gigas and lighting ?

[Holmie_D_Klown]

Just got my first Tridacnid - a 4" gigas. My lighting is a combination of VHO and MH. Currently I have 2 VHOs running 12hrs/day and 2 250W MH 10000K running only 4hr/day. I was planning on increasing the MH time to 6-8 hrs/day for the gigas, but my LFS said that I should be running them 12hrs/day. What do you think? Can I get by with 6-8hrs of MH with 12 hrs of VHO, or is this not sufficient. The gigas is sitting on the my sandbed approx 24" from the MH.

 

[mbbuna]

i think what you are doing will be fine. just keep an eye on the clam and if it starts to darken or loose color then slowly increase the photoperiod

 

[Chads29]

I keep my giga under 2 - 250 watt mh's @ 5 hours a day and 2 - 100 watt vho's @ 10 hrs a day. If i turned my mh's on longer i would be fearful of bleaching all of my corals. I get great color where they are and my giga has grown from 4" to 12" in a year and a half. They are calcium and Alk. hogs so monitor them and adjust as it grows. Congrats on your purchase.


Chad