clam lighting question

[corro]

just a quick question.

i am setting up a 24" x 24" cube and have chosen the following lights (175 MH hood w/ 2 32w PCs and a 24"x4 24w T5 SLS TekLight ).

will i be limited in my choice of clams?

 

[Sloth]

That light should be fine for any clams. Croceas might need to be closer to the lights, so if you don't want to worry about clam placement issues, go with a 250 watt metal halide.

 

[Peabody]

I agree, you can keep anything if your water params are good. You should, as sloth said, take placement into consideration. If I were you I would also keep maximas (in addition to croceas) up higher.

 

[nanocat]

squamosa or deresa with a quartz halogen spotlight?

squamosa or deresa with a quartz halogen spotlight?

I see these crocea in nano cubes at the LFS's all the time. In fact my LFS swears up and down that 24W is sufficient. We argue about that all the time

Now I realize that is NOT even close to enough light. I was wondering about the possibility of a deresa in my nano under 56W PC, if I set up a quartz halogen desklamp and placed it so it shined directly on the clam through the glass?

I know I'll have to raise my calcium some (aver. 380 now), but I was planning on starting a kalkwasser drip as makeup for evap anyway.

Of course the clam will have to be traded to the LFS for a small one again, when it gets too big for the nano.

Thoughts?

 

[Peabody]

I definately wouldn't do it....the demands that the clam would have on the chemistry of the tank would throw it out of whack (kalk couldn't keep upwith it's ALK demand), and the water params ina nano fluctuate too much for a clam, they need a REALLY stable environment.
On top of that, my friend had one go from 3" to 7" in no time....they are just too rapid growers for a nano.

If you REALLY want a clam, try a hippopus, feed DTs, and keep CA/ALK in demand. I wouldn't do any other clam than that. (If you get MH, you could try a small Max maybe if you can get your params really stable )

 

[Sloth]

Your LFS says they keep croceas under 24 watts?! Fluorescent? For how long? I bet they sell them before they die and never find out what they're doing. Challenge them to keep one under that light for more than 6 months.

 

[Peabody]

That's nuts! My LFS kept Maximas under 2x32 watt PCs in a 10 gallon and 4x65 in a 55 gallon....they were always gone within a month or two.....so sad If they didn't stand a chance under those lights no way could they live under a 24w! And croceas are much more demanding than maximas!

 

[corro]

thanks on the input about my 24" cube ( not a nano )

 

[joe123987]

Read this article:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/july/features/2/default.asp

I now run my 2x400w MHs for 13 hous a day to even come close to what clams get in the wild.

Hope this helps.