Clam lighting..............

[H^2 Salt]

I going to have to disagree with all of you who say that clams cant be kept well under PC lighting.I have 5 clams in my tank right now(3 maxima's,2 Crocea;s) and they are doing great in my tank.I have a 33 gallon tank which is the same dimensions as a 55 but cut down a lot more,with 4 55watt PC bulbs and my clams are doing great.To give you MH nuts some credit i must say it probally has to do with the fact that thier is almost 7watts of lighting and it is a very shallow tank...but it can be done

 

[derrikd]

yea, i do not think that most would say that it can not be done. you have a shallow tank which helps. i do think that the MH are more natural, plus most people have deep tanks, mine is 24" and need MH for my clams

 

[melev]

I had a blue maxima in my 29g under 165w of PC lighting for 2 years.

 

[Scuba Dog]

In specific situations yes It can be done, I never stated it was completly impossible...especally for new people to the hobby that want a clam and dont have the maturity of water quality yet...But after starting out with just VHO and swaping over to a 175 halide system and then to a 250DE system....I have noticed huge major differences in coloration and growth and overall health of the system...So can everyone keep maximas and croceas under pcs and vhos it has been documented yes...but its a risk...but with the stronger halides your chances increase greatly....all depends on what you want to grow...Im into acros and maximas and croceas...could care less about lps and softies...with the exception of frogspawn and hammers....so I tend to want the halides so I can punch down to keeping stuff colored up 30 inches down...

 

[Typhon]

I am with "Scuba Dog".

I believe clams can survive under PC and VHO, but not thrive. I had a Maxima and Deresa under VHOs for 8 months before switching over to MHs. Coloration was ok and they both barely grew. The maxima showed about .25" and the deresa showed about the same. And this was with feedings.

8 months after switching to MHs, the coloration was better and growth was amazing. Both grew about an 1". And I stopped feeding after switching over to MHs.

Also, why do people keep pushing the limits of these beautiful animals. In natural they receive the intense rays of the sun. In an aquarium, the closest thing is MHs. IMO, putting clams under VHOs or PCs is like feeding a starving child just enough to survive.

I switched over to MHs after reading "Giant Clams" by Daniel Knop. I highly recommend anyone consider purchasing a clam to read this book first.

 

[jda]

Re: Clam lighting..............

To give you MH nuts some credit i must say it probally has to do with the fact that thier is almost 7watts of lighting and it is a very shallow tank...but it can be done

Let us know how much they have grown and if they are still alive in a year. If they are alive and growing like they should be, you might one of the only ones.

 

[H^2 Salt]

well actually i have had the 2 croceas for a little more than 2 years and the all the maximas except for my new one for about 7 months...and the croceas have grown about 2.5 inches since i got them.:lol:

 

[Typhon]

Then you are probably one of the lucky few..

Have you every read the book "Giant Clams" by Daniel Knop??

well actually i have had the 2 croceas for a little more than 2 years and the all the maximas except for my new one for about 7 months...and the croceas have grown about 2.5 inches since i got them.:lol:

 

[melev]

I understand what you are saying, and it only will work in certain applications. For example, when people post that they have a 55g with 4x96w of PC lighting, that isn't very accurate as the clam isn't under all four bulbs. At best, they are under 2 bulbs due to canopy layout and the cross brace.

In my 29g, the lighting was 4" off the water, and the clam was 14" from the surface. It did beautifully. Ironically, when I upgraded to my 280g with MH & VHO lighting, it was dead two weeks later. However, I didn't acclimate it when I moved it to its new home. All livestock was transferred from my 55g and my 29g into the new tank as the salinity, pH and temperature matched in all three systems. My Maxima was 2.5" when I bought it at MACNA XIV and was 5" when it died.

Here are a few images of it.

http://melevsreef.com/id/maxima.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/1003/macro_maxima.html

I fed Phytoplankton to the tank every other day, and kept my water at NSW levels with B-Ionic daily.

 

[M.Maddox]

Re: Clam lighting..............

I going to have to disagree with all of you who say that clams cant be kept well under PC lighting.I have 5 clams in my tank right now(3 maxima's,2 Crocea;s) and they are doing great in my tank.I have a 33 gallon tank which is the same dimensions as a 55 but cut down a lot more,with 4 55watt PC bulbs and my clams are doing great.To give you MH nuts some credit i must say it probally has to do with the fact that thier is almost 7watts of lighting and it is a very shallow tank...but it can be done

Have you had them longer than 1 year, and have they grown? If not, get back to us in 1-2 years. We all see\hear about the whole "I've had my xxxx for 3\6\9 months and it's doing great!" Pfft. It takes most photsynthetic invertebrates about 6 months to slowly starve, then die suddenly.

 

[H^2 Salt]

Originally posted by H^2 Salt
well actually i have had the 2 croceas for a little more than 2 years and the all the maximas except for my new one for about 7 months...and the croceas have grown about 2.5 inches since i got them.

PERHAPS YOU MISSED THE NEXT POST LATER:rolleye1:

 

[Ti]

The argument shouldn't really be about MH vs PC.
It's really about wattage and depth from the light source.

 

[jda]

The argument shouldn't really be about MH vs PC.
It's really about wattage and depth from the light source.

This does not really work on most levels. Wattage is not a good gague of effectivess of how organisms react to light, nor is watts/gallon. Intenstiy, or PAR at tank depth, is what matters.

Shallow tanks are nice, but most shallow tanks are small. Small tanks aren't condusive to clams because the clams, especially if growing and large, can consume enormous amounts of calcium and carbon. The effect of low carbon or calcium can cause PH swing and crash the tank. Small tanks give the hobbist a low threshold for error. Sure, it can be done, it is just harder.

Also, when buying a clam, you have better plan to have it on the sand. Sure, it might attach and stay put up higher, but there are absolutely no guarantees. If you can support a clam on the sand, then you can certianly support it up higher.

 

[melev]

Barry at ClamsDirect and I talked about this in the past, and his feelings were that clams do better on crushed coral as sand tends to be an irritant.

What is this about carbon? Never heard that one before.

 

[chevell]

Lighting for clams

Lighting for clams

OK I just have to speak up at this point about the debate between M/H lights and VHO for keeping clams or SPS corals. I'm using VHO and i'm a big fan of them, that being said I also have M/H lighting over parts of my tank "mostly for the shimmering effect". This tank is 30 inches deep and 150 gallons. The VHO's impart much better color over all and produce way less heat. I have 880 watts VHO and the growth of both derasa and crocea clams is great even without Ca reactor....derasa shell growth 1 inch of shell in 2.5 months and much better color and shell size in fluted area of crocea compaired to when I bought them. They are much larger than the size they were when I bought them. They are located near the top about a foot down. Maybe halides would allow for deeper placement but 30 inches is deep for a high light demand type of clam long term even with halides. I'm not saying one is better than the other but given enough wattage and correct spectrum either will work. And this was proven "Delbeek and Sprung". And please spare me the arguements you Metal Halide guys as I also have 500 watts of 10,000 K german bulb for shimmering effect and better spectrum range used during peak lighting hours. I like them both but before I bought the halides growth was as mentioned above.