clams and lighting

[Fomob]

What is DT?

What is DT?

I am new to the group and I see people talking about feeding their clams DT. Not to seem ignorant but what is DT?

Gary

 

[llockke]

Fomob- DTs is a brand of live phytoplankton for your aquarium needs. I can get mine at only one of my local fish stores but then again I live in a really backwards town when it comes to reefkeeping

Your tank is generally ready to keep a clam when you have a stable system. That means no algae blooms no ammonia spikes or nitrite spikes. 6 months is a good general rule I've seen people throw clams into a 2 month old system and i've seen more catious people wait for a year. Personally I waited for 8 months until I was sure that my tank was stable and I had better lighting.

 

[RonN]

Here is some great reading as well. Might take a while to get through it all.

http://www.clamsdirect.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3

Ron

 

[Fish-o-holic]

Re: What is DT?

Re: What is DT?

I am new to the group and I see people talking about feeding their clams DT. Not to seem ignorant but what is DT?

Gary

Here you go DT's

DT's is not only great for feeding clams, also if you have any other filter feeders in your tank, this will do the trick.

 

[Fomob]

DTs

DTs

Thanks for the response. I have been using Kent Marine because it was easily available but will order the DT. Do direct feed your clam with a baster or anything or simply add to the water?

Gary

 

[Fish-o-holic]

Re: DTs

Re: DTs

Thanks for the response. I have been using Kent Marine because it was easily available but will order the DT. Do direct feed your clam with a baster or anything or simply add to the water?

Gary

I just dump some DT's directly into my tank. When I do this, it's also a good idea to turn off your protein skimmer for an hour or so. Otherwise the skimmer will just take out the "goods" found in any phytoplankton. I also feed during the night hours just before the tank lights are out. I find that feeding 2-3 times a week has worked for me.

 

[thrlride]

To answer the question directed at me earlier...

Calcium is 400
Alk is between 120 and 180 ppm.

What does that equate to?

 

[Fish-o-holic]

Your CA is fine. If you could, try to maintain it between 400-450ppm.

Your ALK, I'm not sure what that converts to. Can someone help him out in this department? With the ALK, try to keep it at 8-12 on the dKH scale.

Have fun trying to get both in check as they "battle" one another if you don't already know. I'm having no problems getting my ALK in check but my CA isn't all that great. Anyways, just keep at it like I have been for the past year or so.

 

[thrlride]

What's the best stuff to use to maintain those two levels? I have a/b calcium additives and seachem ph buffer which is supposed to keep alk in check. Is this correct or did the LFS play me?

 

[Fish-o-holic]

I'm using a combo of several products. They include:

Kent Marine Turbo Calcium
Kent Marine Superbuffer dKH
Tropic Marin Bio Calcium
B-Ionic 2 part CA/ALK system

Every night, I also drip Kent Kalkwasser that I have allowed to settle for 24h prior to usage.