting then I would strongly recommend taking the clam back.

To give you an idea on lighting for croceas and maximas we are running a 250 watt halide supplemented with 150 watts of vho over our 36 gallon clam tank.
 
Agreed here....

I've got 250w MH and 110w PC for my Maxima's and Croceas....

I'd strongly reccomend taking the clam back, and staying away from impulse buys as you just did.

:)
 
you would be running a great risk with a crocea and that little of light. i have 2 250 watt halides and four vho over my 55 and my clams just love it even those at the top of the tank. i sure hope he lives though. croceas are beautiful and i can understand the desire to have one. good luck!
 
what does it mean by "they won't make it under PC lights"? does it mean they won't grow well, or does it mean they will just die? and to all you experts, how long will it last in a PC light tank, if you assume it will die.
 
DarkDevil said:
what does it mean by "they won't make it under PC lights"? does it mean they won't grow well, or does it mean they will just die? and to all you experts, how long will it last in a PC light tank, if you assume it will die.
Click to expand...

The chances are overwhelmingly high that it will die in a few days to a week or two at most.'

I have 2 400w Mhs on my 58:D Id reccomend at least a single 250w for the tank to keep any clams at all..


JMO,

John
 
what does it mean by "they won't make it under PC lights"? does it mean they won't grow well, or does it mean they will just die?
Click to expand...

Croceas are very light demanding. The tank we are talking about has only 192 watts of pc lighting over a 58 gallon tank. Although watts per gallon isn't the best way to measure lighting, that's only 3.3 watts per gallon of pc lighting (which most would consider on the low end/minimum for lighting for a reef tank...way too low for clams).

Some people have kept smaller clams under less than ideal lighting but when they are small (2.5-3 inches and under) they rely more on feeding than lights. A 4" clam is going to rely on lighting to meet its needs.

Personally I wouldn't even try keeping a squamosa or derasa under that lighting.
 
Brianlena, how's the tank.. I haven't heard of you for a while!!

As for a clam for that tank, you are on the low side.. however you could get away with a Squamosa at the very top of the tank.....
 
I know the concept of Watt per Gallon of light, but whenever I think of it, I still don't quite understand about it, the reason is, if I have a 10W light over a 1 gallon, which makes a 10W per gallon, does it mean I can put a clam/SPS in there? of course set aside the water parameter and other things, but just talking about light requirement, is it enough? I would think no, so how do we set the standard of Watt per Gallon concept? is it because the technology right now can only make certain length of light with centain wattage? e.g 14" for 32W, 21" for 55W... etc, so the wattage got spread out the whole tube, that's how we calculate the Watt per Gallon? this post is NOT intented for flamming or any challenge to other ppl, I just want to learn something new everyday, below is a top down pic of my 3" crocea clam 8-10" under 96W PC light in my 10G tank, it's been there for almost 3 months now, why is it there is a long story, but I can't move it now coz it's attach to a fairly large piece of LR, but seems it's doing fine, well, I don't know...
 
johnrags1234 said:
The chances are overwhelmingly high that it will die in a few days to a week or two at most.'

I have 2 400w Mhs on my 58:D Id reccomend at least a single 250w for the tank to keep any clams at all..


JMO,

John
Click to expand...
I think this is a bit of an exaggerated estimate. If clams died after a few days of low light then each storm would wipe out tens of thousand or even millions of clams making them extinct over large areas. Prolonged low light of several months would cause the clam to gradually bleach and die. I think it would take around 4-6 months.
 
FWIW, I've had a T. crocea under dual 96 watt p.c. in the same size tank. The clam was with me for 6 months before I gave him away to a friend (who had dual 250 watter de's along with a 400 watter in the center). While he was with me, I had the clam on a rock, approximately half-way up in the water volume.

The person who I got the clam from had the clam under 2 x 55watt PCs for a whopping 18 months, possibly a bit longer. !!

Although I wouldn't recommend putting a crocea under p.c. lighting, to say the clam will die in a matter of days, weeks or a few months is, as firechild said, an exaggeration. If you water quality is good, and the clam is placed in the upper-half of the tank it should be fine for quite a while, until, you can finally get your halides up. Sooner the better.

Trust me though, I'm all for placing clams under the intense lighting they deserve.
 
How is that sweet teardrop max of yours doing?
Click to expand...

Great! It's doing really good, I'm surprised... It's 2 1/2 weeks now, and I'm pretty positive about this clam!!!!!

Project Reef I know where you are coming from... I had a similar situation....

I think that cultured Croceas would definetly do much better under that light than a wild crocea. But again, I wouldn't try it.. It may survive but it definetly wouldn't be happy and grow properly.... You will save your pocket some money and use it towads some stronger lighting...

I was a strong disbeleiver in the whole lighting issues... When I was first starting out I simply wouldn't listen to anyone, and thought that my 110w over a 29 was good for everything..... After I did some experiments.... I changed.... I got metal Halide now... and wouldn't change it... You'll be so much happier with metal halide... I'm so happy that I bought a retro....

Spend the extra and get metal halide... You won't regret it. :thumbsup:
 
my nano is only 9 inches high by 24 inches long does any one think i can have clams with a 65 watt compact? i want it to be happy and not just survive suffering for my looking pleasure
thanks im starting over again and want it to be right from the start!!!!
 
maybe a squamosa at the very, very top of the LR if you feed it phyto.

I don't really know for sure, when I decided to get into clams it was clear to me that mh was the way to go, so that's what I bought, I've never really tried to keep them in sub-optimal conditions. Also, in a 10gal nano you'd have to really pay attention to ca levels.
 
thanks for the tip i didnt know that cal levels could drop that kwik?
then again i think part of my problems in the begining were from not keeping a regular schedule of dosings and testings. i usually just add ro water with kalk do you think thats suff?i usually only change the water every 2 weeks but thats with a 29high. I havent filled the 10 nano yet and am trying to get as much info on what i can keep with the set up that i have which is a 10tank to a 6 refuge which will be lit by a 32 smartlamp then to the pump sump which is skimmed by a venturi just to be extra safe.sorry to ramble thanks for any tips on stocking or others
 
Clam is shut now.

Clam is shut now.

I put the clam high up on the rocks near the CF lights. He seemed fine for several days; but for a couple days now his is all closed up or barely opens.
I can't believe he's too close to the light now. Unless everyone is wrong about CF not being enough light???
I have star polyps and a brain coral even closer that doing great.
Why would a clam clam-up?
 
Why would a clam clam-up?
Click to expand...

Not enough light. Under proper lighting I would suspect something else but as stated before that is not enough lighting for a crocea. They will eventually not open much under inadequate lighting.
 
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