clam only cube tank

[CMcNeil]

i had a problem with my CBB and one of my crocea clams so i made a 16"cube tank to house all my clams.i need to know what you guys think i should use for the substrate,CC ,sand,shell,mix of CC and shell.also lighting,i have made a 14"lumenarc reflector and have a 175w mh ballast(dont know what brand it is yet)but need some bulb suggestions.the bulb would be a SE style and have no actinic supplimentation.here is a link to the build,feel free to make any suggestions about the setup of the tank or anyhting you think will make this a great place to show off my clams.one more thing,i would like a few fish in the tank with the clams but not sure what would be good to house with them.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1127255&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[jsl6v8]

I have yellow shrimp goby and a pistol shrimp and a tiny 1/4 inch red and white striped goby of some sort in my tank I would go with a 10k ushio bulb or a 20k xm bulb, the 10k would probably be better for the clams but I would think with a 175w you could do a 20k with no harm them, I don't much care for the 14k and 15k bulbs I've seen to many articles about them being grossly ineffective of providing light even equal to a 20k. As for a sand bed I don't know. I have a mix of fine grain sand and florida crushed coral thats much larger and I have a bunch of small rocks scattered around if something wants to grab hold of a rock.

 

[CMcNeil]

i hear some of the 14-15k's have a real nice balance of color for clams.i really just want a sand bed without any rocks i think it will look cleaner that way.here is the new clam that my butterfly nipped and was caught by.

side shot

top down

 

[CMcNeil]

check the mantle and you can see where he was nipping

 

[jsl6v8]

yeah hopefully the clam will be ok, its a really nice looking clam.

 

[CMcNeil]

it is opening up all the way and he appears to be doing fine.