do clams need/prefer actinic supplementation?

Actinic supplementation would be purely aesthetic assuming your tank has a collective color temperature of around 10,000K or so. Clams do fine under full spectrum lighting slightly skewed to the blue part of the spectrum.
 
thanks.....followup now.

i am taking an existing light fixture i have which is 24 inches long and houses 3X55W PC and starting a nano reef. i will put the lights over either a 15 gal or a 20 long which either is only 12 inches in height. if i want to try and keep some maximas under this light ...(after sand i figure about 8 inches from the source) would i be better off with all 3 bulbs at 10000k or 2 at 10000k and one actinic??? (current configuration) this fixture is on my 54 corner now, and is doing well about 20 inches above my squamosa clams in that tank. of course, i am upgrading to MH on the 54.

thanks again
 
I don't think maximas under that light is such a great idea, man. Squamosa or derasa, yes, but not maxima. I had a squamosa under 2x55 in a 15 gallon for a while. When I went to MH he behaved better, looked better, and grew more. I've personally seen maximas wasting away under PCs. Take the $100 you were going to spend on those maximas and get a used MH pendant! :)
 
I am going to partially disagree with Peabody here - I have kept Maximas with no problem and excellent growth rates 3 inches away from PC bulbs with no problems. Any farther than 3 inches and you will be treading on thin ground since the intensity is reduced exponentially for every inch they are from the lights. They were under these lights for about a year and a half before I upgraded to MH's. Growth rates were certainly in line with what would be considered normal. Coloration of the mantles was also excellent - beautiful granular iridescence.

But if you really want to take advantage of viewing your clams, (which is from above) your plan to upgrade to MH is a good one. And certainly, I would agree that MH's are the preferred choice of lighting for croceas and maximas.

If keeping maximas under PC's still interests you, I would go with your current configuration. Switching your lighting to entirely 10,000k bulbs will make your tank appear very yellow!

:bigeyes:
 
Well, 3 inches from the bulb is different. That's REALLY close to the bulb!

The fellow above was talking 8 inches from the bulbs. I've seen maximas waste away in other people's tanks at those distances.

Three inches from the bulb doesn't allow for much viewing options :)
 
Supplement actinic lighting for clams: my clams like it and so do I! Once the 6,500k 400 watt sakis kick off, then the 20,000k 400 watt Ushios kick off, then the 10,000k 65 watt pcs kick off, the 40 watt NO actinics and the 65 watt pc actinics look GREAT after a hard day of sun bathing.
Jim
 
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