clam w/o skimmer

[shivvy]

hello-

I have a biocube 14g that is 9 months old and doing extremely well. I just started reading about clams and read the sticky as well as some other threads and links.

My water params are in check with what the sticky specified and I have 175w mh.

question:
will a Tridacna squamosa be ok w/o a skimmer? (I dont have alot of sps, but have birdsnest and acans right now w/o skimmer and I am extremely anal about my water changes)

How would a squamosa do under a 20k light? I know the par from a 10k would be better but would the 20k cause it to lose color or stunt growth?



edit: ok, now I am reading a squamosa will be too large for my nano. soooo would a maxima do ok on a rock in the sand under a 175w 20k Ushio? The depth to the sand bed is 12 inches.

 

[skinz78]

My tank was skimmerless for quite a while, probably six months or more. I didn't have problems with the clams. I would say you should be fine, a clam actually removes some of the particles in the water. It would take quite a few clams to do the job of a skimmer though.

As for your light I think you have more than enough light for a Maxima clam, you should be set to go.

 

[shivvy]

NO WAY! I am so happy to hear that. I am still reading about care and probably wont buy one for a while, but that is good to know!

 

[Bfritzsch]

Skinz, if one were to have a clam only tank.... would it be good to have a skimmer or not? being that they are filter feeders...

 

[skinz78]

It just depends on the tank and how the params look. Clams feed on ammonia and nitrates "fish pee and poo". But in the whole scheme of things they don't do as much as one may think, they get most of what they need from light so filter feeding is minimal. So it just depends on the particular tank's bio load.

 

[Bfritzsch]

Hm ok sounds good... Thanks skinz

 

[Crypsis]

I've read that workers at some clam farms pee in the grow out tanks to add ammonia for the clams.

It would be interesting to know, just how much ammonia and nitrate a clam is able to use per day.