I want to set up a tank just for tridacna clams

[warrenmichaels]

Hi,

I'm hoping to set up a salt water tank with the main inhabitants being several clams, Tridacna derasa. I plan to buy clams between 3"-4", and probably not have more than six at the most. Everything else in the tank will be geared toward keeping these clams alive and healthy, with nothing extraneous. I have experience with freshwater tanks, but not salt. I have a few books that I've read on saltwater tanks, and on reef tanks, so I have some general knowledge. I have a few questions relating to general issues. I can learn more about these issues on my own from my books, online, etc. At this point, I'm just trying to make sure that I have a general grasp on things.

Detailed below is what I currently envision, with ideas/questions I have interspersed along the way.

I have a 100 gallon tank. I plan to put it in my garage since I don't want any other room potentially damaged with excessive water vapor. A possible problem with the garage is that water stored therein freezes in the winter. I'm thinking that this won't be that big a problem, since I'll be heating the tank. Furthermore, as a general precaution, I'll have a battery/generator backup system in place.

I have two Fluval "œU series" underwater canister filters that I used in the tank when it held freshwater. They are sufficiently large for the tank, though I don't know what model/size they are off the top of my head. I'm assuming that these filters would be, at best, ancillary to a sump filter tank for water purification. Is this correct, or can I get by with just these filters? If I would need a sump tank for filtration, what size tank should I use? Is the use of a sump tank necessary if I use live rock in the aquarium? How much sand do I need in the main tank? I know that the clams will live on a sandy substrate. I'm asking this question from the standpoint of providing habitat for beneficial microbes, not seating the clams. Is sand necessary, since I'll have live rock?

Regarding a sump filter tank, what is the best pumping style/configuration to avoid failure? I'm planning to use a submerged pump in the sump tank that relies on passive drainage from the tank located above.

I'm planning to add fish, as it's my understanding that the clams will need fish waste products to survive, even though I'll be supplementally feeding them with algae. Do I need to do this, or can I get by without fish? Will I need plants?

As for fish, I'd probably want to add a 6-lined wrasse, to deal with potential Pyramid Snail issues. What "œeasy to care for" fish would do well with the aggressive little wrasse and the clams? If compatibility with the clams is an issue, I can add a partition, and have the clams and wrasse in one section, and other fish elsewhere.

I understand that the tank must be established prior to the addition of the clams, and that this will take about six months. At some point I plan to hook up a calcium reactor.

As for lighting, I understand that certain precautions must be taken regarding salt creep. Would it be wise to have a pane of glass between the light and the tank? I understand the precautions regarding having water drip into an outlet. Do any other precautions need to be taken regarding avoiding fire?

I'm familiar with the basic issues of water changes, pH, nitrate levels, powerheads, etc. Is there anything major that I'm overlooking?


Thanks for your replies.

 

[MondoBongo]

i would never put a tank anywhere that water freezes in the winter, that is an absolutely recipe for disaster. you will struggle to keep it warm, and if a heater should fail, everything dies. i would strongly advise against that.

canister filters are generally frowned upon for reef tanks, primary reason being the production of nitrates when they're not properly maintained, and there are much better ways like protein skimmers. read up and make your choice accordingly, for me i would not use canisters.

six line wrasse generally aren't the choice for eating pyramid snails, there are some other types of wrasse who are better regarded for this job, but your best defense is being vigilant, knowing what you're looking for, checking new arrivals thoroughly, and maintaining a good quarantine regimen.

you shouldn't need to supplement their feeding with algae. most of the common species of clams we keep don't really get anything from filter feeding. the exception to this being T. gigas, and if you find somewhere to get those, let me know.

i've never had an issue with salty creep and my lights, splashing is what you usually need to watch out for. depending on the clams you are getting and their position in the tank you might want to make a temporary cover for when you're doing water changes. i know my T. crocea will get agitated when the water level drops and sometimes start spraying large amounts of water all over my lights, me, the floor, everywhere.

clams can be a bit tricky. so my three most crucial pieces of advice are as follows:

1. do NOT put that tank anywhere that it could freeze
2. keep a reef for a little while before adding clams, with some stony corals that are on the easier side. couple months with them and getting the hang of the chemistry.
3. learn how to shop for healthy clams. in most cases it's more art than science, but there are some good tips on how to shop for healthy specimens.

 

[warrenmichaels]

thanks, I appreciate it!

 

[Greybeard]

I once saw a 'Zero Edge' type aquarium, 30x30x12, if I remember right, set fairly low, so that you could easily look down at the specimens, populated exclusively with clams and pipefish. Returns were all well below water level, so the surface was smooth as glass. Used a halide pendant suspended from the ceiling. Man, that was a neat looking tank.

I _really_ hate to discourage people from chasing their dreams, but here goes...

Keeping a glass box full of water in an area exposed to freezing temperatures seems rather problematic. Even if you can keep it from freezing, keeping a stable water temperature is going to be very difficult, if it's even possible. Normal submersible aquarium heaters are not going to do the trick. With a 100g tank, a 300w heater isn't going to be able to raise water temp by more than 15 degrees or so from ambient room temperature. Look at it this way, water passes a heated glass tube with what, 20 square inches of surface area? While being stored in a large glass vessel with it's entire surface cooled to under 32f? You're going to need some serious heat. The whole idea scares the hell out of me.

Clams can be touchy... I'd hesitate to recommend clams to a new marine aquarium hobbyist. Very sensitive to water quality and stability. Used to be a guy named Barry that ran an online shop called 'Clams Direct'. Appears to be gone now, but man, he had good stuff. Shame. Sourcing healthy clams can be a challenge. Problem is, they don't give you much feedback. With fish, and most corals, they'll display signs of stress before they get to the point where they are no longer salvageable. Clams tend to look just fine... until they're dead.

 

[matt888]

Atleast you're considering Deresa's, which are the best bet imo for someone new to clams. Please checkout the clam section on here... I recently provided a post covering my Deresa experience and it may help you.

I'd seriously reconsider the outside idea of housing clams in a freezing environment.

 

[warrenmichaels]

Well, that is depressing to hear. For me, it doesn't kill the dream just yet, though.

I guess I have two questions at this point.

1. Do I need to have any fish in the tank with the clams for the sake of providing nutrients to the clams?

2. I have an idea that will potentially solve the issue of ambient aquarium temperature, as well as issues of excess humidity within the room housing the aquarium. Think it would work? Here it is:
The top of the aquarium would be covered with a pane of glass, acrylic, etc. There would not be a perfect seal. A hose would be connected to the pane, run to a pump, and then run through a hole drilled in a nearby window. The pump would evacuate air from the tank, while creating negative pressure to pull air across the surface of the water from the room. All humidified air would go outside. The only disadvantage that I could see is that in below-freezing temperatures, I'd have to watch for ice build up in the hose leading outside. Hopefully, this won't be too much of an issue. This might even be solved with some sort of "gutter heater" type device near the outflow port.

 

[ljosh]

Why so much fear of water vapor damage? Just make sure it has air circulation.

 

[MondoBongo]

Well, that is depressing to hear. For me, it doesn't kill the dream just yet, though.

I guess I have two questions at this point.

1. Do I need to have any fish in the tank with the clams for the sake of providing nutrients to the clams?

2. I have an idea that will potentially solve the issue of ambient aquarium temperature, as well as issues of excess humidity within the room housing the aquarium. Think it would work? Here it is:
The top of the aquarium would be covered with a pane of glass, acrylic, etc. There would not be a perfect seal. A hose would be connected to the pane, run to a pump, and then run through a hole drilled in a nearby window. The pump would evacuate air from the tank, while creating negative pressure to pull air across the surface of the water from the room. All humidified air would go outside. The only disadvantage that I could see is that in below-freezing temperatures, I'd have to watch for ice build up in the hose leading outside. Hopefully, this won't be too much of an issue. This might even be solved with some sort of "gutter heater" type device near the outflow port.

you're causing yourself a lot more problems than the solution is worth, if it would even be a viable solution.

i've got a 155g oceanic and a 35g cube connected to a 30 long sump sitting in my dining room right now, i have 0 issues with humidity.

directly underneath that rig is my QT, grow out, and mixing station. consisting of a 20 long w/10g sump that is always up, two 55 gallon brute trash cans for fresh and salt water, and my TTM/QT/HT area that often has 2 10g tanks running when i am bringing in new fish. no issues.

even if the humidity were a concern, you can get a stand alone dehumidifier that should easily take care of the problem. decent room sized ones start about $150.

as for the fish, no you don't absolutely have to have them, you could always ghost feed and that should be plenty, but beings that clams are pretty static as far as animals go, i like to have something moving to look at.

 

[Potatohead]

You'd have to do some math I suppose but it may be cheaper to heat the whole garage up to 70° or so and use regular aquarium heaters from there, but I wouldn't do that unless the garage was insulated. Heaters flat out do fail so it's only a matter of time.

 

[Ou8me2]

I would advise against this plan. Humidity shouldn't be an issue and it's not like we are talking thousands of gallons here. You need to heat the space and not doing so just seems like a big failure waiting to happen. Any kind of aquarium depends on a lot of stability. You aren't going to be able to slap some heaters in there and keep the tank stable. Also the harder the heaters are working to keep up the tank up to temp, the more quickly they will likely fail sooner, rather than later. Heaters are probably the most prone of any aquarium equipment to fail.

 

[Greybeard]

You want enough heating capacity to raise the temp of 100+ gallons of water what, 65f from ambient room temp? A dozen in line 300w heaters in a closed loop system might do it, if you insulate the cabinet, canopy, and 3 sides of the aquarium. You'd also need a controller, so that all of the heaters would cycle on and off as a unit..

My hot tub, which is _very_ well insulated, uses a 240vac 5.5kw heater to maintain 104f through the winter. That's the equivalent of 18 300w aquarium heaters, if you ignore the fact that hot tub heaters are much more efficient at heat transfer than a simple heated glass tube. Even there, the hot tub drops 3-4 degrees when you open the top and sit in it for 20 minutes. Remove the insulation and expose the surface to the cold, and the heater can't keep up.

It'd probably be cheaper, and use less energy, to insulate and heat the room.

 

[C.Eymann]

Many great points and info have been already been covered above.

If you have a keen interest in keeping Tridacnids, I would recommend getting Daniel Knops book on them,
It's a bit outdated now I am sure, but has a great wealth of information on Tridacnids and their care in aquariums. He has a new updated version out, but it was only printed in German
I really enjoyed reading it, also covers the process of breeding them on clam farms, which may not be useful to you, but interesting none the less, like injecting them with serotonin to induce spawning, raising the trochophores etc etc.

This would also be a great article for you to read
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/3/aafeature1

 

[nmotz]

My first experience with coral was difficult because I started with SPS (small polyp stony). Not knowing much about keeping coral, I did ok, but did lose some corals and a lot of money in the process. I encountered pests, flow and lighting issues, and general water parameter discipline that I had never had to worry about before (I started in this hobby with mantis shrimp tanks).

The bottom line is that by starting with clams, you're almost guaranteed to lose some specimens at some point, such is the learning curve. But if you're ok with that, then this part of the plan is acceptable to some degree.

Having said that, your plan to put the tank in your garage is probably going to overwhelm you at some point and it is a possibility you could lose pretty much everything. When you consider how much some livestock costs, you might just want to find a different room in your house to do this.

The kind of problems with water vapor that you're worried about are generally very rare, and the remedies to those problems would probably be more straightforward than everything you'd need to make the tank run in your garage during winter.

Best of luck to you!

 

[warrenmichaels]

I was of the impression that water vapor issues would be significant. Since they are not, I'll just put the tank in the house and forget about venting, etc. Lots of good info has been provided. Thanks. I ordered the book mentioned, and I'll check out the Matt888's posts.

 

[C.Eymann]

I was of the impression that water vapor issues would be significant. Since they are not, I'll just put the tank in the house and forget about venting, etc. Lots of good info has been provided. Thanks. I ordered the book mentioned, and I'll check out the Matt888's posts.

Good move on putting the tank in the house, like others mentioned, putting it in the garage would be setting yourself up for failure.

Im sure you will enjoy the read, its a great book and a must to own for a clam freak. :thumbsup:

 

[Potatohead]

I was of the impression that water vapor issues would be significant. Since they are not, I'll just put the tank in the house and forget about venting, etc. Lots of good info has been provided. Thanks. I ordered the book mentioned, and I'll check out the Matt888's posts.

Not really I have 250 gallons in one room with no issues at all, I'm sure many people have even way more.